Who
is Ken?
Ken's a software engineer with 7+ years under his belt. He's done the startup thing, he's done the big corporate thing, and he's been productive in both. He's shipped products solo as a full-stack dev and led teams of engineers to do the same.
He's at his best when the people around him actually care about the work — he's big on company culture. The kind of team where code reviews are real conversations, feedback goes both ways, and everyone's trying to get a little better every day. Big picture, he wants to be somewhere that's building something that matters and isn't just going through the motions.
What
technologies does Ken use?
JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node are home base. React and React Native are where he spends most of his time. He's built with Next.js too — this site runs on it (source code here).
State management? He's used them all — Redux, Context API, React Query, MobX, Jotai. Styling-wise, he's worked with Material UI, PrismUI, and SCSS. He's leveled up component libraries with Storybook and kept things reliable with Jest and Cypress.
On the backend side, he's integrated RESTful APIs, GraphQL, and gRPC talking to MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. His GCP experience covers auth, Cloud Functions, Remote Configs, A/B testing, and analytics. He's also set up CI/CD with GitHub Actions, built dashboards in Mixpanel, and wired up internal tools with Retool.
Where
is Ken, where has he worked?
Ken's in New York City. He works best with some flexibility — family stuff means he can't always be in an office 9-to-5, but he's always around for team syncs and happy to show up when it counts.
He's built things at startups like Zigazoo and Auxetic, and at places you've definitely heard of — the NBA, American Express, and Cigna.
When
did Ken start coding?
8 years
4 months
12 daysWhy
is Ken a software engineer?
Before code, Ken was an eCommerce Specialist at Durante Rentals — a construction rental startup that punched above its weight with tech. He did well enough to get promoted to CIS Manager, running all their tech operations. The company's president was always looking for the next edge, and Ken was the guy figuring out how to make it happen.
After three years of evaluating software and constantly hitting walls with what was out there, he had a pretty simple thought: why not just build something better? So he did.
Ken grew up in an immigrant family, spending summers in high school working at the family restaurant — which is a fast track to learning hard work and empathy. He later bartended and managed a bar, which is where he figured out he genuinely loves teaching people and sharing what he knows. When he's not writing code, he's probably getting way too competitive in a video game or running a steak experiment.