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Draco Li, Software Developer in New York, NY, United States
Draco Li

Software Developer in New York, NY, United States

Member since September 17, 2013
Draco is an award-winning app developer and lead engineer who has worked at a number of early-stage startups in industries ranging from online retail, personal insurance to mobile gaming. As one of the founding engineers at Dots, he launched TwoDots (50+ million downloads) and Dots & Co (1.5+ million downloads in the first two days). He also served as the engineering lead at Loose Button, where he launched an online AD network that grew to over $1 million in sales in just three months.
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Portfolio

  • MasterHealth
    Node.js, AWS, React Native, TypeScript, Back-end
  • DollarOP
    Google Cloud Storage, Heroku, Jest, WebSockets, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby...
  • Jerry
    Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS, Jest, Apollo, Sequelize, Redux, GraphQL...

Experience

Location

New York, NY, United States

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Xcode, Slack, VS Code, Git

The most amazing...

...app that I've developed is called TwoDots (+50 million downloads). It ranked #1 in over 100 countries on both the App Store and Play Store.

Employment

  • Engineering Lead

    2020 - 2021
    MasterHealth
    • Led all the engineering development of a cross-platform, subscription-based healthcare app.
    • Managed a team of remote engineers to build the back-end API.
    • Oversaw the initial development and creation of a flexible program data schema that allows new healthcare programs to be easily created by the team.
    Technologies: Node.js, AWS, React Native, TypeScript, Back-end

  • Lead Architect

    2019 - 2020
    DollarOP
    • Planned and architected the core online retail platform for DollarOP, including a GraphQL back end and a SPA for the client-facing retail platform.
    • Designed and developed a unique purchasing process that allows users to purchase shares of an item via credit card or cryptocurrency.
    • Oversaw the launch of DollarOP, which saw over 1,000 users on the first day of launch.
    Technologies: Google Cloud Storage, Heroku, Jest, WebSockets, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby, Phaser.io, GraphQL, Apollo, TypeScript, JavaScript

  • Engineering Team Lead

    2018 - 2019
    Jerry
    • Led a team of senior engineers to manage the development of the Jerry CRM system that is used by over 100 internal and external insurance agents.
    • Collaborated with the leadership team to improve internal team processes, code quality, and cross-team communication. This enabled us to double our engineering headcounts within six months.
    • Managed a remote development team of three engineers based in Lviv, Ukraine, to assist in CRM product development.
    Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS, Jest, Apollo, Sequelize, Redux, GraphQL, Node.js, React, Flow, JavaScript

  • Staff Engineer

    2013 - 2019
    Playdots
    • Led the development of back-end microservices for purchase tracking using Go workers for events processing via AWS SQS. This service is used in production by TwoDots (50+ million downloads) and Dots & Co (10+ million downloads).
    • Contributed core features to the Ruby on Rails back end for TwoDots, which handles player inventory syncing, weekly events, cheating detection, A/B testing, authentication, install tracking, and global leaderboard for over 1 million DAUs.
    • Developed back-end services for player data syncing, authentication, install tracking, and multiple in-game event systems.
    • Contributed to the architecture and development of Dots, TwoDots, Dots & Co, and multiple unannounced games.
    Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Phaser.io, CoffeeScript, Java, Xcode, Objective-C, AWS, Unity, C#, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby, GoLand, Go, JavaScript

  • Engineering Lead

    2012 - 2013
    Loose Button (Acquired)
    • Managed all technical developments and launched a number of services including a dashboard for large CPG brands, an online retail store, and a subscription service for tights.
    • Developed the core analytics dashboard for the ad network, which grew from nothing to over $1 million in sales within three months.
    • Improved overall hiring process for software engineers and established a formal performance review system.
    Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS, JavaScript, Django, Python

Experience

  • TwoDots
    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/two-dots/id880178264

    TwoDots is a casual mobile game. I was the lead back-end engineer and also one of the core developers for the mobile game.
    For the back end, I led the development of a microservice for purchase tracking, systems for player event data syncing, cheat detection, weekly events, global leaderboards, and an internal A/B testing platform.
    For the game, I led the development of the level editor, weekly events, and multiple SDKs to interact with back-end microservices.

  • DollarOP

    DollarOP is a custom-built online retail store that allows users to purchase shares of an item. It includes a unique purchase flow, a live winning selection event, and a payment process that allows both credit card payments and cryptocurrencies.
    I was the lead engineer behind this project. I designed and developed both the back-end API and the SPA for the client-side retail store.
    The back end uses GraphQL and WebSockets to enable flexible data retrieval and instant updates on the online store when purchases are made. The front end is built with React and is both interactive and performant. The web app also includes a live winning selection event that is built with the HTML5 gaming framework, Phaser.js.

  • Dots & Co
    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dots-co-a-puzzle-adventure/id1100331256

    Dots & Co is a popular mobile game available both on iOS and Android. I led the development of the back end and the in-game level editor for Dots & Co.
    For the back end, I designed and built a player inventory syncing system and a platform to A/B test and provide data to the in-game economy.
    For the game, I led the development of the level editor and built the weekly event system.

Skills

  • Languages

    Ruby, JavaScript, GraphQL, TypeScript, CSS, HTML, C#, SQL, Objective-C, Go, PHP, Python, Java, CoffeeScript

  • Frameworks

    Ruby on Rails (RoR), Unity, Django, Express.js, Redux, Jest, Phaser.io, React Native

  • Libraries/APIs

    React, Facebook API, Node.js

  • Tools

    Sequelize, Git, VS Code, Slack, Xcode, Flow, GoLand

  • Platforms

    iOS, Heroku, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • Storage

    PostgreSQL, Google Cloud Storage

  • Other

    Apollo, WebSockets, AWS, Back-end

Education

  • Bachelor of Commerce degree in Commerce and Computer Science
    2008 - 2012
    Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario
  • Bachelor of Commerce degree in Commerce and Computing
    2010 - 2011
    National University of Singapore - Singapore

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