I am a senior software developer with nearly ten years of experience that includes five years of independent consulting for diverse clients across the US. After graduating from Georgetown University I joined a DC political organization, quickly rising to the role of CTO before relocating to Austin for a startup opportunity. In 2013 I launched Upshot Labs to provide software development and data engineering services, and I’ve been building a wide variety of solutions for clients ever since.

My clients often take note of my work efficiency, code quality, and knack for quickly ramping up and producing with little guidance. I have been frequently tasked with serving in a “project archaeologist” role, unraveling the mysteries of legacy code repos that are largely undocumented and with no access to the original development team.

As someone with deep interest in truly helping businesses, I am able to think beyond just “the app” to understand how my work aligns with a client’s goals.

I live in beautiful Austin Texas with two dogs, and when I’m not working I enjoy cycling and gardening.

Sample Projects

Culturemap

Culturemap is a network of local lifestyle news/event sites for major cities in Texas. You can find the site for the Dallas market here.

My work included:

  • Full-stack web development in Python and Django
  • New feature development
  • Refactoring of legacy code
  • Performance improvements to handle increased traffic

Client Confidential

For a major US cause-based organization with a high-traffic site:

  • Full-stack web development in Python and Django including new features
  • Performance optimization
  • Data APIs - Built Django and Flask REST APIs and integrated Elasticsearch, DynamoDB, PostgreSQL, AWS Lambda, and SQS
  • Built applications to manage recurring ETL jobs into Elasticsearch, writing a scalable and restartable process and a UI
  • Security hardening
  • Celery async tasks
  • Performance tuned a massive Elasticsearch cluster with 14 TB of data and built a complex document and permission system for Elasticsearch and Python API ETL pipelines

Client Confidential

For an early stage email marketing startup, my work included:

  • Expanded an early pre-existing system prototype built in Python and Django
  • Built back-end REST APIs
  • Front-end work in React and Typescript including new feature development

Specialties, Skills, and Expertise

  • Rapid prototyping and building MVPs for early-stage startups
  • Architecting and building full stack web apps from scratch
  • Building new features, customizations, and repairs to existing apps
  • Data engineering projects including creation of data pipelines
  • Developing solutions for research-based projects that require web scrapers and data exploration
  • Performance tuning and debugging existing applications

My technical specialties include:

  • Python with Django, Flask, and other Python web frameworks
  • RESTful APIs
  • JavaScript including React, Vue.js, D3.js, and Typescript
  • ETL, data cleaning, and record linkage
  • Elasticsearch
  • PostgreSQL