
Fred Shepherd
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Berlin, Germany
Toptal member since June 16, 2020
Fred is a front-end-focused software engineer passionate about crafting intuitive UIs and reliable systems using modern web technologies. He is a creative problem-solver who does his best work when tasked with finding innovative solutions to complex requirements. Fred has spent most of the last three years specializing in React and TypeScript while working for an Austin-based SaaS startup, where he was initially recruited only for a three-month contract.
Portfolio
Experience
- React - 6 years
- TypeScript - 6 years
- Jest - 5 years
- Next.js - 4 years
- Tailwind CSS - 3 years
- Figma - 2 years
- React Native - 2 years
- Vercel - 2 years
Availability
Preferred Environment
Slack, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), MacOS
The most amazing...
...achievement has been reaching 2000 users with my non-serious side project, Thirty Plants!
Work Experience
Senior Front-end Engineer
Backpack
- Mentored and onboarded new team members as the team grew significantly in size after an acquisition.
- Led the development of several complex front-end features, establishing robust testing strategies and ensuring highly maintainable React code.
- Assisted with devising strategies for difficult migrations, such as moving from SCSS Modules to Tailwind, Flow.js to TypeScript, CRA to Vite, and introducing a new color scheme.
- Made significant improvements to the team's CI/CD and development processes, leading a restructuring of the front end to support deploy previews and staging environments and assisting with DevOps tasks using GitHub Actions and Docker.
- Worked closely with designers in planning and developing a new design system/component library.
Senior Front-end Engineer
Bractlet
- Developed an innovative system for converting real-world utility bill data into a format suitable for Energy Star submission and then submitting/syncing this information via the Energy Star API.
- Created and maintained various dashboard pages, working with Chart.js and SVG to display customer data.
- Made performance enhancements across the app using tools like React virtualized.
Software Engineer
Midas Audio Systems
- Designed and implemented a file syncing service running on the 2020 generation of Midas Consoles. This was very challenging as it had to handle version control as well as conflicts from changes on multiple devices.
- Played a key role in creating a React component library used in multiple applications across the company. This was a useful insight for writing highly generic components and deploying without npm (since the project was not open-source).
- Oversaw the development of our main client-facing web application (cloud.midasconsoles.com) built in React. This was an extensive React project with features comparable to Google Drive.
Junior Software Engineer
Midas Audio Systems
- Assisted in building the foundations of a large-scale microservice cloud system. Seeing this project develop from its humble beginnings was truly valuable, clarifying what errors to avoid in the future.
- Developed a web app to receive and display real-time logging information using AngularJS. This included the use of Socket.IO and the implementation of real-time filtering and search features.
- Developed several internal tools for desktop (cross-platform) using Electron.js. This led to tremendous productivity boosts in other parts of the company as we were able to streamline everything from build processes to ACL management.
Experience
Thirty Plants
http://thirtyplants.appThe web and mobile front ends can share large amounts of code through the use of React Native for Web and other libraries.
I also implemented full end-to-end type safety using Prisma, Zod, and tRPC, creating a system where run-time errors are essentially impossible and new development can be extremely fast.
Bractlet Main Website
https://bractlet.com/My role was primarily building the application's front end using React, but my responsibilities often included implementing full-stack changes for new features, from database migrations and new API routes to HTML and CSS.
It was a joy to work with some excellent designers during this assignment, building some really beautiful and intuitive interfaces.
Backpack Main Website
https://backpacknetworks.com/Education
Master's Degree in Physics and Astrophysics
University of Manchester - Manchester, United Kingdom
Skills
Libraries/APIs
React, Node.js, Three.js, PostgREST, Chart.js, React Final Form, React Native for Web, React Query
Tools
Webpack, Sketch, Figma, Slack, Flow, Expo, MATLAB, Chartio, Handsontable
Languages
TypeScript, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, GraphQL, Go, CSS3, HTML5, C++, SCSS
Frameworks
Tailwind CSS, Next.js, Redux, Jest, React Native, Electron, Angular
Platforms
Vercel, Docker, Netlify, MacOS, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Storage
PostgreSQL, MongoDB
Paradigms
Serverless Architecture
Industry Expertise
Web Design
Other
Front-end, Gatsby, Serverless, Full-stack, Design, SVG, Vite
How to Work with Toptal
Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.
Share your needs
Choose your talent
Start your risk-free talent trial
Top talent is in high demand.
Start hiring