Alexander Quine (he/him)

Synopsis

I am a software engineer and system architect working with the web platform for almost two decades, specializing in front-end and user experience.

I value quick feedback and testing, and prefer development cycles informed by Agile project concepts.

I'm excited to collaborate as an individual contributor, and have also lead teams of local and remote engineers.

Skills

• Software development

  • Very experienced with JavaScript: back-end (NodeJS) including server-side rendering, front-end (browser, HTML APIs), and "serverless"/event-driven (AWS Lambda)
  • Comfortable with a variety of server-side ecosystems: JavaScript/TypeScript/NodeJS (React, Svelte, NextJS, Gatsby, Express, hapi), Ruby (Rails), Elixir (Phoenix), Python (Django), PHP, Java
  • Experienced architecting software systems; designing and using GraphQL and REST APIs; and designing schemas for both relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite) and NoSQL/document databases (AWS DynamoDB, Redis, MongoDB)
  • Incorporating LLMs into daily coding workflows and the ongoing software development lifecycle, using agentic and human-in-the-loop approaches as appropriate (Claude)
  • Experienced with test-driven development at unit/component/integration levels (Jest, Vitest, Cypress, Playwright, React Testing Library, Jasmine, RSpec, ExUnit)
  • Comfortable with Docker/container-based architectures (microservices, monoliths/monorepos, etc) and cloud hosting (AWS, Google Cloud); opinionated on developer experience
  • Experienced using observability, error-tracking, session analytics, and incident management tools (DataDog, Sentry, New Relic, LogRocket, PagerDuty)
  • Adept at shell scripting in Bash and ZSH

• Web platform

  • Experienced with web delivery best practices for high-traffic websites (Cloudflare, Fastly, CDNs)
  • Strong attention paid to user experience and accessibility; compatibility across browsers, devices, and screen sizes; resource efficiency; and code standards
  • Proficient in HTML5 (Canvas, CSS3, SVG, Web Workers, Web Sockets, storage, etc); JavaScript (Web Components, React, Svelte, NextJS, Gatsby, Express, hapi, D3, MERN stack, etc); CSS (media queries, animations, custom properties/variables, Sass/SCSS, etc)

• Project management

  • Experienced leading a team of engineers to build a fully-tested bespoke web application UX (from specs through launch and ongoing support), integrating with existing systems and processes, and achieving a seamless user transition to the new system
  • Comfortable drafting specifications and collaborating with UX designers and product stakeholders to explore customer requirements
  • Proud to have successfully established a regular cadence of maintenance and dependency updates to counter the pernicious effects of "feature-and-firefighting" development

Experience

• Staff Software Engineer (Jan–October 2025)

  @ Planted Solar (solar energy & construction)

  Joined a post-stealth Series A startup at a critical growth point, relieving the pressure on the existing two-person software team by tackling technical debt accumulated during the R&D process.

  • Collaborated on custom web-based GIS software incorporating DEM file data with visualizing/modifying 2D and 3D models at scale (NumPy, Pandas, GDAL, Python, NodeJS, PostgreSQL, MapBox, React, Svelte).
  • Created the company's first integration test suite of critical site-planning software and configured to run on existing continuous-integration system (Cypress, CircleCI).
  • Refactored database schema to address years-old tech debt affecting intertwined Python and NodeJS back-ends.
  • Conducted technical interviews of job applicants.

• Staff Software Engineer, Sports Architecture team (2022–2024)

  @ Warner Brothers Discovery (media & sports)

  Software architecture and specification of a multi-system event-driven software stack, comprising several independent systems communicating via events/messages, powering a variety of internal tools as well as public-facing apps and websites.

  • Authored architectural documentation using Jira/Confluence capturing tradeoffs and decisions around integration with third-party SaaS platform, including Design Documents and UML/sequence diagrams where appropriate.
  • I was the only engineer who saw the full arc of an eight-year rebuild, from declaring tech-bankruptcy on Bleacher Report's entire tech stack through rebuilding all features and decomissioning the old stack.
  • Collaborated on planning and coding a green-field worker-based rebuild of an existing service, built in TypeScript using Apache Kafka and AWS DynamoDB.

• Lead Front-End Engineer (2015–2022)
  Senior Front-End Engineer (2014–2015)
  Front-End Engineer (2013–2014)

  @ WarnerMedia / Bleacher Report (media & sports)

  Agile-influenced web software planning, specification, team-leading, code development, and automated testing; across several projects; using modern JavaScript, Elixir, and Ruby on Rails; in a continuous-integration/deployment environment with multiple production releases per week.

  • Individual Contributor and Tech Lead of a team of remote full-time employees and contractors, rebuilding a key internal CMS with a custom realtime web app using React and NodeJS, including a full integration test suite using Cypress, and CI/CD using GitHub Actions.
  • Built the MVP of a JavaScript-based CMS web application using WebSockets, React, and NodeJS, and onboarded other developers to continue development through launch.
  • Collaborated with product owners and UX/UI designers to define features and architecture of new projects, tools, and systems.
  • Debugged errors in an Elixir/Phoenix service-oriented back-end.
  • Conducted technical interviews of job applicants with co-workers, both in person and via phone/video, and collaborated with department leaders to reform the interviewing and onboarding processes.
  • Mentored new employees and junior engineers.

• Front-End Developer (2011–2013)

  @ Current TV (media & politics)

  Agile test-driven development using Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, RSpec, Jasmine, Backbone.js, and jQuery, with continuous testing and integration using Travis CI. Project management using Pivotal Tracker and FogBugz. (Note: Current TV was sold in 2013 and the site has since been shut down)

  • Collaborated on TV-ready custom D3.js-based visualizations of data on interactive maps and graphs in SVG, using Git.
  • Collaborated on maintenance of and custom feature development on WordPress-based sites, using Subversion.
  • Major code contributions to a test-driven responsive-design rebuild of the main site in Ruby on Rails.

• Developer (2007–2011)

  @ Wolfgang's Vault (e-commerce & music)

  Lead developer and maintainer for sites built in WordPress, MediaWiki, and bespoke Perl and Python.

  • Implemented complete redesigns and new features based on low-fidelity mockups.
  • Migrated a brand presence from a proprietary CMS to a customized WordPress installation, versioned using Subversion.
  • Operations support for a production Linux web server.
  • Constructed all consumer-facing email and implemented several design changes to email templates using XSLTs.
  • Served as technical liaison to contracted email delivery service.

• Webmaster (2002–2003, 2005–2007)

  @ Oberlin College Library System (higher education)
  • Maintained and updated custom database-backed web applications and static-content pages as needed for the college's four libraries.
  • Maintained and debugged Ajax applications with MySQL backends.
  • Implemented a redesign of the Library System's main page.
  • Completed a virtual tour project started by the prior webmaster.

Education / Certification

• Bachelor of Arts, East Asian Studies

  2007: Oberlin College (Oberlin, Ohio)
  Concentrated in Mandarin Chinese language and literature.

• Certified ScrumMaster®

  2016
  Scrum Alliance® (#000530544)

Fun Facts

• I study languages for fun! In school I took classes in Mandarin Chinese, French, Italian, and Russian; lately I've been learning some Spanish and bits of Lojban and Toki Pona in my spare time.
• I'm an avid photographer, both film and digital, and particularly fond of long (multi-hour) exposures and piecing together wide panoramas in a real darkroom.
• I enjoy etymology, eagerly-hyphenated compound modifiers, and the serial comma.
• I write (code, this resume, etc.) with NeoVim, and have been using a Dvorak keyboard layout (e.g. non-QWERTY) since 2003.
• I listen to lots of music!