My first priority at Tripgrid was to implement an Agile process: organizing all work into a scrum board, kicking off regular stand-up meetings, and developing a codified and integrated QA and release process. My work with the React application focused on multiple goals, including refactoring state management, moving towards a more React-idiomatic approach, implementing a component library, and making UX and security improvements to the authentication system. Additionally, I worked closely with the engineering team to coordinate major feature releases and dramatically improve overall platform performance.

My work at Springshare focused on making major improvements to the CRM platform. My first project was implementing a feature which allows CRM admins to view and report on patron activity across all other Springshare applications. This included a data aggregation background service, REST API, and Angular Web front-end. Similarly, I designed and implemented a much-requested operational email service backed by MailGun. I also completed a major refactor of the REST API (replacing Lumen with Slim), massively improved unit test coverage and developed a complimentary integrated test suite with complete coverage.

Working for a boutique design firm presented many new challenges, chief of which was simultaneously supporting and developing multiple different client projects, each with their own languages, environments, and stakeholder groups. This was a huge opportunity to hone my front-end skills, and increase my ability to communicate effectively across different teams and technical levels.

I was initially hired at English360 when they were suffering from serious scaling and performance issues. I used NewRelic to diagnose and resolve database bottlenecks, and transitioned a high-traffic, monolithic production environment to the right AWS services and APIs. This reduced page load times by over 70%. I also implemented an automated production and deployment process, added unit testing, transitioned the team to a 2-week sprint/release cycle, and fixed hundreds of bugs.

One of my most challenging and rewarding career experiences, I was brought on-board as the first engineering hire and saw fast, exponential growth throughout my 3 years. Initially I worked closely with the co-founders to build core components of the platform and create a positive development culture. As the company grew to 100+ people I was given the opportunity to manage a team of developers and designers, manage weekly sprints, and build an adaptive learning system, a public REST API, and the Schoology App Store.

Partners in Kind helps thousands of NYC residents make in-kind donations and connect with local charities and non-profits. I relied heavily on the excellent Drupal 7 framework to build a self-sustaining, web-based matchmaking platform for this purpose. I am no longer actively supporting the project, but am proud of the work and the positive impact.

After a chance meeting with my now close friend Brian Tang, we decided to create a joint venture and start a company. Brian was responsible for business development and I built an AWS-based video platform and managed our streaming content. My war-storied, first start-up experience, we were ultimately not profitable, but rising to the immense challenge of this role was an invaluable experience both for my technical skillset and my career.