Highlights

  • Built 3 apps with Rails 3 Beta already.
  • Contributed a patch to the Flex 4 Alpha SDK that increased data-binding and animation performance by ~10% in stress tests. The patch was included in the first official Flex 4 release.
  • Decreased debugging time by more than an hour per day by using TDD to develop 4 open source Rubygems. Built 3 with RSpec, 1 with Shoulda.
  • Saved client $5k by building Ruby script to transfer MSAccess database to MySQL and Google Docs.
  • Decreased monthly management costs for iLove4D to near zero by porting all client apps from Slicehost to Heroku and writing syncing library to use Google as a CMS.
  • Get my hands dirty in alpha and beta software – constantly.
  • Can’t wait to master selenium, webrat, and cucumber.
  • Can build and deploy a useful Sinatra app in a day.
  • Use Ruby’s Symbol#to_proc dozens of times a day.
  • Manage 50+ projects on Github. Over 30 personal projects, 90+ if forked are included.
  • Attended Merb Camp in San Diego, and Rspec training with Pat Maddox.
  • Knows that the main purpose of business is to provide value to the user.
  • Refactor all code into tested, open-source libraries and gems to reduce code duplication, increase reliability, and allow others to use good code.
  • Creator of first ever Adobe Flex 4 Website.
  • 9th most popular Flex question answerer on Stack Overflow, with 4100 Points.

Overview

  • 3

    years of design patterns.
  • 2

    years of textmate, ruby on rails, and flex.
  • 1.5

    years of git and test driven development.

Experience

Most of my experience has been with iLove4D, which I co-founded my last semester in college. I have worn many hats with this start-up firm; my most significant accomplishments are highlighted in the portfolio section.

  1. Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

    -

    iLove4D

    • Lead Agile Development on all projects. Defined all development and client workflows.
    • Practiced TDD with RSpec and Shoulda. Managed projects using Github and Pivotal Tracker.
    • Was only Ruby on Rails developer. Pair programmed Flex front-end projects with CCO.
    • Solely responsible for deploying, monitoring, and testing all applications on Slicehost and Heroku.
    • Developed 6 client applications using all of todays cutting edge technologies (see portfolio below).
    • Created open source initiative, wherein each client project must result in at least 1 open source library. Resulted in dozens of useful Rubygems, Actionscript Frameworks, Javascript plugins, etc., all on Github. Personally created 30+ open source projects (see open source projects below).
    • Organized bi-weekly standup meetings for iterative planning and re-prioritizing, and to show off our work.
    • Managed post-sales client collaboration. Set up a Google App environment for transferring messages and documents, and DropBox for transferring files. It was thoroughly enjoyed.
    Project

  2. As an Undergraduate

    -

    Information Architect

    • Worked with Nobel Laureate George Smoot and 2 physics majors in development of the Universe Adventure, an international, educational cosmology website.
    • Provided insight regarding concept, design, content, and target audience.

    Information Architect

    • Volunteered 2 years at the Suitcase Clinic in Berkeley, an undergraduate run medical clinic that provides free services to the homeless.
    • Built newsletter using Adobe InDesign. Now used as the default template.
    • Resulted in multiple $1,000 dollar donations, a huge leap from the previous newsletter trials.
    Project

Portfolio

Ruby on Rails, jQuery, HTML5 and CSS3, Mardown and Textile, Haml and Sass, and Flex get me out of bed in the morning. I enjoy deploying and seeing people use what I’ve lost sleep over. Here’s a partial list of projects I’ve made. (I built this resume using tools I’m hosting on Github. Chief Creative Officer designed it in Illustrator. I made it dynamic.)

  1. iLove4D Site

    Rebrand and HTML/jQuerify out-of-date Flash site. Make it work on the iPhone!

    • Hats worn: PSD-to-HTML, Ruby and Sinatra Developer
    • Re-engeneered the old Flash site, simplfying the design:
      • SEO optimized
      • iPhone version, built in 1 day using JQTouch.
      • Completely separated content from presentation.
    • Refactored code into the Broadway Rubygem, a feature enhanced static site generator based on Jekyll that can be used with Sinatra, Rails, Github Pages, and anything else Ruby.
    • Pair-programmed an Augmented Reality demo for the business card.
    Project

  2. ACCD

    Rebrand and rebuild our Event Management System to increase participant involvement and simplify internal workflow.

    • Hats worn: Sole Developer, Agile Project Manager, Online Marketer, Tester, System Admin.
    • Team: 1 3D designer, 1 ux-designer, and myself, the Rails developer.
    • Co-wrote proposal, organized standup meetings, and developed User Stories monthly to refine purpose and measure progress (basic Agile worklow).
    • Crafted Client Presentation on delivery of development work, presented at ACCD Board Meeting.
    • Customized and Skinned the Rails Spree eCommerce Platform, using HAML and Sass. Extended PayPal plugin, created custom Ticketing plugin.
    • Setup custom VPS on Slicehost with Nginx and MySQL, deploying new application versions from Github with Capistrano and Deprec.
    • Deployed application on Rails 2 to custom Slicehost VPS. Monitored application performance with Monit and basic Linux commands.
    • Integrated Eventbrite and ported app to Rails 3 and Heroku to decrease cost and to streamline deployment workflow.
    • Defined and implemented Content Management Workflow using Google Apps, Facebook, and EventBrite.
    • Built syncing mechanism that uses cron to periodically sync data between local database and remote services. Used plenty of RESTful api’s.
    Project

  3. Joseph Jewell Wines

    Make our bottles shine and direct people to our order form.

    • Hats worn: Flex Developer, Sole Rails Developer, SysAdmin.
    • Pair-programming front-end with Flex 4 in it’s early alpha stages.
    • Personally designed and implemented a component MVC framework, Style to facilitate code reuse, optimization, and testability. Optimized animation code extensively.
    • Designed and implemented application framework modeled after Rails, Bloom. Made managing change much easier, dramatically decreased application code base, and allowed Flex apps to be SEO’d using sophisticated Javascript.
    • Constantly refactored, submitted patches and bug reports, and studied source code to optimize Flex due to significant performance barriers in the Flex framework.
    • Ported Degrafa (declarative graphics library) and Mate (“mah-tey”, dependency injection framework) from Flex 3 to Flex 4. Used and contributed small patches to the RestfulX framework for connecting Flex to Rails.
    • Ported Paperclip, AASM, and RestfulAuthentication Rubygems to CouchDB via the CouchRest gem.
    • Setup custom VPS on Slicehost with Nginx 0.7, and CouchDB 0.8, and Rails 2.3
    • Deployed new application versions from Github with Capistrano and Deprec.
    Project

  4. Other Projects

    A select list of earlier projects I’ve worked on while with iLove4D.

    Project

Open Source Projects

Collaborated with Chief Creative Officer (CCO) at iLove4D to define & document innovative development methodologies. We established a system wherein we chunk sizable bits of code into micro-niche open-source projects. Below are some crumbs of open intellectual capital we left behind.

More Projects

Education

2 B.A. Degrees @ UC Berkeley – Molecular Biology, and Religious Studies

  • 3.7 GPA
  • Golden Key Scholar
  • Sigma Chi

I graduated from Berkeley with High Honors. My initial idea was to write a thesis on how the brain and mind interrelated. I ended up with a passion for information architecture. Along the way I wrote music, went on a few road trips, volunteered a few years for the Suitcase Clinic, joined the Sigma Chi fraternity, did a lot of running, hiking, and snowboarding and tried to start what Pandora is today – before it existed.

I got a BA degree in Molecular Biology (emphasizing Neurobiology), and another in Religious Studies. I held a research position for 2 years at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab where I was doing honors research on a specific cancer protein. After reading hundreds of journals and textbooks I found myself more excited about trying to better organize and visually present the scientific information with computers than doing the lab work. This led to my joining 4D where we shared a common vision – and I never looked back.

Pre-historic times

I grew up in San Diego. I was a skateboarder in middle school and early high school. In later high school years I was a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and lead guitarist of my own band. After graduating, I set straight off for Berkeley.

Skills

This is a list of my favorite skills. I have tagged all of the projects in this resume with more specific skills and technologies in order to keep things simple. I don’t mark whether I’m an expert or not in these fields – that is demonstrated by my portfolio.

    Technologies

  • Ruby on Rails
  • Sinatra
  • Flex
  • ActionScript
  • TDD
  • HTML5
  • CSS3
  • Javascript
  • jQuery
  • Haml
  • Sass
  • Microformats

    Environment

  • Github
  • Amazon S3
  • MySQL
  • SQLite
  • CouchDB
  • Nginx
  • Mac
  • Textmate

    Other

  • REST
  • Agileness
  • Deployment
  • SEO
  • Design Patterns
  • Open Source
  • Web Development
  • Cross Browser