A wayward path from humble beginnings to engineering management at Chicago’s beloved unicorn startup, Sprout Social.
September 2020
Yep, Staff, like a wizard, but less awesome. (Still a pretty great job, though.)
December 2019
Redesigned every pixel of our web app in just 6 months. Created new React components for our design system, replaced bespoke components throughout the app with design system components, and finessed CSS to be theme-aware in legacy parts of our app. The result? A cohesive UI. Unprecedented levels of shared code. A seamless rollout. And >85% positive customer feedback.
See some components I built in SeedsMarch 2019
After 4.5 years at the helm of the engineering team in marketing, I stepped into an engineering management role on the product team. My first task? Migrating the heart of Sprout—the social media Smart Inbox—to React.js.
Check out the Smart InboxAugust 2018
I was recognized for my work throughout my tenure at Sprout, including establishing the first design systems used in web development at Sprout and running point on bringing our marketing web properties into compliance the the GDPR and ePrivacy regulations. I received the award for embodying the Sprout Value of “Embracing Accountability.”
Learn more about the Sprout ValuesOctober 2017
Invited to join the team tasked with building a new, unified design system to power brand and product development at Sprout—Seeds. Implemented a “design token”-based system that output color palettes, typography styles, spacing values, border radii, shadow and animation values, and more. The system generated SCSS, JS, Swift, and other assets for design tools, web development, mobile development.
View design tokens on the Seeds websiteJune 2017
Somehow they let me get away with putting Señor Engineer on my nameplate.
March 2017
Created a utility-class-based CSS framework built on Seeds. Integrated custom, branded components as Twig templates with a Wordpress page builder. Wrote custom plugins to optimize pages and individually deploy them to AWS S3 and Cloudfront as AMP-compliant static HTML. Blew away the competition with page speed scores and watch conversion rates climb.
View sproutsocial.comJune 2016
All the template-making and design system work paid dividends pretty quickly. Rebranding the company is a helluva lot easier when you just need to update a few color variables used throughout hundreds of website and blog pages.
April 2016
It was like when my dad handed me the keys to the car for the first time: equal parts empowering and f*ing terrifying.
View my Manager READMEJuly 2015
Finding the right person is hard, but I got really lucky on my first attempt to hire someone. It was probably the single best decision I made in my career. (He’s pretty great, as far as humans go.)
Check out my first hire’s websiteDecember 2014
Refactored the website to use semantic HTML and CSS in place of one-offs. Added Sass variables to standardize colors, font sizes, and more. Implemented responsive design methods. Created shared templates from bespoke pages.
August 2014
Talked my way into an incredible company despite having just a handle of Wordpress sites, a few pet projects, and a lot of gusto.
April 2014
Developed and deployed a Meteor.js web app for building personal landing pages. Used a mobile-first, responsive approach to design. Coded the backend in Coffeescript and frontend in Coffeescript, LESS, and HTML templates.
May 2013
Designed web and print marketing materials for real estate agents. Wrote and published numerous web technology guides and tutorials. Designed and developed recruiting and personal websites for agents.
April 2013
Built a simple web app to replace the Android app I developed 1.5 years ago. Used a Github repo to host Markdown files, parsed them to JSON in PHP, then rendered the content with a jQuery + AJAX frontend. Developed and deployed in 2 weeks.
March 2013
Built a Markdown-based, flat-file backend in PHP and a jQuery + AJAX frontend for my blog. My first single-page app was born.
July 2012
Completed 3 CodeSchool courses for Ruby on Rails in 2 months. Designed, developed, and deployed a MongoDB + Nginx + Rails pet project on Amazon EC2.
January 2012
Designed and developed 7 Wordpress-based websites and blogs in 2 years. Helped pay my way through grad school and then some.
June 2011
Embarked on a volunteer internship at my church, focused on graphic and web design. In 3 months, my mentor and I redesigned the church's brand, rebuilt the website, and created brand identities for 7 programs and events.
May 2011
Taught myself Java and the Android SDK, created a UI with Photoshop and Illustrator, and developed the app in 4 months—while simultaneously designing a website for the nonprofit.
January 2011
Approached by a friend looking for an Android developer to build an app for his new nonprofit. Young, naive, and hungry to learn, I said, “Yes” and started to learn Java.
August 2010
Began to work on my Masters in Teaching. Craving puzzles and code challenges, I continued to read about computer science and work on programming exercises in my free time.
May 2010
Graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics. Took Intro to Programming as an elective in my third and final year of college. Worked 3 weeks ahead and completed the lab exercises prior to class. My passion for programming was ignited.