About Me
-
Ex-Capital One Principal Associate, Ex-AT&T Senior Specialist Software Engineer
-
Academia, Wall Street, Non-Profits, Y-Combinator, Microsoft (through Aquent)
-
9+ years of software development experience
-
4+ years in Finance, Payments, eCommerce, Credit Cards, Fintech, and Banking
-
Java, Java Spring, SQL, JavaScript, React.js, Typescript, Python, Node.js, Ruby
-
Going back to graduate school for a second masters in Computer Science part-time
-
Adopted South Korean American
-
Family of U.S. Judges, Teachers, Mayors, Rare Metal Importers, Pilots, Officers, iPhone Patent Holders, Artists, Writers, Veterinarians, Nurses, Lawyers, Musicians, and Antique Car Restorers
-
Independent Moderate (registered as such) for ~10 years
-
Lived in Seattle, Downtown Chicago, and San Francisco
-
Enjoys games, philosophy, logic, computers, and math
-
Avid boardgamer, trading card collector, and plant guy
-
Proudly Vegetarian and Net-Zero Carbon
-
Experience working with Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence tools
Fun Stats
-
Honor percentile: Top 0.383%, 2 kyu - Codewars - Leaderboard position: #2,711
-
8 badges earned - LinkedIn - Must be top 30% of test-takers to earn
-
Rank 69,674 / 5,059,951 - HackerRank - Practice Score 1456.56
-
Rank 132,568 - LeetCode - Easy problems solved beats 99.2%, medium problems solved beats 94.48% - (no longer active on this site)
-
X7.5 average user - CodeSignal - Job screen score of 528 (New Scale) at the top ~15% of test-takers
-
Rank 348,678 / 28,939,178 - StackOverflow - 746 reputation
-
72 problems originally solved - Project Euler - Top 2.779%
Work History
- (2020-2024+) Intermediate and Senior Software Engineer at Fortune 500, Public, and Top VC-Backed Companies
- (2018-2020) Developer Relations (Software Engineering Technical Writer)
- (2016-2018) Freelance Software Developer
- (2014-2016) Junior Software Developer
- (2005-2010,2012-2013) Nonprofit Work in Academia
-
Founding Engineer - Rossby.info (2025-06-16 to 2025+)
- Champaign, IL - (Kinda) Open Source, Definitely (Hot) Saucey, Quasi-Stealth (Public Preview/Beta)
- AWS, React.js, Terraform, Serverless, Python, SQL, ETL Data Pipelines, Node.js, GeoJSON
- Backend, Frontend, Data, DevOps, Design, DNS
- Already among the very best ZIP Code datasets, delightfully serving over ~.25M+ Requests, RSS Wildfire and Disaster Trackers provided as a Free Public Service, supplementing + safeguarding but not supplanting important Gov. data, Rent Optimizer, Location Finders, critical disaster mirror/relay, small but doubling user base/traffic
- From 0 to 1 (and beyond?), Accurate Location, Elevation Health, and Geo Data to Derisk Home, Mixed-Use Land Buying, and to Supplement AI RAG LLM Text Prompt Responses
- Ongoing
-
Self-Employment and Personal Time - Self-Employed/Various (Contract, Various) (2024 to 2025)
- Various - Various, Remote
- Some recent Software Engineering projects include: Rossby.info (see above), Hosted Card Vault (fun core HTML proposal), and some discussions about a potential Ph.D. (something like a thesis).
- Software Engineering (Various Levels), Misc.
- Passed Karat Interview, 600/600 Ramp.com CodeSignal, (another) ~genius CCAT, many HackerRank (and other similar) tests, many industry certifications obtained, for credit STEM courses, enjoy programming, Graduate School prep and exploration, hobbies, and declined Fortune 500/VC-Backed Software Engineering offer(s)
- Intermittent job search while taking some time for myself, to heal a wound, and to explore other kinds of employment/entrepreneurial opportunities including startups, eCommerce
- I ultimately declined, turned down, or rejected employment/startup incubation offer(s)
-
Senior Software Engineer - Capital One (through testing platform Hired.com) (2023-02 to 2024-04)
- Richmond, VA - Full Time, Remote
- Java, React, Spring, Snowflake, Splunk, Python, AWS, Docker, Terraform
- Serverless stack migration, features for top credit card, financial security and compliance
- $M’s saved for customers/company through payment scheduling features, enterprise-wide platform tooling
- Card Tech Team Hackathon Winner, top 5 shoutouts from Payments org Q3 and Q4 2023
- Departed with performance bonuses
-
Software Engineer II - TrueCar (through Hired.com) (2022-09-07 to 2022-09-15)
- Los Angeles, CA - Full Time, Remote
- Ruby, React.js, Rails
- Joined but ultimately declined their offer of employment
- Immediate voluntary departure for better company fit
-
Technical Writer III - Aquent (at Microsoft Research AI Content and Strategy) (2022-06 to 2022-08-15)
- Redmond, WA - Contract, Remote
- .NET, Machine Learning, Documentation Tooling, JavaScript, Node.js, Markdown, Azure, Jupyter Notebook
- Documentation, product, document tooling
- Completed requirements early
- Contract extended through end of year
- Voluntary departure
-
Software Engineer III - Cardlytics (Dosh was acquired) (2022-01 to 2022-06)
- Austin, TX - Full Time, Remote
- Serverless, AWS, Lambda, React, TypeScript, BitBucket, Terraform
- Internal tooling, compliance, legacy migration
- Bug fixes, public REST API, $M’s in customer offers enabled
- Voluntary departure
-
Software Engineer - AT&T (2021-10 to 2021-11)
- Austin, TX - Full Time, Remote
- Java, Java EE, SQL, JSP, Azure
- Immediate voluntary departure for better company fit
-
Developer Relations II - Gravitational (GoTeleport, Y-Combinator) (2021-04 to 2021-07)
- Oakland, CA - Full Time, Remote
- GoLang, Markdown, Git, SSH, Kubernetes, React.js
- Documentation, code samples, testing
- Helped to significantly improve traffic and customer satisfaction, assigned tactical objectives met: $M’s funding secured
- Voluntary departure
-
Software Engineer II - Amount (through testing platform Hired.com) (2020-06 to 2021-03)
- Chicago, IL - Full Time, Remote
- Ruby, Rails, RSpec, PostGres, AWS, GitHub, GraphQL, Python, Docker
- Backend, data analyst, data quality, loan servicing
- Work helped to bring in new Wall Street bank, assigned tactical objectives met: $M’s funding secured
- Performance bonuses
- Voluntary departure
-
Software Developer - Self-Employed/Various (Contract, Freelance) (2015-09 to 2020-07)
- Many Locations - Many role types: Contract, Part Time, Remote
- Java, Java Spring, React.js, Node.js, Python, Django, SQL, Docker
- Backend, frontend, bug bounties, product owner, technical writing, mentoring, consulting
- Baeldung, Kleros.io, X-Team, Shoppe, Thinkful, etc.
- Many: Contracts completed, voluntary departures, etc.
-
Programmer Writer III - Aquent (at Microsoft Azure IoT) (2018-08 to 2020-02-28)
- Redmond, WA - Contract, Remote
- .NET, Documentation, JavaScript, Node.js, REST APIs, Azure, Markdown
- Documentation, product, service management (self-managed), testing, SDK's, code samples, UI/UX
- Both Azure Digital Twins and Azure Time Series Insights went from Preview to General Availability
- Contract extended to the maximum 18 months
- Contract completed
-
Software Developer - Proxibid (eBay Live Auction Partner) (2015-04 to 2015-08)
- Omaha, NE - Full Time, Onsite
- Java, Java Spring, Backbone.js, Rackspace, MSSQL, Subversion
- Backend, frontend, search abstraction, data layer
- Point on eBay integration, high use API for customers, assigned tactical objectives met: $M’s funding secured
- Voluntary departure
-
Software Engineer - D3 Banking (2015-01 to 2015-04)
- Omaha, NE - Full Time, Onsite
- Java, ActionScript, AWS, MSSQL, Subversion, Ant
- Backend, UI/UX, quality assurance, devops, database management
- Scaled to ~200 Banks, ~200K users, assigned tactical objectives met: $M’s funding secured
- Voluntary departure
-
Junior Java Developer - D3 Banking (through Modis) (2014-07 to 2015-01)
- Omaha, NE - Contract-to-Hire, Onsite
- Java, ActionScript, AWS, MSSQL, Subversion, Ant
- Backend, UI/UX, quality assurance, devops, database management
- Scaled to 97+ Banks, 100K+ users
- Promoted, converted
-
Graduate Assistant - Northern Illinois University (Graduate Assistant to the Chair of the AHCD) (2012-08 to 2013-05)
- DeKalb, IL - Part Time, Onsite, Student
- Center for the Deaf Blind administrative duties, Graduate Assistant, Federal grant compliance
- Helen Keller National Center Liaison, selected university-wide for the role
- Maximum weekly hours allowed
- Completed education
-
Senior Program Assistant - Iowa State University Foundation (2008 to 2010)
- Ames, IA - Full Time, Onsite, Student, Manager
- Training, outbound cold calling, scripts, basic IT support
- Personally raised another $200K+, $867M+ fundraising university-wide completed ahead of schedule
- Completed education, voluntary departure
-
Program Assistant - Iowa State University Foundation (2006 to 2008)
- Ames, IA - Full Time, Onsite, Student, Manager
- Training, outbound cold calling, floor manager
- Personally raised another $100K+, led 1K+ students over tenure, $3+ Million annual records broken
- Promoted
-
Fundraiser - Iowa State University Foundation (2005 to 2006)
- Ames, IA - Part Time, Onsite, Student
- Outbound cold calling
- Personally raised $100K+
- Promoted
Education
-
Arizona State University - Math and Computer Science - Non-Degree Student (2025+)
- For credit, course(s) I tested out of before/prereqs for a second Master's
- Specific course(s) listed below, 4.0 GPA
- Statistics, Probability, Data Structures, Algorithms, Calculus, Discrete Math, etc.
-
Northern Illinois University - Philosophy - M.A. (2010 to 2014)
- ~14 Accepted / ~375 Total Applicants, also won campus-wide competition for a Graduate Assistantship
- Academic publications, reviewer, and conferences in multiple fields
- Coursework completed 2013, received degree 2014, ~3.8/4.0 GPA
- Considered among the top/strongest Terminal M.A. Philosophy programs
-
Iowa State University - English Literature - B.A. (2003 to 2009)
- Won scholarship, poetry journal editor
- Academic publications and conferences in multiple fields
- Took 1 year off ~2006 (to work full time)
Humanities Degrees in 2024:
Continuing Education:
-
Arizona State University - Math 265: Calculus for Engineers - Calculus, Asymptotes, Limits, Derivatives, etc. For credit. (TBD)
-
Arizona State University - Computer Science and Engineering 110: Principles of Programming - Java, OOD, Programming; Basic Search, Sort, DSA. A+. For credit. (2025-08-15)
-
Arizona State University - Math 117: College Algebra - Logarithms, Parabolic Graphs, Exponents; Polynomial, Quadratic, Functions/Composition. A+. For credit. (2025-08-15)
-
Arizona State University - Math 142: College Mathematics - Statistics, Probability, Set Theory, Amortization, Geometry, etc. A+. For credit. (2025-05-07)
-
Coursera - Front-End Web UI Frameworks and Tools: Bootstrap 4 (2021-04-18)
-
Coursera (Duke University) - Java Programming: Solving Problems with Software (2021-04-11)
-
Coursera (Duke University) - Programming Foundations with JavaScript, HTML and CSS (2021-03-12)
-
Coursera (DeepLearning.AI) - Structuring Machine Learning Projects (2020-08-11)
-
Coursera (University of California, Irvine) - Programming with Google Go - Specialization (2020-08-08)
-
Coursera (University of California, Irvine) - Concurrency in Go (2020-08-08)
-
Coursera (DeepLearning.AI) - Improving Deep Neural Networks: Hyperparameter Tuning, Regularization and Optimization (2020-07-15)
-
Coursera (University of California, Irvine) - Functions, Methods, and Interfaces in Go (2020-07-05)
-
Coursera (University of California, Irvine) - Foundations of Objective-C App Development (2020-06-22)
-
Coursera (DeepLearning.AI) - Neural Networks and Deep Learning (2020-06-19)
-
Coursera (University of California, Irvine) - Getting Started with Go (2020-06-16)
-
Coursera (University of Michigan) - Python for Everybody - Specialization (2020-06-10)
-
Coursera (University of Michigan) - Capstone: Retrieving, Processing, and Visualizing Data with Python (2020-06-10)
-
Coursera (University of Michigan) - Using Databases with Python (2020-06-06)
-
Coursera (University of Michigan) - Using Python to Access Web Data (2020-05-29)
-
Coursera (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) - Accelerated Computer Science Fundamentals - Specialization (2020-05-28)
-
Coursera (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) - Ordered Data Structures (2020-05-23)
-
Coursera (University of Michigan) - Python Data Structures (2020-05-19)
-
Coursera (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) - Object-Oriented Data Structures in C++ (2020-05-16)
-
Coursera (University of Michigan) - Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) (2020-05-14)
-
Coursera (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) - Unordered Data Structures (2020-03-28)
Selected Awards, Memberships, and Honors
Skill- and Knowledge-Based Assessments
Selected Publications
-
(2021) Gravitational Documentation - GoLang, React, JavaScript
-
(2018-2020) Azure Digital Twins Documentation - Markdown, Azure, IoT
-
(2018) Quantum Computation - Python, Quantum Computing, Angular
-
(2018) Procedural Generation - Procedural Generation, Games
-
(2018) From CMS to WAF - WordPress, React, JavaScript
-
(2018) Lightweight Web3j Clients - Java, ERC20, Web3, Cryptocurrency
-
(2018) A Quick Jump into Blockchain and ERC20 - React, ERC20, Ganache, Ethereum
-
(2017) Reactive Support: WebSession - Java, Reactive Spring Boot
-
(2017) Spring Dispatcher Servlet - Java, Spring
-
(2017) Intro to Neuroph - Java, Machine Learning
-
(2017) Intro to EthereumJ - Java, ERC20, Web3, Cryptocurrency
Code Samples
-
(2025) dig, ping, ipinfo, nslookup, whois - Bash IP and DNS fun
-
(2025) GoLang, Python FastAPI, Java Spring WebFlux, Java 22 Virtual Thread concurrency showdown - Containerized Performance and Load Testing comparisons
-
(2025) Python, Numpy, Machine Learning, Pandas, Scikit-Learn - Jupyter Notebook for Kaggle - please request access
-
(2025) HTML, CSS, JS, Node.js, Image optimization techniques - Image rendering, lazy loading, .png optimization, and TRADING CARDS!!!
-
(2025) Python, Angular 19, FastAPI, Docker, OAuth 2.0, Nginx, uvicorn, TypeScript - Simple example with newer Angular 19 features (Form Control, Signals, etc.) - please request access
-
(2025) Example GitHub Workflows CI/CD Build - With Build History and three private GitHub Actions (Composite, JS, Container)
-
(2025) R in Containerized RStudio - Some Data Science and Statistics basics
-
(2025) .NET, C#, ASP.NET, Entity Framework, and MSSQL - Experiments with the latest and greatest in .NET
-
(2025) Merge, Quick, Bubble, Heap, Selection, Insertion, Bucket, Frequency - Just your basic Sort Algorithms with ~1,000,000 tests and performance timings
-
(2025) Tiny LLM in a Python FastAPI Container - Simple Text Input Large Language Model
-
(2025) Nest.js, Next.js, TypeScript, Docker, and Tailwind.css - Exploring Pre and Client Fetching (with auto-generated Self-Signed SSL)
-
(2025) Containerized Java Spring with Neo4j - Spring with Graph Database
-
(2025) Dockerized MySQL scripts of varying difficulty, advanced techniques - For HackerRank SQL Gold, Certification
-
(2024+) Python uvicorn FastAPI Container for Project Euler - I use this to solve (and perhaps more importantly prove) my Project Euler solutions
-
(2024) Mongo, Express.js, Angular.js, React.js, Node.js - Fullstack containerized application with two simple JavaScript clients
-
(2024) Python, Docker, Django, MySQL - Revisiting Django in 2024
-
(2024) Kotlin, Ktor, Gradle, Docker - Experiments with Kotlin and Ktor using Docker and Gradle
-
(2024) Ruby, Rails, React.js, Docker - Fullstack Ruby on Rails w/ React.js example (with Rake and DB Migrations)
-
(2024) Python Pyramid, Kubernetes, Postgres - Example migration from Docker-Compose to Kubernetes
-
(2024) Cryptocurrency Testnet with React client - React, ERC20, and Hardhat in Docker
-
(2024) Go, Rust, Actix, Mongo - Fullstack GoLang and Rust APIs with
backing NoSQL database and Worker Queue (with Basic Auth)
-
(2024) Java Spring Boot, SQL, Data JPA, Postgres, Docker - Headless Spring Boot example with backing Postgres on Docker (with Spring Security)
-
(2024) Python, FastAPI, AWS Lambda, Serverless, Postgres - Dockerized Serverless computing and Python API's with backing SQL database
-
(2024) HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, iFrame - Experiments with iFrames, hosted carbon offset certifications, scratch-built material design
-
(2024) Java Spring WebFlux, Kafka - KRaft Kafka with WebFlux Consumer/Producer
-
(2024) Java Spring, JUnit Jupiter, Cucumber - Full suite of Integration, Unit, and Behavior Driven Testing examples
-
(2023+) C++, Python, Ruby, Java, Javascript, Algorithms, SQL, AWS, Azure, Engineering - Hosted study notes and code sample links
-
(2023+) Python, Flask, Machine Learning, Angular, Docker, MySQL, TypeScript - Fullstack containerized Python Flask Artificial Intelligence API and backing MySQL example
-
(2023) JavaScript, Canvas API, HTML5 - Experiments with writing SDKs, Libraries, and Animation
-
(2019+) Static Site Generator in Node.JS - My blog, portfolio site, and academia paper host
Selected Open Source Contributions
Professional and Academic References
-
References available upon request.
This document was generated programmatically Mon Oct 06 2025 18:14:49 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time)
