Employment
Staff Software Engineer, PhotoShelter
2012 - Present
PhotoShelter is a leading digital asset management solution for brands and photographers, featuring cloud storage and tools for distribution, collaboration, e-commerce, and more. It powers tens of thousands of websites and hosts roughly a billion objects in a privately operated cloud, with 100% data fidelity and better uptime than Amazon. Talented coworkers and talented clients make this a neat place to work!
As a staff engineer I leverage a wide breadth of experience in relevant technologies and knowledge of the product to sustainably scale features, the tech that powers them, and the team of engineers who build them. I foster discussion of tech topics that concern broad swaths of the engineering team, facilitate the defining and upkeep of standards, and provide mentorship for more junior teammates.
As part of this work I've given internal presentations on accessible markup and RESTful API design, and drafted RFCs for APIs, webhooks, bulk metadata import, and automated SSL cert generation.
I also helped found our homebrew beer club.
Here are some things I've worked on recently!
- designed, developed, and deployed a microservice for bulk automated generation and renewal of SSL certs which currently handles about 10,000 domains
- migrated the marketing site, authenticated member areas, and all member tools to be 100% HTTPS
- modified the subscription/billing platform to support better signup and trial experiences
- upgraded the custom framework used for member websites from hash-based routing to the History API
- added API support for generic asset hosting, two factor authentication, FTP administration, and more
- rolled out comprehensive logging to track key usage metrics across every version of the public APIs
- added CSRF mitigation to the most sensitive forms
- integrations with Google Analytics, ZenDesk, Instagram, and SendGrid
QA Engineer, Speedy Spots Inc.
2005 - 2012
As part of the quality control team my responsibilities included reviewing, editing, and mixing dozens of broadcast-ready audio productions. I also served as an in-house product owner for the launch of our externally developed web app, an order processing system tailored to the needs of real-time audio production.
Milestone: Launch of the web based ordering and processing app "Spot Management System", late 2011. The external devs reported that the efficiency of my communication during the preceding year saved tens of thousands of dollars in developmental costs. 100% of orders are now processed, tracked, and delivered online using this system.
Education
Student, Eastern Michigan University
2004 - 2008
- Major: Electronic Media
- 2nd Major: Political Science
Go green: I designed and maintained the website for EMU's student radio station, Eagle Radio. Also served as President of the Eagle Radio student organization, and an on-air DJ.
Digital Volunteerism
Communications, The Family Dinner Project
2018 - 2020
Helped prepare newsletters for a non-profit geared towards families while they were in between contracts with long-term vendors.
Webmaster, Black Diaries
2015 - 2017
Built and maintained the website for a small non-profit that empowers people of color to share their stories. More details here.
Volunteer, Community Action Network
2010 - 2011
Provided extra help for special events relating to the Bryant Community Center, including DJ services and event poster graphic design. Also helped with computer maintenance in the center's lab.
Quick Facts
Proficiency in PHP, OOP, SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL), JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Sass, Smarty, jQuery, Git, Jira, Scrum.
Experience with Two Factor Authentication, OAuth, HLS, WebVTT, XSS/CSRF prevention, SSL/TLS best practices, Redis, Lumen (Laravel), Logstash/Kibana, Docker, Composer, Node, Python, Jekyll, Bash, Apache, Wordpress, agile and lean methodologies.
General knowledge of PHP-FIG PSRs 1-4, copyrights and trademarks, and proper attributeion of licensed material.
I can ride a motorcycle and moonwalk, though not at the same time.