Nicholas Marshall, Developer in New York, NY, United States
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Nicholas Marshall

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Full-stack Developer

New York, NY, United States

Toptal member since May 2, 2024

Expertise
Ruby on RailsRubyHTML5SQLJavaScriptAWSJiraAgile DevelopmentPostgreSQLDockerCSSMacOSGolangElixir
Bio

Nicholas is a seasoned professional with over eight years of experience as a full-stack web developer. He has worked predominantly with Ruby on Rails (RoR) and PostgreSQL, with additional expertise in JavaScript, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, and Go. Nicholas thrives in challenging environments that require exploring innovative ways to design and develop engaging technological products.

Portfolio

The Gnar
Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Go, Amazon Web Services (AWS), GoCD, GitHub Actions...
Jackpocket
Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Datadog, HTML5, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
TuneCore
Ruby on Rails (RoR), Amazon Web Services (AWS), HTML, CSS, Sidekiq

Experience

  • Research & Critical Thinking - 15 years
  • SQL - 8 years
  • JavaScript - 8 years
  • Ruby on Rails (RoR) - 8 years
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) - 8 years
  • API Development - 6 years
  • Code Architecture - 5 years
  • Stimulus - 2 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Ruby, MacOS, RSpec, PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, GitHub Actions, Stimulus

The most amazing...

...application I've built allowed users to perform background checks on individuals working with children in Massachusetts.

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer

2021 - 2024
The Gnar
  • Developed features for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education's Background Record Check (BRC) unit, working closely with client stakeholders, product staff, and engineering teammates to deliver excellent code rapidly.
  • Architected and developed a critical-path search page, reverting pervasive system outages.
  • Spearheaded mitigation efforts for persistent technical debt issues, continually aligning mandatory upgrades with client needs.
  • Collaborated with all team members as a contributor to feature work and acted as the senior developer responsible for mentorship, oversight, guidance, and process development.
  • Provided guidance and insights to product managers and analysts, leveraging Figma and Confluence to make highly complex engineering processes clear and straightforward.
  • Created a practical approach to accessibility maintenance, allowing for long-term management and insight into areas of front-end concern.
  • Reviewed pull requests submitted by teammates on multiple apps, maintaining code quality standards and providing adequate guidance and feedback.
  • Served as a Ruby subject-matter expert for coworkers outside my direct team, presenting new code approaches and insights into Ruby development.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Go, Amazon Web Services (AWS), GoCD, GitHub Actions, Jira, Confluence, Figma, Agile Software Development, RSpec, PostgreSQL, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), Elixir, Code Architecture, Unit Testing, Continuous Integration (CI)

Senior Software Engineer

2018 - 2021
Jackpocket
  • Delivered features, improved performance, and addressed bugs and outages for a JSON API backing multiple distinct front-end apps, including back-end updates to payment methods, background job processing, and public-facing features.
  • Contributed code to a Rails operations platform used by Jackpocket staff to process lottery tickets (including its own API), notably including a fully dynamic, structured results input page capable of supporting any game included in our system.
  • Supported rapid scaling as we expanded from a small number of states in 2018 to more than ten in 2021.
  • Refactored the codebase to move from a single source of truth to multiple separate feeds as the company expanded into more markets and gained access to more sources of lottery results.
  • Updated public website code to support rebranding and business development operations, including building a system that could function as a dedicated customer acquisition portal at conferences and trade fairs.
  • Integrated Jackpocket with PayPal and Venmo using Braintree, coordinating client interactions and building an integration.
  • Moved Jackpocket's support services to Zendesk and supported iOS and Android developers as they integrated with Zendesk.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Datadog, HTML5, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, PostgreSQL, Sidekiq, Redis, SCSS, Jira

Software Engineer

2018 - 2018
TuneCore
  • Integrated TuneCore with the DocuSign API in support of legal services requiring contract signatures.
  • Developed an OTP authentication system for TuneCore's web platform using the Twilio API.
  • Supported and contributed to team efforts combating a major security breach in our AWS environment.
Technologies: Ruby on Rails (RoR), Amazon Web Services (AWS), HTML, CSS, Sidekiq

Consulting Software Engineer

2017 - 2017
AirTailor
  • Provided engineering consulting services to a very early-stage e-tailoring startup.
  • Rebuilt a front-end React app to use a better Redux pattern and stronger React.
  • Oversaw the refinement of core tech standards in a back-end Ruby app in preparation for the platform's growth that, sadly, never happened.
Technologies: Ruby on Rails (RoR), Heroku, Redux, React

Junior Developer

2016 - 2017
NewlyWish (Acquired by WeddingWire)
  • Built the front-end UI for NewlyWish wedding registry shopping from scratch.
  • Added product color awareness to the shopping interface for NewlyWish.
  • Used Elasticsearch to build autosuggestion and autocompletion for our product search page.
  • Used ImageMagick to improve the product photo experience in our wedding registry interface.
  • Implemented and monitored Datadog for outages and errors, building custom dashboards and alerting to ensure consistent uptime for our tiny team.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Angular, Elasticsearch, MySQL, Bootstrap, Chef, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Sidekiq, Redis, RSpec, ImageMagick

Teaching Assistant

2015 - 2016
General Assembly
  • Provided learning support for students in the Web Development Immersive program as they worked their way through 15 weeks of boot camp training.
  • Reviewed student code for errors and accuracy and provided guided feedback as needed to achieve good learning outcomes.
  • Contributed to lesson plan development and implementation in support of the instructional leads.
Technologies: Ruby on Rails (RoR), jQuery, JavaScript, SQL

Experience

Massachusetts Executive Office of Education's Background Record Check System

The project involved developing features for a distributed Rails app used by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education (EOE) to perform background checks on individuals working with children in Massachusetts. As a full-stack developer, my role was to navigate the complex interaction between multiple data providers to achieve accurate, verifiable results in our system.

Education

2011 - 2013

Master's Degree in North American Religion

Columbia University - New York City, New York, USA

2006 - 2010

Bachelor's Degree in Religious Studies

Wesleyan University - Middletown, Connecticut, USA

Certifications

DECEMBER 2015 - PRESENT

Web Development Immersive Certificate

General Assembly

Skills

Libraries/APIs

API Development, jQuery, Salesforce API, Sidekiq, React, ImageMagick

Tools

RSpec, Jira, Figma, Confluence, Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), Chef

Languages

Ruby, SQL, HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, Go, Elixir, SCSS, HTML

Frameworks

Ruby on Rails (RoR), Stimulus, Redux, Angular, Bootstrap

Paradigms

Unit Testing, Agile Software Development, Continuous Integration (CI), ETL

Platforms

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, MacOS, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Heroku

Storage

PostgreSQL, Datadog, Google Cloud, Redis, Elasticsearch, MySQL

Other

Research & Critical Thinking, Writing & Editing, GitHub Actions, Code Architecture, Philosophy, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Information Theory, Research, GoCD

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