Summary
I am a backend software engineer based in Denver, Colorado. More important than the technologies I already know is my experience learning new languages and software – because I can, because they’re new, and because they might make me better at the ones I already know. If I were not doing what I am, I hope I’d be doing something even nerdier.
Experience
- Software Engineer, Bitly, 2019-present
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Backend engineer on the data insights team; contribute to systems for improved data quality and availability.
Skills: Go, GCP, MySQL, Redis, Terraform, REST, JSON, Bash
- Software Engineer, Arable Labs, Inc., 2016-19
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Backend developer supporting compact weather and crop sensor devices. Built and maintained APIs for users, front end, and devices; refactored and expanded command-line admin client; designed and implemented: automated behavior and data quality tests for devices in factory, wrapper API for internal access to database, and automated csv data exports; contributed to defining and implementing access permissions defaults and enforcement.
Skills: Python, AWS, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Serverless, Flask, Luigi, REST, JSON, Docker, Bash
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Pennsylvania, 2015-16
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TA for three courses, two in computer architecture and one on algorithms & theory of computation; held office hours, co-led recitations, moderated course forums, graded assignments & exams; helped develop a C programming assignment and created its grading test suite.
Skills: C, Java, “LC-4” Assembly
- Web Editor for The WeatherVane, Eastern Mennonite University, 2003-05
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Modified website layout code; expanded a text-only Smarty template into a suite supporting many article styles; published weekly issues to the website.
Skills: HTML, CSS, XML, Smarty templating, Photoshop
Education
- Master of Computer and Information Technology, University of Pennsylvania, 2016
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- Honors:
- J. Presper Eckert Fellow, 2014-15
- Activities:
- Graduate teaching assistant, 2015-16
- Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Lewis & Clark College, 2008
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- Honors:
- Graduated summa cum laude
Phi Beta Kappa, 2008
Mary Stuart Rogers Scholar, 2007-08
Dean’s Scholar, 2006-08 - Activities:
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Board member & contributor, The Literary Review, 2007-08
Webmaster, The Pioneer Log, 2006-07
Web assistant to Dean of Students Office, 2006-07
- Eastern Mennonite University, 2003-06
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- Honors:
- President’s Scholar, 2003-06.
- Activities:
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Web editor & developer, The WeatherVane, 2003-05
Semester abroad, restorative justice focus, Fiji & New Zealand, 2005
Senator, Student Government Association, 2004
Contributor, The Phoenix, 2004
Projects
- arestelle.net, 2018-19
- WordPress, AWS Lightsail, SES, PHP, CSS, HTML
- Personal website with a customized child theme; custom post types and taxonomies supporting a quote blog and bibliography separated from standard posts; plugin and theme modifications supporting a photography blog with (almost) auto-populating EXIF data and custom filters.
- Search engine, 2016
- Java, AWS EC2
- Team web systems project to build and integrate the basic components of a search engine (crawler, indexer, PageRank, and UI/front-end engine). Contributed the indexer and a custom MapReduce framework used by the indexer and PageRank components.
- “Hit by the Beat”, 2015
- Python, scikit-learn, Million Song Dataset
- Team ML project to predict song popularity from audio features; contributed a model that achieved 72% recall on test data and precision well above random, with features selected using cross-validation through Scikit-learn.
- Pebble temperature app, 2015
- C, C++, JavaScript
- Team project, an app connecting a Pebble smart watch with an Arduino (plus sensor/display); app displays temperature, last-hour stats, etc., to the watch and Arduino display based on user input.
- “Bugs” Interpreter, 2015
- Java
- A recursive descent parser that constructs abstract syntax trees representing programs in a custom language and an interpreter to execute the program represented by an AST, displaying graphical elements in a simple GUI.
- Reverse assembler, 2014
- C
- A disassembler for a simple theoretical ISA; parses binary files to decode instructions, populate simulated memory, and output the resulting program as an Assembly file.
- P.S. Meso, 2013-14
- Python, Django
live program | Github - An online poem generator that reads through user-inputted source text and creates a “mesostic” in the style of John Cage; was adapted with modifications for hosting on Penn’s servers & adopted for use in the MOOC that inspired it, “ModPo.”
Coursework
- Penn:
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- CIS 555
- Internet & Web Systems (2016)
- CIS 521
- Fundamentals of AI (2016)
- CIS 530
- Computational Linguistics (2015)
- CIS 519
- Intro to Machine Learning (2015)
- CIT 596
- Theory of Computation (2015)
- CIT 595
- Computer Systems II (2015)
- CIT 594
- Programming Languages & Techniques II (2015)
- CIT 593
- Introduction to Computer Architecture (2014)
- CIT 592
- Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (2014)
- CIT 591
- Programming Languages & Techniques I (2014)
- L&C:
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- CS 171
- Computer Science I (2008)
- Phil 101
- Introduction to Logic (2007)
- EMU:
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- Math 171
- Discrete Mathematics (2005)