- CTOSpendabit2014 - PRESENT
- Developed a custom 'scraper' engine capable of locating and importing products from arbitrary e-commerce websites.
- Constructed a search engine with an index of millions of products from hundreds of external sources (e-commerce websites, primarily).
- Devised novel algorithms ('tricks') for improving search-result relevance beyond standard keyword matching methods.
- Managed a test-suite covering hundreds of use-cases and edge-cases across search, scraping, and basic app functionality.
- Designed a responsive user interface using HTML5, CSS, Bootstrap, and a sprinkling of JavaScript.
Technologies: Scala, Scalatra, PostgreSQL - DeveloperEmailium2014 - 2015
- Supported a second-hand Rails application with limited documentation.
- Extended said Rails app to add new features ranging from enhanced search functionality to user interface improvements.
- Reverse-engineered many app components for lack of solid documentation.
Technologies: Ruby on Rails, MySQL, Sphinx - Chief Programmer and TechnologistDownsizeDC.org & Zero Aggression Project2009 - 2014
- Designed and implemented the “Educate the Powerful” System, a tool enabling constituents of the U.S. Congress to quickly and efficiently contact their (so-called) representatives, via automation of congressional web-forms.
- Developed a polling and petitioning application for ZeroAggressionProject.org using Scala and Scalatra micro-framework.
- Maintained a number of websites across several servers, including individual and shared test suites to keep it all ticking smoothly.
- Developed custom mailing-list management software (as replacement for the rickety phpList open-source tool) used to send regular mailings to a 30,000-subscriber mailing list, coded in Scala and leveraging the JavaMail stack.
- Provided counsel on all of the organization's technical matters.
- Delivered technical support to the organization's user base as well as the team.
Technologies: Scala, Java, PHP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Tomcat, Linux - Senior DeveloperPubget2008 - 2009
- Held one of two development roles in getting the Pubget bio-science search engine off the ground.
- Led the development of a powerful 'screen-scraping' engine which enabled Pubget to aggregate articles from thousands of scientific journals and provide access to the latest journal articles (from Nature, JAMA, etc.) days or weeks ahead of the then industry-standard PubMed.
- Leveraged a powerful Solr search server, distributed across many physical machines, to provide split-second search across the content of millions of scientific articles.
- Experienced a start-up company going from the "out-of-the-garage" phase to becoming a "real" company with an office, proper staff, and the things that go along with that.
- Spearheaded the company's automated testing efforts (unit tests, etc).
Technologies: Ruby on Rails, MySQL, Apache Solr (search platform) - Lead DeveloperSCRIP-SAFE2005 - 2007
- Developed a Java/J2EE-based web application to enable educational institutions to exchange confidential documents (namely, student transcripts) securely.
- Leveraged a number of agile (in comparison to other Java technologies, anyway) and open-source technologies, including Hibernate, Spring, and Lucene.
- Worked with non-technical people within the organization and at institutions to understand the requirements and needs of those in the industry.
Technologies: Java, Struts, Hibernate, Spring, Lucene, Linux
