Donnie Waters, Front-end Developer in Indianapolis, IN, United States
Donnie Waters

Front-end Developer in Indianapolis, IN, United States

Member since April 25, 2022
Donnie is a reliable front-end engineer passionate about learning new things while delivering efficient products. He has over six years of experience working as a software engineer focusing on React Native on the front end. Donnie developed his own mobile app on the side, amassing over two million downloads.
Donnie is now available for hire

Portfolio

  • RL Garage for Rocket League
    JavaScript, React Native, Node.js, PHP, WebSockets, Firebase...
  • Lessonly
    JavaScript, React, Redux, Visual Studio Code, Time Management, Agile...
  • Viral Launch
    JavaScript, Vue, Vuex, Nuxt.js, React Native, Chrome Extensions...

Experience

Location

Indianapolis, IN, United States

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Visual Studio Code, JavaScript, React, React Native, Mobile Apps, Mobile App Development, Web & Mobile Applications, Consumer-facing Products, Video Gaming

The most amazing...

...thing I've developed is my app, RL Garage for Rocket League, a companion app for all things related to the Rocket League.

Employment

  • Co-owner

    2017 - PRESENT
    RL Garage for Rocket League
    • Developed the app as a side project in 2019, fixed bugs, and created new features. Started working on it full time in early 2021.
    • Amassed over a million downloads on iOS and Android, 4+ star reviews on each platform, and close to three million users on the app.
    • Oversaw all JavaScript development on the website and back end, including a Node.js server for retrieving requests from an AWS SQS queue to run commands on a remote server running the game Rocket League.
    • Created the PHP API from existing PHP Ajax calls used on the site with no prior knowledge of PHP to enable the app to work with the existing back end.
    • Interacted with users daily through support tickets, Discord server, or the app and website to fix bugs or receive feedback about the app.
    Technologies: JavaScript, React Native, Node.js, PHP, WebSockets, Firebase, Push Notifications, User Management, Appodeal, Google AdMob, Visual Studio Code, React, Time Management, Web Development, Mobile Apps, Mobile App Development, Web & Mobile Applications, Consumer-facing Products, Video Gaming, TypeScript
  • Senior Front-end Engineer

    2020 - 2021
    Lessonly
    • Contributed to an education software platform created to allow employers to develop custom lesson plans to educate employees on how to best perform their jobs.
    • Implemented the new lesson elements within the existing lesson creation system, such as video responses. Fit modern best practices into the existing legacy lesson creation system.
    • Used modern React design paradigms when working with the legacy codebase written in React on Rails with old Redux code to refactor and modernize it.
    • Implemented new features, fixed bugs, and reviewed code from team members at all experience levels while working across multiple React projects.
    • Collaborated with the design team and director of product and engineering to flesh out new features and plan how they would fit into our existing codebase.
    Technologies: JavaScript, React, Redux, Visual Studio Code, Time Management, Agile, Web Development, Web & Mobile Applications, Consumer-facing Products, Scrum
  • Software Engineer

    2019 - 2020
    Viral Launch
    • Worked in a startup-like environment with constantly changing requirements. Maintained ability to pivot easily and work on whatever the highest priority at that moment was.
    • Worked on a main company marketing website using Vue.js and Nuxt.js to provide server-side rendering and good SEO.
    • Developed a Vue.js app that listed Amazon items with deals that were exclusive to our platform. Worked directly with the CEO of the company on features to get the site exactly how he wanted.
    • Worked on a prototype for an app for the Amazon deal finding software, using React Native, reporting directly to the CEO.
    • Worked on a Chrome extension that injected coupons into Amazon pages directly to show users available discounts on items.
    Technologies: JavaScript, Vue, Vuex, Nuxt.js, React Native, Chrome Extensions, Visual Studio Code, Time Management, Agile, WebSockets, Web Development, Mobile Apps, Mobile App Development, Web & Mobile Applications, Consumer-facing Products, Scrum
  • Software Engineer

    2016 - 2018
    Software Engineering Professionals
    • Practiced pair and mob programming and regularly performed code review and user story and issue tracking on full-stack projects across multiple repositories.
    • Collaborated with the teams of 6-13 following the Agile and Scrum development process, including two-week sprints, daily stand-ups, and sprint retrospectives.
    • Managed requirements and project needs while working with the clients.
    Technologies: Java, JavaScript, Angular, React, Node.js, Visual Studio Code, Time Management, Agile, WebSockets, Web Development, Web & Mobile Applications, Scrum, TypeScript

Experience

  • RL Garage for Rocket League
    https://rocket-league.com/app

    RL Garage brings the biggest Rocket League trading and car design platform to the user's phone. It provides post-trade offers and connects the user with other players. As the official companion app for rocket-league.com, designed and optimized for mobile, RL Garage is the largest trading platform for Rocket League, with over 5,000,000 registered users.

    I am the primary mobile app developer of this project, writing 95% of the code inside it. Along with development, I wrote many API endpoints for interacting with the database and oversaw Node.js apps running on AWS to generate in-game screenshots of Rocket League on command.

    As one of the owners, I also interacted with our users daily through our Discord server of over 200,000 members, support ticketing system, and the app or website messaging system.

  • Cloudflare Worker to Cache API

    This project was for RL Garage for Rocket League. Every day at 3 PM EST, we sent a push notification to our users to let them know that the in-game item shop was updated, resulting in a tremendous amount of traffic hitting our back end.

    To curb this, I built a Cloudflare Workers on top of our API to cache most affected endpoints to cut the load on servers by a quarter of what it was before. This idea came when I tried to reduce our server load and database crashes and lower our server costs on AWS. The worker is written in JavaScript using Cloudflare Workers cache API.

  • Conversation Element in Lessonly
    https://seismic.com/lessonly/

    React app built upon original React on Rails application. The platform was designed for managers and employers to create lesson plans for their employees to perform their job duties better or onboard them for new responsibilities. It is like making PowerPoint presentations but with more powerful tools like progress tracking, quiz taking, and video and audio recording.

    My duties on this project varied over time. One of the largest tasks I worked on was introducing a new element type to lessons called conversations. It involved creating a custom test conversation and quizzing the participant on the best responses during the conversation. The target audience for this was customer support agents. I implemented most of the front end for creating and taking this lesson element.

    During the implementation of this project, I worked directly with the director of product and engineering to meet the requirements. I also worked with the design team to ensure the product fit well into our latest design guidelines and provided guidance for what was and wasn't possible in our tech.

Skills

  • Languages

    JavaScript, Sass, Java, PHP, TypeScript
  • Frameworks

    React Native, Redux, Angular, Nuxt.js
  • Libraries/APIs

    React, Node.js, Vue, Vuex
  • Paradigms

    Scrum, Agile
  • Platforms

    Visual Studio Code, Firebase
  • Other

    Time Management, User Management, Web Development, Video Gaming, WebSockets, Push Notifications, Mobile Apps, Mobile App Development, Web & Mobile Applications, Consumer-facing Products, Google AdMob, Cloudflare, Chrome Extensions
  • Tools

    Appodeal

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering
    2012 - 2016
    Rose Hulman Institute of Technology - Terre Haute, Indiana, USA

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