Jennifer (J.T.) Grimes
Staff Software Engineer
EXPERIENCE
Amava, Remote Staff Engineer 2021 – 2022
- Queen of all things database, including database design, query optimization, reporting, and ad hoc queries.
- Unofficially led a team of 3 developers, implemented coding standards, and improved code quality.
- Led troubleshooting and debugging efforts across the entire code base.
- Successfully avoided doing most front-end and operations work.
Shelterluv, Remote Senior Engineer 2019 – 2021
- Designed, coded, tested, released, and maintained API/backend for task management system for animal control officers as part of a small team. Was solely responsible for building a flexible reporting system and Excel importer.
- Wrote semi-custom authentication package (based on Socialite, later Sanctum, please never ask me to do this again).
- Built cross-system event archiving system.
- Built A/B testing framework and data warehouse for experiment results.
- Reviewed PRs, asked good questions, wrote good code.
- Reluctantly updated front-end code when nobody else was available.
Deans & Homer, San Francisco Web Developer 2007 – 2018
- 10 years as sole fulltime developer for company site built on raw PHP then Laravel 3, 4, and 5.
- Managed all internal and external web properties.
- Built bridge to connect Laravel/Eloquent to DB2 database.
- Designed (and refactored and refactored again) API to call interactive COBOL programs from PHP and return results. Learned a lot.
- Worked closely with COBOL devs to bring existing processes to the web.
- Hired, trained, and managed developer contractors as needed.
Deans & Homer, San Francisco Data Analyst 1996 – 2007
- Wrote specifications for insurance rating website, including rating, security, and data transfer.
- Designed and built insurance rating program in Delphi (Visual Pascal for Windows).
- Designed, built, and maintained file maintenance application in Delphi.
- Made Excel sing and dance.
- Provided PC, network, and phone tech support for 90+ users.
California State Auto Assoc., San Francisco Actuarial Analyst 1992 – 1996
- Wrote requirements, designed test plan, and performed testing of new insurance rating system.
- Summarized and analyzed data for submission to executives, auditors, and regulatory authorities.
PRESENCE
- Twitter: @jt_grimes
- Github: jtgrimes
- Blog: poweredbybourbon.com
- Stack Overflow: jtgrimes
APPEARANCES
- Voices of the Elephpant Dec 2015
- The Laravel Podcast Oct 2017
SKILLS/LANGUAGES
Strong: PHP, SQL, Database design
Enough: Javascript, CSS to get by
Mostly forgotten: C, Java, Delphi, Visual Basic, C#
Loathes but can do when necessary: AWS and Ops
EDUCATION
Golden Gate University
- MS Software Eng. 2003
UC Berkeley
- BA Statistics 1992