Chris Castle

Chris Castle

I'm a software developer and technology generalist who has helped teams conceptualize, design, and build numerous digital products through writing code, prototyping hardware, coaching employees, defining an inspiring product vision, and managing development schedules. Check out https://crc.io to learn more.

Experience

Software Engineer / Consultant crc works - Remote - August 2022 to present

  • Boosted productivity by 50% and significantly reduced error rate for client by developing client-side tooling and web service using TypeScript, Go, and AWS Lambda
  • Consulted on data processing pipeline design, web service scaling, and system architecture for several clients

Developer Relations Engineer Render - Remote - July 2021 to July 2022

  • Automated application migration for new Render users through the development of an interactive CLI using Node.js, Docker, and Bash.
  • Led the launch of Render's blog built with Gatsby (React and GraphQL) and served as editor-in-chief and author
  • Created and taught developer conference seminar about front-end framework Remix and headless CMS Strapi
  • Inspired, supported, and engaged with Render's community of excited developers on Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, and more

Director, Developer Relations; Dev Rel Engineer Heroku (Salesforce) - Remote - April 2016 to June 2021

  • Built REST APIs, and CLIs supporting product launches using a variety of technologies: Ruby, Node.js, React, Web Components, Kafka
  • Presented technical talks at developer conferences, supporting Heroku conference sponsorships throughout the U.S. and Europe
  • Shaped Developer Relations strategy, ensured team was executing toward strategic goals, and helped employees stay happy, healthy, and engaged with their work

Founder, Software and Hardware Engineer ctrl industries - Seattle, WA - March 2015 to April 2016

  • Founded IoT Hardware+SaaS business focused on bringing better technology to "analog" industries (e.g. agriculture, fishing, waste disposal)
  • Designed, sourced, and constructed cellular sensor hardware prototype using KiCad, C++, and Python OpenCV bindings
  • Built supporting API, data pipeline, and data visualization web application with Ruby on Rails, MQTT, Redis, and PostgreSQL

Technical Product Manager Simply Measured - Seattle, WA - July 2012 to August 2014

  • Planned and directed creation of report management product for Simply Measured's analysts, increasing speed of report creation process while reducing defect rate
  • Led and mentored team of product manager and data analysts responsible for design and implementation of Simply Measured's product, 50+ highly polished customer-facing reports, through substantial company growth (20 to 150 employees)
  • Concepted and built internal web services and CLIs using Ruby, Redis, and PostgreSQL

Product Manager, Cloud Technologies VivaKi Nerve Center / Microsoft - Seattle, WA - October 2005 to July 2012

  • Created product vision, prototyped (Node.js, Ruby), and directed development of internal API to to allow development groups to access and use managed AWS infrastructure
  • Defined functionality and led development of data processing engine, processing ~1PB/week using Hadoop and AWS Elastic MapReduce

Education, Skills, and Expertise

Colby College Waterville, ME - August 1998 to May 2002

B.A., Economics and Mathematical Sciences with Computer Science concentration
Senior Paper: Economic Consequences of Increased Internet Usage on Music Industry Sales

Projects: An IoT-connected kegerator built using an Arduino, multiple sensors, and a Node.js API and web application running in AWS; invited to present at inaugural CascadiaJS. Home Raspberry Pi cluster for network management, DNS, backups. Countless other Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects.