Work

I’m a Staff Software Engineer I at Otto, where I build mobile and web applications that make veterinary staff’s lives easier. I specialize in React Native and full-stack development.

You can also check out my CV.

The Beginning

It started by teaching myself html to customize my MySpace profile. I read various articles and essays online to learn HTML and learned how to write up a simple file in Notepad and have it load in the browser. I was hooked. That led to building a site for a local nonprofit (Lakeland Kiwanis), which caught the eye of a computer store (MicroByte Technologies) owner who then hired me as a web developer. There I built MicroByte’s website as well as client websites for local businesses.

College

In college (Anderson University) I took all the Computer Science courses I could. The summer between my junior and senior years I interned at Paragon Medical in the IT department as a web developer. There I built an internal CRM site using .NET. They kept me on part time during my senior year.

First Job Post-College

After graduating with a CS degree I got a job at Interactive Intelligence as a Software Engineer in Test writing automated tests in C# and Selenium to ensure our web application (Interaction Connect) changes didn’t break anything. I was also in charge of maintaining our Jenkins CI server and Selenium Grid servers. After two years and an acquisition (Genesys) I transitioned to development; working on the same application I had been writing tests for. That’s when I got back into JavaScript and learned Angular. I really enjoyed getting back into developing an application.

Outsourced

A few years later, I was informed my role was being outsourced to InfoSys. I didn’t like the idea of my employment being traded like that so I started working with a recruiter at TEKSystems to find something new. I worked at InfoSys only a few weeks before taking a contract position at BIAH (later called Pawru). I started out working on Pawru’s Ionic/Angular mobile app. A contract team was building a new platform that included a React Native app. What was delivered was a webview to the web app so we decided to scrap that in favor of a full-native RN app.

To quickly get up to speed with React Native I built something I wanted to use: SimpleDex. I loved playing the Pokémon games but hated wading through walls of wiki text just to find out how to evolve a specific Pokémon. So I built an app that surfaced exactly that information - nothing more. I used the Ignite boilerplate built by Infinite Red to get a headstart. When I got SimpleDex into the app stores, I felt that same rush I’d felt in high school opening my first HTML file in a browser. People could find my app, install it, and use it on their phones!

Dissolved

Pawru’s RN app never shipped because Pawru dissolved and the team moved to Otto (then TeleVet). My role at Otto was to lead development of their pet parent app - a place to look at their pet’s records, communicate with their vet, and schedule appointments.

I argued for building it full-native, without the webview - the same call we’d made at Pawru. Leadership wanted an app store presence as soon as possible, so we went the other way: a webview to the web app with native views and features layered on top as we could. It shipped with video calling, and we added push notifications and native share later. Communicating between the web app and the mobile app through the webview is complicated, but it got us into the store quickly.

After shipping that app, I transitioned into full-stack development and began leveling up my backend skills using Node.js, prisma, and postgres. Today, I’m a Staff Software Engineer I at Otto, mentoring engineers, and building products that serve thousands of veterinary practices across North America.