I am a Software Engineer in North Carolina, working at InQuest, which provides an on-premise network-based security solution capable of detecting malware as it passes through your traditional security defenses. My experience includes supporting and refactoring legacy applications often using DDD, CQRS, and Event Sourcing practices.
I am a Director for Women Who Code Raleigh-Durham and a Co-Organizer of Triangle PHP. In 2016 I began speaking at conferences to share what I have learned while supporting and modernizing legacy applications. I enjoy sharing these talks and code to help others dealing with large, legacy applications.
I am a developer with a BS in Computer Science from NC State. I worked my way through this degree by taking co-ops with many software development companies in the Research Triangle Park, working in software testing and software development. Before graduating, I built web sites and began developing web applications using PHP in 1999. As a hobby, I researched for and maintained a website, The Lily Pad, a site about caring for and keeping frogs as pets. This site had active membership and participation for more than 10 years.
Over the years, I’ve worked on projects of various sizes. I’ve built open source project management and genealogy applications. I modified and contributed to projects on sourceforge.net as well as transitioned to Github’s collaborative open source contributions. I have built interactive customer-facing applications and tools that helped people complete tasks.
I transitioned from procedural web development to Object Oriented projects and OO frameworks. I’ve continued to grow my skills by learning other languages Ruby on Rails, Python, and Django and techniques such as Domain Driven Design, Command Query Response Segregation, and Event Sourcing. One of these projects was a Scholarships Application that required large chunks of the application be replaced to allow the College award scholarships. After a lengthy, extensive code push, our team was able to make the required changes, awarding more than $1.5 million in scholarships for students.
I enjoy sharing the information I’ve learned with others. I excel at helping teams work together and reducing barriers to open collaboration. This naturally led me to speaking about working with legacy applications and improving communication with customers. I also apply my collaborative spirit by organizing Triangle PHP, founding a Women Who Code network, and TA-ing Girl Develop It’s courses in Django, PHP, Python, and Github.
Outside of the office, I enjoy hiking and kayaking. A few years ago, I hiked a length of the Foothills trail that spanned NC, SC, and GA, hiking over 24 miles in one day. In 2005, I joined the Carolina Roller Girls, a flat track roller derby league. I skated as a Trauma Queen for one year before retiring from the league. I also enjoy making things using many materials. I primarily enjoy crochet, quilting, sewing costumes, and painting; but I will dabble in most any material with the right project as a motivator.