Michael Vanasse

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Summary

Engineer with a passion for building scalable, durable, and elegant software. Can lead in startup and enterprise environments. 12+ years of diverse software development experience with focus in holistic architecture, front-end engineering, information design, and web services.

Most comfortable in Linux or macOS terminal with my trusty web browsers. Used to be a VIM snob, then became an Emacs snob, now am just a humble VSCode user. Always looking for new ways to improve my workflow. Like working alone, but love working with a solid team.

Technical skills

  • Languages
    TypeScript/JavaScript
    ,
    Elixir/Erlang
    ,
    Python
    ,
    SQL
    ,
    Perl
    ,
    Lisps
  • Styling & Markup
    HTML templating
    ,
    CSS preprocessing
    ,
    DOM manipulation
    ,
    SVG
    ,
    Canvas
  • Frameworks
    React
    ,
    Angular
    ,
    Vue
    ,
    Svelte
    ,
    Next
    ,
    Express/Koa
    ,
    Phoenix
  • Development Tools
    Emacs+Vim+VSCode
    ,
    Make
    ,
    i3
    ,
    ngrok
    ,
    Postman
  • Cloud & Edge
    AWS
    ,
    Heroku
    ,
    StackPath
    ,
    Netlify
    ,
    Vercel
  • DevOps & Monitoring
    Docker
    ,
    GitHub
    ,
    Jenkins
    ,
    CircleCI
    ,
    TravisCI
    ,
    New Relic
    ,
    Sentry
  • Database & OS
    MySQL
    ,
    PostgreSQL
    ,
    MongoDB
    ,
    CouchDB
    ,
    SurrealDB
    ,
    Linux
    ,
    macOS
  • Productivity Tools
    Jira
    ,
    Trello
    ,
    Slack
    ,
    Confluence
    ,
    Scrum
    ,
    Agile
    ,
    Kanban
  • Professional experience

    Principal software engineer
    Ascential
    2020 2023
    (remote)
    London, UK

    Led the front and backend engineering teams for two tumultuous years through COVID-19, maintaining high team morale while delivering on-time and under-budget.

    On the backend, transitioned stale PHP API codebase to a modern Node.js stack (TypeScript, Koa). Generated OpenAPI docs as well as a type-safe client library (TypeScript, Axios) for the front end, guaranteeing API contracts. Consolidated front-end components (React), resulting in the removal of 80,000 lines of code.

    Replaced front end's multiple state managers (Redux, Immer, React Context) with one (Effector). Implemented configurable charting components (D3, AG Grid) for complex data visualizations.

    Senior software engineer
    Simplecast
    2019 2020
    (remote)
    New York, NY

    Repurposed my previously-used Elixir framework from Optiv (Mazurka) for the backend, where it powered the API, webhooks, and internal tools. Developed sophisticated cloud utilities (AWS, StackPath) that reduced weekly operating costs by thousands of dollars.

    Principal software engineer
    Optiv
    2015 2018
    (remote)
    Denver, CO

    Moved the company from a private SOAP API (Java) to a public REST API (Elixir). Integrated ServiceNow as data enrichment proxy layer to provide advanced querying capabilities. Implemented end-to-end impersonation (user spoofing) for support staff.

    Reduced front-end app's (Angular, D3, Chart.js) average initial load times by 15x with a custom caching layer. Added responsive designs, status messages (e.g., warnings, alerts), and configurable layouts.

    Front-end developer
    OC Tanner
    2013 2015
    Salt Lake City, UT

    Led the front-end team in the rewrite (Angular.js) of the company's 8-year-old flagship webapp (Java with Spring), doubling performance. Formed and managed an ongoing organization-wide collaboration for the sharing of cross-product tools and resources.

    Independent digital contractor
    2011 2013
    (remote)
    Kansas City, MO

    Created blogs, forums, and commercial websites, all using open-source CMS engines, and all handed off to customers for maintenance and occasional support. Proposed, storyboarded, and animated advertisements and educational videos.

    Developed real-time material management tool (Meteor using Mongo) for the Midwest's largest waste management company (Deffenbaugh).

    Redesigned Crocs UI, reducing CSS lines from 20,000 to 400. Developed and designed a Facebook-integrated application for Gatorade to manage sporting events. Wrote rich UI application (Backbone.js) for Wendy's campaign to unveil new menu items.