Resume

Manages a team of eight software engineers responsible for seattletimes.com, iOS and Android mobile apps, and internal newsroom tools
Reduced the number of distractions common to remote work, like Slack messages, to give team members more focused time by creating guidelines and expectations for how we communicate with each other
Leads regularly scheduled developer-focused retrospectives so our team can collaboratively find solutions to improve code quality and tackle technical debt
Works with designers to improve our Pattern Library, help streamline their interactions with engineers, and increase the amount of code engineers are able to reuse

Received the The Innovation Product & Development Team Values Award for work and leadership on creating a new Article Page design
Created an API using Node.js and GraphQL to provide information to a single-page React application for the newsroom to track the status of their articles from their inception through post-publication marketing efforts
Gave talks to developers and other ST teams about various topics including Unit Testing, Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery, GraphQL, Front-end Build Processes, and RabbitMQ
Mentored junior developers through pair programming, more detailed asynchronous code reviews (using Pull Requests), open-ended phone & Slack conversations
Created, implemented (by leading through example, presentations, individual meetings and code reviews) policies for writing unit tests for our code. These efforts took our team from one that didn't write tests to one that does.
Researched, gained consensus for, and set up JS and PHP testing tools in our most critical code bases
Helped our QA team troubleshoot and write automated tests using Robot Framework and Selenium
Lead a ReactJS group open to all developers in the company

Refactored the code that controls curation on www.seattletimes.com and fixed bugs that resulted in dropping average server response time from over two seconds to around 300ms
Rewrote code that allowed for www.seattletimes.com to run on 4 servers instead of 12-20 and remove multiple MySQL read replicas
Identified backend (PHP and MySQL) and workflow performance bottlenecks
Received IT Impact Award for making dramatic performance improvements on www.seattletimes.com

Gave presentations about web performance optimization to upper management
Identified front-end performance issues that resulted in dropping Start Render times from 2.5-2.8 seconds to under 2 seconds
Wrote white papers for upper management about front-end performance and reader-facing search
Served as a ScrumMaster and helps the company transition to Agile software development practices
Managed 4-5 developers
Created bi-weekly “developer sessions” where developers across departments present and discuss development techniques
Organized and participated in a reading group for developers and QA analysts about C
Wrote documentation for developers to streamline our deployment and version control workflow
Served on the Mobile Strategy Committee that helped shape how the Seattle Times understands mobile readers

Developed curation tools for redesigned seattletimes.com homepage and section indexes
Collaborated with internal customers to conceptualize and refine seattletimes.com user experiences
Coordinated with vendors to help augment our internal development team
Helped update the workflow for Front-end development using Grunt & Sass
Supported developers and users to better understand WordPress development and usage

Rebuilt phinneybischoff.com to be responsive using Django, Backbone.js, and Bootstrap
Developed a web application for managing and reusing documentation
Created interactive wireframes and applied visual vocabulary (Style Tiles) to them
Refactored PHP code on legacy sites to ease performance bottlenecks
Participated in client pitches for web-based projects
Helped write proposals and case studies for RFPs
Provided support for WordPress and Drupal sites
Created HTML emails and templates for third-party mail applications

Designed and developed a responsive dictionary Web application using Django and Backbone.js
Migrated XML dictionary data into MySQL database using Python
Developed a WordPress plugin and theme that integrated Google Maps and WordPress
Developed a Kickstarter-like website for funding undergraduate research
Developed MVC-based PHP applications with CodeIgniter
Maintained and supported an 900 site/3800 user multi-site installation of WordPress
Reduced the number of Web-related support requests by creating online documentation
Led introductory Web workshops for faculty, staff, and students
Provided individual support for Web services
Wrote posts and served as an editor for Academic Information Services blogs
Transitioned legacy Web applications from PHP4 to PHP5
Set Web-related policy at W&M as member of the Web Collaboration Team

Developed a WordPress theme to match the design of W&M’s existing main website
Customized WordPress themes and moved sites from custom CMS applications to WordPress
Designed and developed a MVC-based application system for matching teachers looking for mentors working in commercial industries
Awarded Information Technology “Game Ball” for excellent service
Consulted with faculty about using the Web for teaching and research