My Work

Software Development Engineer in Test, Verisk

Full Stack Software Engineer, Nine Design

Portfolio

• Developed and incorporated a custom NuGet API library that opened up the company's automation framework to the wider ecosystem, leading to increased adoption and efficiency gains across multiple development teams

• Served as Quality Assurance Team Lead for a backend services team of 8 engineers, driving comprehensive testing strategies and mentoring both junior and peer QA team members

• Leveraged analytics, logging, and advanced troubleshooting techniques to identify and resolve bugs and other application issues

• Contributed to and maintained a suite of 1000+ automation scripts using C# and Selenium, providing robust regression testing coverage and catching critical bugs before production releases

• Played a key role in architecting and building a greenfield multi-tenant SaaS platform using Laravel and Vue.js

• Implemented core features including user authentication, role-based access control, and a customizable reporting dashboard, working across the full stack

• Wrote comprehensive API and developer documentation, significantly streamlining onboarding for new engineers and reducing ramp-up time

• Defined and rolled out Agile processes, Git workflows, and coding best practices that notably increased team velocity while maintaining high code quality standards

• Contributed to a complex, large-scale Laravel/Vue.js Content Management System used by numerous enterprise customers, implementing new features and resolving critical bugs

• Wrote unit and integration tests using PHPUnit, substantially increasing code coverage and preventing regressions in key functionality

• Utilized a structured logging system to capture errors and diagnose root causes, significantly reducing time to resolve customer issues

• Successfully managed multiple complex database schema migrations with no downtime, ensuring data integrity for a large volume of content across dozens of tables

Web Developer, Maiden Voyage Software

About Me

I'm a passionate, versatile software engineer with an insatiable curiosity and penchant for lifelong learning. My journey in the tech world has been marked by relentless exploration, close collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.

Portfolio

Equipped with a diverse skillset spanning Python, C++/C#, JavaScript, SQL, .NET and more, I thrive in dissecting complex problems, crafting elegant systemic structures, and delivering robust, scalable solutions. One of my most impactful achievements was building out an API library, deployed as a NuGet package, to open up the ecosystem for automated Quality Assurance testing at my company, Verisk.

With degrees in both biological sciences and computer science, my intellectual journey has been an exhilarating blend of scientific rigor and computational prowess. This multidisciplinary background imbues me with a uniquely analytical yet creative approach to problem-solving.

Perpetually unsatisfied with the limits of my knowledge, I'm always eager to expand my horizons, whether through formal education or self-driven exploration. The pursuit of understanding is my ultimate muse, and the digital frontier is my canvas. Let's connect and explore the vast expanse of what we can achieve together at the intersection of curiosity and code.

Suffering from skill issues

Python

C#/C++/C

Javascript

HTML/CSS

React / Next Node Flask / Django

SQL

.NET

MongoDB

PostgreSQL

AWS/Azure

Projects

My Personal AI Chatbots

NutriTrackr App

Portfolio

• Developed an AI chat application that leverages my personal data to provide engaging, personalized conversation

• Leveraged the latest LLM models and best practices to create extensible, flexible conversational AI assistants

• Provided the LLM with "memory" by incorporated a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) system, which uses a Vector database to query semantically relevant content from my questions to provide me with stored "memories", enabling my assistant to "learn" about me and my preferences

• Applied prompt engineering techniques to optimize conversational patterns and ensure highly realistic interactions

• Created different AI "personas" to assist with a variety of conversational tasks

• Deployed the application on the web, built with Vue.js and Python

• Developed a comprehensive nutrition tracking application for calories, macronutrients and micronutrients, with several iterations to improve functionality

• Implemented the initial web-based version using Vue.js, followed by a React Native Android application for mobile use

• Incorporated search functionality using an API to parse natural language and return matching nutrition information

• Utilized the Notion API to store nutrition data in an editable database table, enabling seamless data synchronization with my personal note-taking application

• Implemented barcode scanning and text search for quick logging of foods in the CRUD application

• Developed my first video game using Unity, C# scripting and game development best practices

• Built a sophisticated simulation of various biological functions including hunger, growth, starvation, death and reproduction

• Curated all game assets, leveraging open source content and creating custom sound effects

• Crafted an engaging, fun user experience designed to appeal to gamers

Lovequarium

Those are just a few of my projects. Feel free to reach out and ask me about my others!

Wanna talk?

Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss my work, have a project in mind, or simply want to geek out about code - I'm always excited to explore opportunities and dive into the technical details!

© 2023 Dalton Orvis