Hello and Welcome

My name is Justin and I develop software

I am making the world better by contributing to open source technologies for organizations and communities specializing in web applications. I have contributed to projects that span the world and help people have a better relationship with technology on the web.
Checkout some of the open source projects that I have created
Here are some of the amazing places that I have worked

Projects

Here are a collection of my most popular projects.
There are more available if you check out My GitHub Profile

My first big project, GChartWrapper is a small Python wrapper around the Google Charts Image API. I began writing this app in college and before long I found that it was adopted by many different places all over the internet. The library supports making fancy charts like this beauty here.


My biggest project so far with thousands of downloads daily from PyPI. This is a Django Implementation of the activity streams protocol. It's a project space Ive gotten interested in and am assisting the W3 Social Web Working Group on developing new version drafts. I have also given a talk at Djangocon US 2014 on this topic. Loads more information, examples and concepts available on the docs.


This project is a Python implementation of the Google Voice App. There was no official API for the service so I used my browser to reverse engineer the functionality and put it into ReST calls you could make through Python and preserve session info. This lead to a bit of an arms race between me and Google after they added an extra layer of auth to thwart what I was able to do. I got around it once but they have since added more layers of security which arent worth my time anymore to get around so the project is defunct


This project generates PDF directories for the recovery community. It can use the existing intergroup website data to generate up to date PDFs for use on the web or print format. It's a partnership with the code4recovery group using the JSON API to pull data feeds from local intergroup websites. It lets local intergroup office create their own PDFs instead of relying on printing companies for generating physical directories. This is a project that started with the Baltimore AA Intergroup office committee and allowed directories to be printed monthly instead of 2x a year and saved them over $14,000 in printing costs annually.


A simiple HTML5 browser game. I tried to emulate the sand level of Super Mario 2 so you can dig up blocks of earth to avoid baddies. Give it a try yourself here


My first venture into nonrel DBMS to create a pixel tracking software used on the Washington Times to track user analytics and provide an easy way to aggregate usage statistics. We used this tool to promote the most popular content based on pageviews

Skills

I have accumulated many talents throughout my years of Experience. My focus is on large scale Web Applications written in Python and/or Django. I started out writing Django apps to learn Python and quickly grew to become a full stack developer. As I learned more, I worked to focus on the service backend of any application im working on. My experience as a Linux SysAdmin have served me well and I have grown into a DevOps Engineer

Python

90%

Django

80%

NodeJS & JavaScript

75%

HTML & CSS

50%

Linux Sys Admin

75%

Work Experience

NASA Space Telescope Science Institute

Principal IT Technologist

Aug 2019 - Present

  • Developed Continuous Integration and Deployment systems using Gitlab, Docker and Kubernetes
  • Created system performance reporting platform using Tableau and integrated with Gitlab, Jira, Confluence, Slack, Box.com, Cisco UC, Jahia, Site 24x7, Uptime and others
  • Technical lead for Hubble archive website project
  • Launched web app to administer training programs for Human Resources
  • Created scalable cloud implementation for Houdini 3D rendering clients using VMWare and Terraform

Gnarwhal Studios, INC.

CTO and Application Developer

2005 - Present

  • Oversee the technical decisions for the production websites of Gnarhwhal Studios and the Humans vs Zombies game.
  • Lead project architect for HvZ game tracking web application
  • We produce games such as Humans Vs Zombies and Slap 45. Company site is http://gnarwhalstudios.com/

REW Consulting Services

Software Engineer

Oct 2018 - May 2019

  • Client is a fortune 50 financial company.
  • Built web application on top of Puppet to orchestrate software deployments
  • Worked using SOA for micro-service controllers to deploy updates to ~80K nodes..
  • Designed search service combining Puppet facts and application data.

Anthem Engineering, LLC

Senior Application Developer

October 2017 - April 2018

  • Integrated Box.com API to use as the file store for our uploaded documents
  • Using Redis and django-channels, built real-time communications app to
  • send model updates to client using websockets
  • Tracked and fixed Ruby/Sinatra bugs while learning Ruby on the job

b.well Connected Health

Senior Engineer

September 2016 - November 2016

  • Integrated proprietary health insurance databases into MySQL to track insurance coverage including copays, deductibles and out of pocket limits
  • Normalized tracking of lab results to account for differing test and reference levels
  • Implemented Stripe payments for monthly subscriptions

National Geographic Society

Senior Application Developer

April 2013 - July 2016

  • Tech lead for digital magazine app. Implemented CI/CD with Jenkins for main homepage.
  • Worked on services team for internal SOA application projects.
  • Tech lead on Your Shot photo sharing community.

SocialToaster Inc

Senior Application Developer

September 2012 - February 2013

  • Brought in as a Django consultant to an ongoing project to gameify social amplification of a client's content.
  • Implemented best practices in CI, testing and documentation.
  • Integrated additional social platforms (eg YouTube) into the system to have other places to share client's message

Bolster Labs Inc. AKA Chalk and Chisel

Senior Application Developer

December 2012

  • Integrated Kentico CMS with Facebook pages for livestrong.org
  • Improved site implementation and added activity streams for NASA’s fragileoasis.org
  • Created judging interface for National Geographic photography contests

National Geographic Society

Application Developer

December 2010 - December 2012

  • Worked on a shared Django based CMS for newsroom content production.
  • Developed a photo contest submission platform used for NatGeo Travel and Kids.

Lifemax Inc.

Django Developer

June 2009 - June 2010

  • Expanded site to support internationalization and allowed staff to edit multilingual content
  • Migrated application stack to Media Temple hosting
  • Optimized page load speed and media asset delivery

The Washington Times

Web Developer

Dec 2008 - June 2010

  • Ellington CMS administer
  • Application Development for Python/Django with emphasis on scalability.
  • Published several projects and most are opensourced and available on The Calloway Project

Open Source Connections

Web Application Developer

Jan 2008 - Mar 2008

  • Worked on Django applications for work flow management system for work orders
  • Created helpful AJAX utilities including CRUD interface
  • Debugged and troubleshooted software for users after deployment

Goucher College / Computer Music Department

Webmaster & OSX Server Administrator

June 2006, June 2007

  • Created site to host and display staff and student projects using Django
  • Preformed server maintenance and setup LAMP system with Drupal CMS
  • Created community site for live audio collaboration using Django

Go MCN AKA Live Networks Corp.

Developer & MySQL Administrator

2007

  • Developed website for physician provider information and initial audio telemedicine
  • MySQL DBA for MySQL VPS server responsible for user administration and scaling

Groupus / Firefeeds

Developer & Fedora Administrator

2006

  • Configured social networking site GroupUS with emphasis on real time audio communication
  • PBX software deployment for broadcasting local DC Fire/Police
  • Created community site for networking using Django

Humans vs Zombies Inc.

Web Developer / Ubuntu Administrator

2006

  • Created the HvZSource project providing a website to manage hosting games across 6 continents
  • Wrote a custom Django application to manage game events and players with tags and kills
  • Mass email campaign management with SendGrid

Projects

Here are a collection of my most popular projects.
There are more available if you check out My GitHub Profile

My first big project, GChartWrapper is a small Python wrapper around the Google Charts Image API. I began writing this app in college and before long I found that it was adopted by many different places all over the internet. The library supports making fancy charts like this beauty here.


My biggest project so far with thousands of downloads daily from PyPI. This is a Django Implementation of the activity streams protocol. It's a project space Ive gotten interested in and am assisting the W3 Social Web Working Group on developing new version drafts. I have also given a talk at Djangocon US 2014 on this topic. Loads more information, examples and concepts available on the docs.


This project is a Python implementation of the Google Voice App. There was no official API for the service so I used my browser to reverse engineer the functionality and put it into ReST calls you could make through Python and preserve session info. This lead to a bit of an arms race between me and Google after they added an extra layer of auth to thwart what I was able to do. I got around it once but they have since added more layers of security which arent worth my time anymore to get around so the project is defunct


This project generates PDF directories for the recovery community. It can use the existing intergroup website data to generate up to date PDFs for use on the web or print format. It's a partnership with the code4recovery group using the JSON API to pull data feeds from local intergroup websites. It lets local intergroup office create their own PDFs instead of relying on printing companies for generating physical directories. This is a project that started with the Baltimore AA Intergroup office committee and allowed directories to be printed monthly instead of 2x a year and saved them over $14,000 in printing costs annually.


A simiple HTML5 browser game. I tried to emulate the sand level of Super Mario 2 so you can dig up blocks of earth to avoid baddies. Give it a try yourself here


My first venture into nonrel DBMS to create a pixel tracking software used on the Washington Times to track user analytics and provide an easy way to aggregate usage statistics. We used this tool to promote the most popular content based on pageviews

Education

Goucher College, Towson MD

Class of 2009

Computer Science Major, Bachelors of Arts

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Support

Please support my ongoing work in open source. Your contributions help keep my projects alive, direct my time to the efforts that i love and keep the lights on. Any amount is appreciated. Payments are processed through Github Sponsors