My name is Theresa.
This is my open cover letter and resume.
I am the best engineering hire you’ll make this year.
Resume gap be damned, I am an excellent engineer. I have had diverse experience from small startups to the US federal government. I have written in more languages than I have fingers on one hand. I am great at identifying code improvements. I am absolutely top tier at crafting code that is easy to maintain and has a svelte tailor to the business application.
I can code completely indepenent of AI. I have been making the internet, as I say, since the late 1990s. I am always working on adding to a Github repository of Leetcode exercises to demonstrate some of my ability. Please take a look.
Since working for the government, I have taken various classes on computer science material. I am currently attending a certification course at Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering in Generative AI. I answer other students’ questions for my teachers in the class chat when the teacher misses it. I ask for additional work to be unlocked in the learning platform early for me to complete.
As an engineering manager, I worked to create a safe and empowering space for my engineers. I fought for higher performance bonuses, mentored engineers into management positions themselves. I bring a sharp, analytical mind paired with keen emotional intelligence. I am someone that creates such deep bonds naturally that I am good friends with many colleagues to this day. I put my all into my work, head and heart.
I am raring to go. Unleash me on your organization. I am who you bring in when you want measured disruption. When you want someone to ask the hard questions. When you want an engineer that values cross disciplinary collaboration. I put my all into doing everything I do. I insist on doing things to a high degree of excellence.
If you believe in me, you will not regret it. Give me an interview. Let me show you what I can do. I am not a conventional candidate, but I am the best one for your open position. Thank you.
My Experience
Lead Innovation Specialist - Washington, DC
I spent four years here, and was asked to move from an individual contributor role to a leadership role within three months of my working there.
- Managed a team of 3-6 high performing engineers, some of whom were tech leads in their focus areas (front end, devops, etc), and a handful of whom were promoted off my team, becoming leaders alongside me.
- Built an engineering department from a little over a dozen to sixty engineers, focusing on engineer productivity and career development, exponentially increasing the number of paid projects the agency could accept.
- Co-authored Code of Conduct for events as part of internal Diversity and Inclusion Guild, which became the foundation for the organizational Code of Conduct.
My leadership position also had a percentage of time I spent as an individual contributor still, completing the following:
- Extended software I first built in an earlier position, used to parse and view federal regulation for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau, increasing regulatory compliance and ease of use for ATF staff using React, JavaScript, Backbone.js, Python and Django, Sass, HTML.
- Worked closely with designers and server side engineers to develop a website for an initiative that First Lady Michelle Obama created, resulting in interest being generated in the program and sign ups to the campaign, using Jekyll, JavaScript, Sass.
- Led continued development of an internal tool for federal procurement officers to receive fairer prices on government contracts by comparing past prices on similar contracts, which saved compliance officers time and money on new contracts, using Python and Django.
Technology and Innovation Fellow - Washington, DC
I was given a two year fellowship position to get the new federal agency built out of the 2008 housing crisis off the ground technologically.
- I led front end development for innovative and modern software that dynamically parses and displays federal regulations, revolutionizing the space for federal employees and private industry alike using Python, JavaScript, Django, Backbone.js, Underscore.js, Travis CI, Sauce Labs, Selenium, Mocha, Grunt, shell scripting, linting tools, Babel, HTML, Sass.
Web Application Engineer - New York, NY
- I led front end engineering for the initial deployment of an innovative news website, using Backbone.js, Underscore.js, JavaScript, PHP, Wordpress, jQuery.
Senior Web Developer - New York, NY
- Maintained and built new features for a consumer product comparison website owned by The New York Times Company, using JavaScript, CSS, HTML, Drupal, PHP, jQuery.
- Halved load times by minimizing HTTP requests and optimizing server side code for Drupal views/templates.
- Co-led usability testing and user feedback collection, alongside the design director.
Senior Web Developer - New York, NY
Drupal Themer - New York, NY
Client Side Developer - New York, NY
About
About Theresa and this site:- This site is built with Next.js and hosted with Vercel. Super great host, insanely easy to setup and deploy, I never have fluke failed builds.
- On MacOS, I tested out Warp for an AI-powered Terminal replacement. I am using Sublime Text, but might try out WebStorm. Never met an IDE I like, though. Warp was handy when I botched my Git history and when I ran into dependency versioning issues.
- Theresa is a crafter, thinker, cat mom, reluctant TikTok-er, Lady Gaga superfan, into feminine dress and accoutrements, lifelong tinkerer.