Senior Software Engineer and Engineering Manager with 15+ years of experience building scalable web applications and leading engineering teams in both startup and enterprise environments.
Experienced in full-stack development, cloud infrastructure, and modern DevOps practices. Proven track record of leading large-scale migrations, managing cross-functional teams, and delivering high-impact projects for major media organizations.
Development practices include:
15+ years building scalable web applications using modern frameworks and best practices. Expertise in PHP, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and cloud-native architectures.
Proven track record managing engineering teams, leading large-scale migrations, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver projects on time and within budget.
Extensive experience with AWS, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi), CI/CD pipelines, and modern deployment practices for high-availability systems.
• Managed a team of 4 software engineers, providing technical leadership, mentorship, training, and professional development.
• Trained and developed engineers through code reviews, pair programming, and technical guidance to enhance team capabilities.
• Established coding standards, quality control processes, and testing procedures to improve code quality and team efficiency.
• Conducted performance reviews and compiled weekly status updates for VP and senior leadership.
• Performed various managerial tasks including resource allocation, project planning, and team development.
• Led migration of 8+ million articles, galleries, videos, and images into WordPress.
• Achieved significant performance improvements, reducing load times from 8 seconds to under 1 second.
• Led upgrading from WordPress 5.8.x to 6.1.x while maintaining support for various themes/plugins.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams (Frontend, UI, UX, Product) and vendors to deliver projects on time and within budget.
• Led various tentpole events including Elections, Super Bowl, the Olympics, and the World Cup.
• Wrote an internal tool that utilized the OpenAI Chat Completion API to create simple function-based input/output applications capable of handling tasks like: Translating, Generating SEO meta, etc.
• Led migration to WordPress and WPVIP. ( LINK: Read an article about this migration )
• Developed applications using latest PHP versions (7.3.x, 7.4.x, 7.5.x, 8.0.x).
• Implemented code quality standards using PHP Code Sniffer.
• Built CI/CD pipelines using Travis-CI and GitHub Actions.
• Architected and deployed solutions using AWS services including Lambda, S3, SNS, SQS, API Gateway, and DynamoDB.
• Developed a WordPress plugin that sends events to an SNS Topic, powering various microservices.
• Deployed production infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code tools: Pulumi and Terraform.
• Created and maintained various content feeds in XML, RSS, MRSS, and JSON formats.
• Architected integrations with third-party platforms including Apple News, Google Home, Alexa, Apple TV, and Roku.
• Maintained and enhanced backend system "Bridge" that migrates content to partners at Broadcast Interactive Media.
• Led the launch of 15 rebranded station sites across NBC and Telemundo networks.
• Maintained and extended templates written using Apache Velocity.
• Extended core functionality for various station sites.
• Upgraded deprecated Google AdMob SDK for Android L support.
• Maintained 30+ NBC and Telemundo station websites including nbcbayarea.com, nbcchicago.com, nbcwashington.com, nbcdfw.com, nbclosangeles.com, nbcnewyork.com, telemundo52.com, and many others.
• Led migration of Laravel 3 application to Laravel 4.
• Architected a dynamic multi-domain system with custom theme functionality using Composer packages, enabling rapid deployment of new pages with advanced features.
• Implemented OAuth authentication for Facebook and Twitter.
• Developed a dynamic coupon system for on-the-fly deal creation.
• Implemented retargeting functionality to engage users based on website activity.
• Integrated MailChimp and MandrillApp for email marketing and transactional emails.
• Led rebranding initiatives for multiple sites and sister companies.
• Developed military user authentication and discount system via ID.me integration.
• Maintained multiple e-commerce sites including bpisports.net, imagesportsdirect.com, and pronutra.net.
• Migrated voting platform from legacy CodeIgniter/Bonfire to modern Laravel framework, implementing industry standards including schema.org tags for SEO, Twitter Bootstrap for responsive design, and jQuery for interactive features. (http://vote.local10.com, http://4thebest.clickondetroit.com)
• Developed back-end scrapers and front-end GUIs for state data aggregation sites including Florida mugshots, restaurant inspections, sex offender registries, and other public records. Built RESTful APIs to power mobile applications. (http://mugshots.local10.com, http://restaurantinspections.local10.com, http://sexoffenders.local10.com)
• Architected and developed RESTful API for voting platform enabling secure JSON data transfer between server and mobile applications, supporting voting and registration features.
• Developed iOS and Android mobile applications for voting platform.
• IIS installation, with MySQL support.
• Utilized IronRuby (a Ruby framework with .NET support) to create a cross-platform tool which read templates written in YAML and provided dialog-based applications for Windows, Linux, Mac, and Web.
• Helped refresh client websites, bringing modern designs back where sites may have lost their "luster."
• Renovated a footwear company’s stock system providing a better link between their warehouse and online shopping cart.
CVE-2018-10193 (mitre.org) | CVE-2018-10193 (VulnDB) | CVE-2018-10193 (nvd.nist.gov)
One of my old blog posts (no longer available) was front-page of news.ycombinator.com: https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2011-09-03 (scroll down to #29.)
Steve Birstok — [email protected]