SDK Development Developer in Chicago, IL, United States

I'm the author of a persistable object-relational mapping (ORM) JS library. In the same way that RoR's ActiveRecord makes interacting with a database trivial in most use cases, ActiveResource aims to make interacting with RESTful API servers on the front-end just as easy.

It maps JavaScript classes to server endpoints, allowing you to query resources much like ActiveRecord, including related resources (even nested) and building the response into interrelated JS objects/resources. Then you can save changes to these resources to your server.

An "API layer" on the front-end usually means moving around flat objects of JSON data to hardcoded URL endpoints using basic jQuery AJAX (or similar) and a lot of elbow grease.

Managing complex resources and relationships doesn't scale well using this method. ActiveResource allows anyone to navigate their resource server from the frontend so easily: fetching and filtering resources and collections and their relationships, updating attributes and relationships of resources, deleting resources and collections, and more.

It makes development go way more smoothly when making SPAs. There is also an immutable mode for such architectures.

It is a great framework to build SDKs with.

I'm the author of an open source RubyGem called Caprese.

Caprese is a Rails library for creating RESTful APIs in as few lines as possible. It handles all the CRUD operations on resources and their relationships for you, allowing you to customize the behavior of your endpoints—rather than the dirty work of writing repetitive code for each endpoint of each resource in your application.

The library uses the robust JSON API standard (http://jsonapi.org/format/) to power its complex set of features for managing resources via a RESTful API.

It's great when you can work on projects that are making a difference in the world, and cause-based consulting (CBC) was one of them for me. As a web designer and developer, I created for them an HTML website, and it highlights the aesthetic side of my work that creates a modern look and feel for the functional applications that I usually create.

CBC sells consulting services to design and implement social impact programs for companies. Some companies aren't convinced this is necessary, or that it is the best use of their resources.

CBC wanted to speak to the hero in these people—evoking a sense of greatness by improving the world that would inspire and lead to action. I created landing pages to do just that, and the team at CBC was very happy with the result.

For three years, I worked as CTO of the Chicago nonprofit called Humanity Rising—scaling their operations from one school in Chicago to over 15,000 students nationally.

Over the years, I was critical in strategizing and launching Humanity Rising's programs: a scholarship engine that enabled companies to award scholarships to students who performed service in causes the company supported as well as a leadership event network that started in Memphis and then expanded to Chicago.

In October 2016, we invited 67 students from across Chicago Public Schools to attend a one-day leadership event at George Westinghouse College Prep in East Garfield Park, where they'd receive the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) training.

The training gave the students the knowledge and confidence to intervene in situations that frequently lead to violence, as well as information about bullying, healthy relationships, and gender roles and stereotypes.

Keynote speakers were interspersed between breakout groups, one of which I led. Overall, the day was very rewarding, and many students who came said they were going to go back and tell their friends they should've come!