Zak Miller, Software Engineer and Developer in Cary, NC, United States
Zak Miller

Software Engineer and Developer in Cary, NC, United States

Member since April 27, 2021
Zak is a versatile senior software engineer who has built web services, web apps, imaging libraries, and mobile apps specializing in distributed systems. He designed a unique solution to gather statistics of the annual homeless count used by non-profits across the country. He has served as scrum master on teams, as the developer representative on projects, and managed contractors to speed up development.
Zak is now available for hire

Portfolio

  • Plotly Technologies
    Apache Kafka, CockroachDB, PostgreSQL, GraphQL, Kubernetes, APIs...
  • Hyperion Data
    Vue, Vuex, Firebase, Cloud Firestore, Go, OpenLayers, Git, TypeScript...
  • Freelance
    TypeScript, React, JavaScript, Rust, Python 3

Experience

Location

Cary, NC, United States

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Visual Studio Code, WebStorm

The most amazing...

...software solution I've built is used by non-profits across the country to gather and deliver the annual homeless count.

Employment

  • Staff Back-end Software Engineer

    2021 - PRESENT
    Plotly Technologies
    • Led a team of five to develop the back end and supporting architecture for Plotly's flagship product https://plotly.com/dash/.
    • Architected a fault-tolerant, event-driven system using Kafka, Kubernetes, and CockroachDB.
    • Built a fast and reliable GraphQL API that allows users to easily scale their data science and ML dashboards with a click of a button.
    • Assisted the product owner to narrow requirements to balance building the product quickly while ensuring a solid foundation for future development.
    Technologies: Apache Kafka, CockroachDB, PostgreSQL, GraphQL, Kubernetes, APIs, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Next.js, NestJS, Node.js, React, Helm, Leadership, Architecture, Software Architecture, CircleCI, WebSockets, CI/CD Pipelines, Webpack, NPM
  • CEO

    2019 - PRESENT
    Hyperion Data
    • Developed a Vue.js web app used by thousands of volunteers across the country for the annual Point In Time (PIT) count.
    • Created a Vue.js web app for monitoring the point in time count where administrators can see the data coming in real-time, contacted volunteers, cleaned up data, and exported it to various formats.
    • Spoke to non-profits across the country to identify standard practices for the Point In Time (PIT) count.
    • Built a Go Web API and back-end functions in TypeScript.
    • Collaborated with and managed a contractor to speed up development.
    Technologies: Vue, Vuex, Firebase, Cloud Firestore, Go, OpenLayers, Git, TypeScript, GeoJSON, Node.js, JavaScript, REST APIs, APIs, Cloud, DevOps, Netlify, Front-end, HTML5, CSS3, User Experience (UX)
  • Individual Contributor

    2018 - PRESENT
    Freelance
    • Added additional refactoring capability to Nicoespeon and Abracadabra, a JavaScript and TypeScript refactoring VSCode plugin.
    • Fixed a bug in Microsoft and TypeScript (some valid refactorings weren't being recognized).
    • Added minor functionality to multi-organization Material-UI, one of the most common UI frameworks for React.
    • Identified, reported, and diagnosed a bug in HuggingFace tokenizers - a machine learning library written in Rust and Python.
    Technologies: TypeScript, React, JavaScript, Rust, Python 3
  • Senior Application Developer

    2018 - 2019
    Ultimate Medical Academy
    • Identified a pain point (it was difficult to see what data was available, where it was available from, and to manage to query it from different sources), suggested a solution (GraphQL), built an MVP, and shepherded it into mainstream use.
    • Served as the developer representative for the architecture team, suggesting broad improvements to the way we were doing things.
    • Developed a dynamic rules engine to flexibly and transparently control scheduling outreach to students.
    • Introduced unit tests, integration tests, and load testing to a company that desperately needed those ideas.
    • Designed and built multiple web service APIs (some by myself, some with others).
    • Contributed to the development of an Angular web app to streamline the enrollment process for students.
    Technologies: Angular, C#, .NET Core, Azure, SQL, GraphQL, Git, APIs, REST APIs, Cloud, DevOps
  • Software Engineer II

    2015 - 2018
    Accusoft
    • Standardized the process for handling support requests across five SDK teams.
    • Standardized the Git and CI/CD processes across five SDK teams.
    • Designed and architected a major new feature (programmatic comparison of PDF files).
    • Served as scrum master for a team of five and interfaced with other scrum masters to keep the teams aligned.
    • Added functionality to support PDF/A and Acroforms in the PDF imaging library.
    Technologies: C#, C++, SDKs, Digital Imaging, GitLab, Jenkins, Agile Software Development

Experience

  • Hyperion
    https://pointintimecount.com

    I am the CEO and lead developer for Hyperion, an app to help non-profits across the country with the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. The PIT count is an annual census of the homeless population done by tens of thousands of volunteers across the country.

    Historically, maps were handed out to volunteers showing them where to look for people experiencing homelessness. Each volunteer would bring a small stack of surveys to fill out with pen and paper. The surveys are often fairly complex, and the entire PIT count needs to be completed within 24 hours, and the bulk of the survey is often conducted at night. This led to hurried and often illegible answers, missed questions, and an all-around poor experience.

    I wrote an app that tells volunteers where to go with a map (such as Google Maps), shows them exactly the questions they need to ask (hiding the others), and instantly reports answers to the administrators (with geotagging and timestamps attached). The administrative dashboard helps administrators move volunteers around during the count, clean up the data, and more.

  • Swipebite
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.swipe.swipebite&hl=en_US&gl=US

    Swipebite is a flutter app that lets groups of friends swipe at nearby restaurants. You can look through 50 restaurants in about a minute and find one that you and your friends are excited about. I wrote the app by myself.

Skills

  • Languages

    TypeScript, JavaScript, C#, GraphQL, C++, SQL, Go, Rust, Python 3, HTML5, CSS3
  • Libraries/APIs

    Vue, REST APIs, Node.js, Vuex, OpenLayers, React, Google Maps, Yelp API
  • Platforms

    Firebase, Visual Studio Code, Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker, Apache Kafka, Kubernetes, iOS, Android, Netlify
  • Storage

    Cloud Firestore, Google Cloud, PostgreSQL, CockroachDB
  • Other

    Startups, APIs, Computer Science, Cloud, SDKs, Digital Imaging, GeoJSON, TypeORM, Service Workers, Leadership, Architecture, Software Architecture, WebSockets, CI/CD Pipelines, Front-end, User Experience (UX)
  • Frameworks

    Flutter, NestJS, Tailwind CSS, Angular, .NET Core, Next.js
  • Tools

    Git, WebStorm, GitLab, Jenkins, Helm, CircleCI, Webpack, NPM
  • Paradigms

    Agile Software Development, DevOps

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science
    2011 - 2015
    University of Florida - Gainesville, Florida, United States

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