About Me
Computer engineer and friendly neighborhood cryptid based in southern New England. I enjoy gaming, video editing, hiking and world travel. I've worked in technology for over 20 years.
Skills
Core:
HTML5, JavaScript ES6, CSS / CSS3 / SASSFrameworks:
React, Angular, Vue, Rails, Bootstrap, WordPressTools / Etc:
Intuitive understanding of Git, GitHub, NPM, and agile CI/CD. Testing via Cypress, Jest, Jasmine, Enzyme, and Nightwatch. Also experienced in JQuery, PHP, MySQL, Java/Kotlin, C/C++.Education
University of Rhode Island
B.S. in Computer Engineering (GPA: 3.48 / 4.00)
- Tau Beta Pi Honor Society
- Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society
Student VP and Webmaster
2007 - 2011
Work History
Cisco.com
Software Engineer X- Front-end web development with a majority focus on React.
- End-to-end testing via Cypress, unit testing via Jest and Cypress.
- API work with regards to UI sending and recieving data from site backend.
- Extensive work developing components for the internal design library.
- Microapp / agile CICD methodology.
April 2020 - present
Chewy.com
Software Engineer II- Worked primarily as a front-end developer, using core HTML/JS/CSS and a variety of frameworks (mostly Vue) to fix bugs and develop new functionality.
- Experience working with Java / Kotlin for site backend.
- Extensive ADA / WCAG accessibiliy work.
- Wrote test cases in Jest and Kotlin.
- Agile / SCRUM development style.
April 2018 - April 2020
CVS Health
Sr Analyst App Development- Worked with AngularJS, Angular 2+, HTML5, JS, and CSS3 to create fully responsive UI.
- Long-term and extensive development work with accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1).
- Development, testing, and support for mobile web, mobile app, and desktop.
- Experience working in both waterfall and agile development styles.
January 2017 - April 2018
Cognizant
UI Lead Developer- Worked as a contractor for six months while getting started with CVS Health.
- Leadership recognition for UI development contributions within the first three months.
August 2016 - January 2017
Zmags, Inc.
Tech Support Champion- Assisted clients ranging from small businesses to large corporate accounts with the use of our publishing platform.
- Handled support tickets via phone, email, and online chat; the team primarily used Salesforce and Zendesk.
- Performed account maintenance, developed code demos, and wrote tutorial content for our Community Portal.
- Worked with Product team to test, identify, and troubleshoot bugs, tracked primarily using Jira and Confluence.
March 2012 - May 2016
SupportSpace, Ltd.
Certified Expert- Provided a variety of online services including virus removal, troubleshooting software errors, and addressing "slow computer" problems.
- Set up consumer home electronics such as computers, printers, and wireless routers.
- Top ranking expert for number of cases completed, over 4,800 by October 2011.
December 2007 - October 2011
Racman Electronic Repairs
Technical Support, Office Assistant- Repair and troubleshoot computer problems.
- Setup and maintenance of office local network.
- Data entry and backup using QuickBooks.
- General office duties, such as filing paperwork and ordering parts.
2005 - 2008
After my career as a developer took off, personal projects have focused more on practicing design skills. I use Vue a lot because it's the level of tooling and overhead I've found most comfortable for single-dev artistic endeavours like these.
Portfolio Website (2022)
Vue, HTML, JS, CSS- This site (the one you're reading now) uses Vue, runs on Netlify for CICD, and is managed via Git.
- All templates created from scratch using HTML and CSS. Sass nesting and mixins to keep things tidy.
- Synthwave-inspired neon theme, smooth scroll for internal navigation, simple modal for screenshots and videos.
- All sites featured responsively adapt to viewport size, appearing nicely on widths 320px and up.
★彡Zack's Aesthetic Shack彡★
HTML, JS, CSS- Hacked together in a single night for a summer art festival, its aim was to create something simple yet stylish.
- Vaporwave-inspired "Windows 98" aesthetic achieved via 98.css and custom taskbar elements.
- Comingling semi-transparent foreground with full-page background allows elements to smoothly fade into view on scroll.
- Simple third-party guestbook integration, in keeping with the traditions of classic 90s web design.
Video Production
PowerDirector 18, VideoPad, Streamlabs- Learned VideoPad and editing techniques while creating weekly highlights from Twitch streams.
- Learned PowerDirector in <12 hours after projects became too complex for VideoPad (memory full / exports crashing).
- Produced 129 videos over the course of 2020 and 2021 as part of an ongoing project.
- Subject matter includes animation, cat videos, music videos, comedy skits, a cooking show, vlogs and crafting.
Comic Complex
Vue, HTML, JS, CSS- Custom portfolio site made for / in collaboration with my brother Will Stiles when he was first starting on web design.
- Presented as a fictional apartment complex, traditional scrolling is replaced by elevator movement between floors.
- System for persistent interactive elements and animated GIFs (characters, props, etc); these resize and reposition automatically to keep their place when viewport is resized.
- Versatile modal system facilitates image galleries, YouTube videos, a webcomic with its own navigation and news section.
- Separate backend and cloud-storage site using Cockpit CMS allows no-coding-needed additions to the comic and galleries.
- Frontend hosted on Netlify for CICD, managed via Git.
