CTO
2021 - 2021Q.ai- Guided the Founder/CEO, bringing his vision of democratizing hedge funds by building a fully automated hedge fund tool, using machine learning to analyze and trade securities based on rapidly changing market conditions as a fractional CTO.
- Architected the overall system platform. Led the software engineering teams to build out the Ruby on Rails back-end API, connect to third-party financial APIs, and develop the React Native mobile application.
- Implemented end-to-end testing and continuous delivery systems.
Technologies: Leadership, Architecture, Business, Finance APIs, Ruby on Rails (RoR), React NativeCTO
2017 - 2020Pulse Platform, LLC- Led a team of globally distributed remote web, iOS, Android, and API developers, QA teams, UI and UX designers, and product managers to build an award-winning mobile and web HIPAA compliant platform connecting doctors and patients.
- Inherited a team that was using older technologies, couldn't achieve scale, and had not adopted standard agile software development practices.
- Led both the team's technical adoption of upgrading to the latest version of Angular.
- Added monitoring, crash monitoring, and performance optimizations to the back-end Ruby on Rails API as well as implemented 100% unit test coverage as well as end-to-end test coverage using Capybara and RSpec.
- Re-architected the data model within PostgreSQL to optimize logical data storage and utilized foreign key constraints to ensure data integrity.
- Added Redis as a data store and caching layer and Sidekiq Pro for asynchronous multithreaded background workers to send emails, push notifications, and generate PDF reporting.
Technologies: Sidekiq, Redis, PostgreSQL, WordPress, Kotlin, Android, Swift, iOS, Angular, Ruby on Rails (RoR)Adjunct Instructor
2017 - 2018Trilogy Education Services- Taught in-person and virtual classrooms of 30+ students for a six-month intensive bootcamp to equip them with the key skills for full-stack web development.
- Taught students how to set up their computers as a development environment, work with GitHub, write code locally, collaborate with peers using GitHub pull request reviews, and deploy their code to production sites on Heroku.
- Had a 97% graduation rate and a 86% job placement rate within the first three months of graduation, proving the education students gained in this program was effective in landing them their ideal job in software development.
Technologies: Homebrew, GitHub, MySQL, Express.js, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Node.js, ReactLead Developer
2016 - 2016Checkmate, Inc.- Led a team of developers from concept to successful launch of the Checkmate iOS app and Ruby on Rails back-end application.
- Mentored the team and built out a secure and scalable solution that seamlessly allowed the iOS app to interact directly with the restaurant's point-of-sale platform, the Stripe API for payment processing, and the Facebook and Twitter API for social sharing.
Technologies: Point of Sale, Twitter API, Facebook API, Stripe API, PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails (RoR), RubyCTO
2015 - 2015Penrose Senior Care Auditors- Leveraged my talents as not only as senior developer but also helped to clearly understand the founders' vision for their product and translate that into a beautiful application. Together, we clearly defined the MVP, laid out expectations, and got to work, ultimately delivering an amazing mobile-friendly MVP.
- Built a Ruby on Rails web application and implemented Stripe's credit card payment processor to charge the client monthly for use of the service.
- Built a mobile-friendly web app and PhoneGap native iOS app so that auditors can perform their audits while on site, providing instant feedback to their clients on the wellness of their loved one.
- Implemented extensive integration tests that allowed me to implement continuous delivery so that bugs could be identified, fixed, and automatically deployed in only minutes.
- Set up a Heroku pipeline for rapid QA, story acceptance, and production deployments.
- Won AARP's Innovation@50+ LivePitch for the Penrose Senior Care Auditors platform on April 27 2016.
Technologies: PostgreSQL, RSpec, Stripe, jQuery, Ruby on Rails (RoR), RubyCTO
2014 - 2015OneHQ- Upgraded multiple web applications in their SOA from Rails 3 to Rails 4.
- Spearheaded the transformation of deployment for our web applications to continuous delivery for all apps in our SOA utilizing Rspec, Capybara, Factory Girl via third-party integrations with GitHub, TravisCI, CodeClimate, and Engine Yard.
- Implemented stunning interactive big data visualizations utilizing d3.js.
- Built and launched our iOS and Andriod smartphone applications implemented via PhoneGap framework.
- Implemented multiple API-based integrations with third-party products such as ZenDesk, Constant Contact, Pivotal Tracker, and more.
Technologies: Authorization, Authentication, CAS, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), D3.js, jQuery, RSpec, PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails (RoR), RubyVP of Technology and Product
2010 - 2014BLiNQ Media- Established the product vision, strategy, and development in creating the product Local LiFT, which launched in under six months and won the Facebook PMD Innovation Award in Oct 2013.
- Built Facebook's first ever third-party ad management platform that created multi-variant social ads for their Facebook Ads API before it was publicly released.
- Implemented a custom in-house ad optimization algorithm that systematically determined winners and losers for advertising campaigns and make budgeting, day-parting, and other optimization decisions based on that that intelligence.
- Developed a brand analysis algorithm and application that would allow big brands to evaluate their Facebook social presence against that of their competitors, find overlaps, and discover new keywords and demographics for optimal targeting all without spending a single dollar.
- Upgraded the entire SOA stack from Rails 2 to Rails 3 and then Rails 4 as well as switching from Resque to Sidekiq, which delivered nearly 8x in performance improvements.
Technologies: Facebook Open Graph API, Engine Yard, Resque, Sidekiq, MySQL, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby, OAuth 2, Facebook Connect, Facebook Ads APIFounder
2005 - 2010Calculated Combustion- Built a custom marketplace for the biotechnology industry using Merb, DataMapper, and Solr Search.
- Helped found the Ruby Midwest conference, creating an amazing conference for people passionate about Ruby to network and learn in the heart of the Midwest. Organizer of KC Ruby.
- Built an in-image and in-screen advertising platform, driving brand engagement for advertisers. The patented in-image ads are overlaid on editorial photos where a user's attention is actively focused, creating higher viewability and engagement, to a better consumer experience.
- Built a social management dashboard that connected to Facebook and Twitter for compliance-based content creation, multi-network engagement and listening, and reporting.
- Built a revolutionary knowledge e-learning service which dramatically increased retention and learning speed.
Technologies: Unobtrusive JavaScript, XML, Solr, Ruby on Rails (RoR), Ruby