Optimal is an online media company helping prospective students make data-driven decisions for their higher education needs while also providing high quality leads to 200+ colleges, universities, and bootcamps.As a full-stack developer, my primary responsibilities were developing, refactoring, and maintaining data collection, internal reports, administrative tools, front-end landing pages, and Optimal's lead processor (continued from Software Engineer I) under Agile development processes using Ruby, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, and SQL on AWS EC2 Linux instances, MySQL RDS engines, and S3 buckets.I successfully integrated LLM Artificial Intelligence using prompt engineering into Optimal's higher education degree data collection processes using OpenAI’s API to boost productivity by over 300% while limiting error rates to within 10% of human-only collection. This also required building features for web scraping, token optimization, API limit maximization, JSON response validation, data collection automation, and dashboards for data validation.In order to provide improved lead and revenue metrics for account managers and KPIs (key performance indicators) for leadership, I built and refactored internal reporting, and these reports required continuous integration with external APIs (e.g., Google Ads, Google Analytics).I improved security and ensured compliance for cybersecurity insurance requirements by refactoring code, modernizing dependencies, and bolstering security measures including migrating Optimal’s internal login system to a more secure external authentication service.Note: I was furloughed during the pandemic from January 2021 to June 2021.

I converted, refactored, and developed the lead processor, a business-critical microservice which uses internal RESTful APIs as the interface between the database, business logic, and lead delivery methods (i.e., email and web APIs accepting JSON, URL encoded, or XML data). This included converting the lead processor from the Sinatra framework to Ruby on Rails.I built a testing suite from scratch for the lead processor using RSpec and FactoryBot to maximize uptime, maintain revenue, increase reliability, and improve future development.I led the integration and redesign of back-end logic from an acquired Python-based bootcamp lead generation system to Ruby on Rails while implementing a comprehensive suite of tests.

As an Account/Product Manager, I coordinated with vendors and partner schools for higher education lead generation. I ensured that Optimal’s internal system was always in compliance with vendor and school requirements for any lead generation pages, that rules and settings for improving lead quality were properly applied, and that leads were reliably delivered either through email or via various APIs.I also performed data analysis of internal metrics to optimize revenue using a combination of internal tools, Excel, and MySQL.

As an Assistant Language Teacher through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, I honed my ability to communicate complex ideas simply and effectively, teaching English to middle school students across three schools in Misawa City. My role extended to conducting training seminars, translating documents, and managing administrative tasks within the structured framework of Misawa City Hall. This experience reinforced my adaptability, my capacity to navigate and respect formal work cultures, and my skill in bridging language and cultural barriers. These are assets I leverage in my software engineering career to collaborate with diverse teams and ensure clear, precise project communication.