Lukas C. Eklund
lukas@eklund.io
419 Jean Street, Madison, WI 53703
240.601.2974
summary
I am a Senior Software Developer with 10 years of solid experience with Ruby,
PostgreSQL, MySQL, Javascript, Perl and a host of other technologies. My experience
covers the full stack of software development from the server layer, data
model, application layer, to the user interface. I’m passionate
about building well-tested, quality software.
The first piece of software I ever wrote, in the sixth grade, was a graphical
adventure game set in the age of dinosaurs written in Applesoft BASIC. These
days I get excited about building scalable RESTful API’s and responsive web
applications in Rails (and I still like dinosaurs).
experience
Fastly – San Francisco, CA (remote)
Principal Engineer (7/2016 – current)
Software Engineer (7/2015 – 7/2016)
- Design, build, and update Ruby applications to support external APIs
- Work with corss-functional teams to deliver features to customers
KaBOOM! – Washington, DC
Lead Software Engineer / Director Software Engineering (01/2014 – 6/2015)
Manager, Software Engineering (05/2012 – 01/2014)
- Conceptualize, design, development, and maintain new and existing Rails-based web
products and applications in an Agile (two-week iterations, bug-days & pair
programming) environment.
- Manage PostgreSQL databases and provide query support for reporting and data analysis.
- Work with a GIS manager to support mapping initiatives and implement data-based work-flows in PostGIS.
- Maintain and support the back-end infrastructure running on Heroku and Heroku Postgres.
- Manage a small team of developers to be a constructive, productive, well-oiled machine.
Specific accomplishments:
- Lead development of custom Rails 4 based CMS from idea to functioning product in 4 months.
- Migrated existing Drupal data from MySQL to new custom PostgreSQL-based CMS.
- Moved rails applications off of Rackspaca and Slicehost and on to the Heroku platform.
- Migrated 3 legacy MySQL databases to a single multi-schema PostgreSQL database
- Converted map data to PostGIS tables utilizing table inheritance to provide multiple geometries per record.
Vetstreet (VCA Antech) – Silver Spring, MD
Senior Application Developer (08/2011 – 05/2012)
- Lead development of large scale marketing campaigns using Perl, Java, SQL, PL/pgSQL.
- Optimize campaigns to run efficiently and quickly against a massive dataset.
- Design, test, and build Sinatra applications to provide functionality that may not
require the full Rails stack.
- Develop and support large-sacle Ruby on Rails consumer pet portal that provides
access to pet data, a notification/request framework, and other tools.
- Develop Ruby on Rails based API used to provide and accept data from external
partners and internal applications.
Specific accomplishments:
- Developed test framework to simulate email marketing campaigns to run over 90-days in 2-3 hours to allow for comprehensive testing.
- Refactored a legacy Perl application to SQL, PL/pgSQL, and a touch of Perl reducing total run time by over 24 hours
- Developed and rapidly deployed a Sinatra application in under 24 hours to provide vital functionality (that had been erroneously left out of the requirements) to a newly launched application
Media Matters for America – Washington, DC
Senior Systems Developer (04/2011 – 08/2011)
Systems Developer (05/2007 – 08/2011)
- Develop, test, deploy, and maintain web-based applications for research, analysis, video processing and archiving usy Ruby on Rails and Perl-based frameworks.
- Write and optimize SQL schemas, queries, and stored procedures using PostgreSQL
- Maintain the Media Matters for America website and develop new features as
needed — including front-end development with HTML, Javascript, jQuery, and CSS as
well as back-end development in the Perl-based HTML::Mason framework
- Develop and deploy internal applications for research, analysis, video processing/
archiving, and other functions using Ruby on Rails
- Install and support back-end and front-end webservers for development and
production in an nginx/apache2/mod_perl environment
- Support and administer custom video recording and archiving applications
- Administer multiple servers running Ubuntu 8.0.4 / 10.0.4 and Windows Server 2003
- Provide database support and light administration of PostgreSQL (8.4) databases
Specific accomplishments:
- Developed and deployed an internal CMS for drafting, proofing, and publishing items to the Media Matters website using the Perl-based Catalyst framework
- Worked with development team to convert the Media Matters website from a file- based XML::Comma system to a PostgreSQL backed system
- Rapidly developed and deployed several Ruby on Rails applications for internal usage
Media Matters for America – Washington, DC
Web Producer (04/2006 – 05/2007)
- Publish content to the Media Matters website using a custom CMS
- Clip, compile, and edit video and audio for the web
- Design and create images, badges, and buttons
- Develop, test, and implement CSS and Javascript
Aspen Systems Corporation – Rockville, MD
Management Analyst (01/2002 – 03/2006)
- Develop budgets, analyze and track current financial data, and prepare reports
- Prepare and write cost proposals for new business and existing contracts
- Manage daily project costs while working directly with management to ensure that all costs are necessary and allowable
- Maintain contract files and work directly with contract department to ensure that all projects are properly funded
North Park University – Chicago, Illinois
Electronic Publications Manager (12/1998 – 08/2001)
- Oversaw all aspects of external University website including structure, design, content, layout, coding, and database integration
- Developed unified strategy for the University’s web publications
- Developed, maintained, and updated all sections of the University website
skills and tools
- Highly proficient in Ruby, Javascript, and Perl. I have some experience with Python and Java as well.
- I’m quite skilled with SQL and have much experience with PostgreSQL, PostGIS, PL/pgSQL, PL/v8. This includes experience with large datasets (one table has over 7.5e8 rows).
I’ve worked with MySQL but my preferred RDBMS is PostgreSQL.
- Editor of choice: vim.
- My current web development stack experience is mainly Ruby on Rails (3 & 4) or Sinatra + Sequel. I’ve also developed using the Perl-based Catalyst framework and HTML::Mason.
- Test framework: MiniTest because it’s so simple but I am beginning to lean towards rspec because it’s so much more readable.
- I’m also well-versed in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. This includes working with coffescript and Sass/SCSS.
- Strong unix knowlegde — I’m feel at home when given a bash prompt.
- Experienced with AWS services including S3, Cloudfront, EC2, ELB, RDS
- Some other tools in my kit: Redis, Google Maps API, Mapbox, Unicorn, Passenger, nginx, Bootstrap, jQuery, bash
- I’m an efficient problem solver and skilled at troubleshooting. I’m also a self-starter and a fast learner — I love learning new technologies and methodologies and have begun learning Scala and Clojure to really wrap my head around functional programming.
education
Bachelors of Science in Physics (05/1997)
North Park College, Chicago, Illinois