Sergei Garcia

Typing.com, a robust educational platform serving around 35+ million users monthly. Facing a rapidly growing user base, the platform was in dire need of a technology overhaul. As the lead front-end developer, I was at the forefront of this upgrade, writing over 60% of the new codebase myself and directing a small team of two other engineers in the process. Our task: a comprehensive refactoring from Backbone.js to React.

My role expanded beyond coding responsibilities. Guided by Basecamp's Shape Up methodology over traditional Agile and Scrum, I assumed substantial ownership of the project. It was my responsibility to precisely dissect complex requirements, furnish time estimates, and communicate progress updates directly to upper management. Additionally, I conceived and brought significant operational enhancements to fruition, including a robust PR process, a coherent issue triage system, and a standardized design system component library.

Throughout this herculean two-plus-year task, my passion for quality, dedication, and effective communication had a profound impact on the broader organization, inspiring other teams to elevate their performance. This dedication to excellence earned praise from management and peers alike.

At Deviget, I led the development of RxVantage as a JavaScript Architect, a medical application innovatively bridging the communication gap between pharmaceutical reps and healthcare providers. Leveraging the Vue/Nuxt, Apollo GraphQL, Vee Validate, lodash, and Vuetify stack, the platform could provide instant access to an expansive network of industry representatives and enable efficient appointment scheduling, real-time request handling, and meeting logistics automation.

Alongside heavy coding, I managed and mentored a mixed-experience team of two developers, fostering an environment of continuous learning and boosting development speed and tech stack understanding. The merits of which were widely recognized by the managerial team. The impact was palpable: we successfully digitized a traditionally offline communication process, significantly enhancing the healthcare-pharmaceutical interaction landscape.

As the senior software engineer at DigitalOnUs, I spearheaded a migration project for intellius.com, a leading US public information provider. I orchestratee revampinf the checkout flow, transitioning it from Ember to an upgraded tech stack comprising Vue.js, Express, Apollo, and GraphQL. This switch was triggered by the need for better performance, speed, and maintainability.

The use of GraphQL not only improved network speed by reducing request round trips but also vastly enriched the developer experience due to its inherent ease of handling complex, relational data requests. I also dedicated a significant portion of my time to rigorous code reviews, fostering a culture of high coding standards within the mixed geography team.

Despite the team's initial unfamiliarity with Vue and GraphQL, I adopted a proactive mindset and took a lead role in mastering these tools. I then shared this expertise with the team through a series of bi-weekly workshops aimed at raising the team's skill level to match the demands of our ambitious project. My active mentoring and focus on skill alignment were highly commended by team members and management alike.

I was involved in two key projects for Expedia.com during my tenure at Luxoft. One was maintaining and improving Expedia.com's legacy jQuery codebase concerning the website's booking process. I introduced modern programming strategies to refactor parts of the sprawling, monolithic code into functional components, significantly boosting code maintainability.

Simultaneously, I participated in developing an ad-serving platform for Expedia.com, founded on Node.js and Express.js. I spearheaded a major improvement by creating an automated testing pipeline using Selenium and Puppeteer, which expedited testing time by an impressive 300%. This strategic intervention uplifted the development quality while reducing delivery timelines.

During my engagement at Luxoft, I was at the forefront of developing a key MVP hospitality wizard for HomeAway (now Vrbo), a substantial player in the online vacation rental marketplace. This groundbreaking project introduced me to advanced technology stacks such as React, Apollo, and GraphQL, operating on a Hapi.js/GraphQL server.

Coming into the project, I led the development, presenting myself with the challenge of mastering GraphQL, a novel technology during the project's inception. Displaying adaptability and quick learning capabilities, I transitioned proficiently into this new technology. This instance was a testament to my resourcefulness and sustained effort towards staying up-to-date with emerging trends in the field.