Melissa Auclaire
Design and Software Engineering Lead, Independent Game Developer
About
I am a Software Development Engineer utilizing various Web Development, DevOps, cloud, Big Data and Virtual Reality technologies in my previous roles. I am currently looking for a full-time Software Development Engineering role.
Work Experience
June 2024 – December 2024
Accenture Flex - Big Data Ops Engineer
Highlights
- Contiued of my previous position on the CXE Engineering team at Revature working with Client A, a Fortune 100 telecommunications company on various Data Engineering tasks in bi-weekly sprints.
- Utilized Java / Spring Boot, Python, Node.js, NX, Hadoop, Terraform, AWS (EMR, EBS, EC2, Kinesis), Apache Nifi and Shell Scripts as well as custom tool chains and in-house tools to deploy data pipelines and perform maintenance and improvements on infrastructure supporting millions of customers.
- Completed 100+ Jira User stories and fixes related to deployment, maintenance and security features.
- Continued all of Client A related work from Revature listed below after contract buyout.
March 2022 – May 2024
Revature - Software Development Engineer
Highlights
- Client A work
- Worked with Fortune 100 client (Client A) on the Customer CXE (Customer Experience) Engineering team via Accenture (same role/client (Client A) as below but before inter-company transfer due to contract buyout).
- Utilized Python, Shell Scripting (Bash), AWS SDK and CLI, Hadoop, Terraform, and various external and internal tools and AWS services to perform programming and maintenance tasks in the cloud.
- Maintained and developed infrastructure and pipelines utilizing Terraform, Shell Scripts, Python, AWS and Apache Nifi that supports millions of customers.
- Completed specialized training as AWS Secops Associate (Security Specialty) via Precipio, as well as additional Cloud Security, Ethics and Compliance, as well as Client Data Protection trainings.
- Client B work
- Developed back-end features on the reverse sync team for the Central Ledger technology for a separate Fortune 100 client (Client B) which included updates to the ledger database schema, new features such as a Google Cloud SQL archival strategy of database records as well as unit tests and modifications for error handling, UI and other existing features.
- Utilized the Scala programming language, Apache Spark, PySpark, and MySQL to fix and resolve issue tickets as part of a bi-weekly sprint schedule, fixing a total of 5 Jira issues and making 45 Github code contributions to the Central Ledger development branch over 6 months.
- Participated in developer sync meetings and sprint retrospectives to describe both the features I added to the codebase as well as give feedback regarding the development process and thoughtful code reviews to other members of the team.
- Completed 10 week training course on “big data” related technologies such as Scala, Apache Spark, SQL, Hadoop, HIVE, and Kafka, as well as additional trainings with Akka streaming.
July 2020 – November 2021
Thera - Lead Design Engineer VR, Unity (Contractor)
Developed features for virtual reality (VR) based telehealth and therapy platform utilizing the Unity XR Plugin/XR Interaction toolkit.
Highlights
- Worked with University of La Verne researchers, psychologists and doctors on clinical trials for VR app building immersive, interactive and therapeutic experiences for Pico 2 Neo, Oculus Quest, Android, PC and Mac with the Unity 3D game engine and C#.
- Managed a team of 2 interns assisting with coding, pair programming, organizing project milestones, facilitating meetings and project management / leadership and gave guidance, support with pair programming and PM recommendations.
- Wrote code for integrated environments, avatar rigs, animations and contextual UI components for interactive interfaces via hand gestures, gaze and virtual keyboard. Also helped port the project from the OVR framework to the Unity XR Interaction toolkit for multi-platform compatibility.
- Utilized OVR metrics tool and Android simulator to test and debug performance / framerate issues from within virtual environments and maintain HIPAA compliance where applicable.
November 2019 – August 2021
Chegg - Technical Web Developer Expert at Thinkful
Provided tutoring, mentorship, and technical coaching for future Software Developers, and Data Analytics professionals using JavaScript, React, Node, HTML/CSS, and PostgreSQL.
Highlights
- Delivered and facilitated bi-weekly mentorship and pair-programming sessions to over 40 students and alumni working through the Thinkful and Bloc Web Development Engineering Immersion, Flex, Nights and Weekends, and Data Analytics programs.
- Performed critical responsibility of over 500+ 1 hour long technical assessments and mock interviews for students at key checkpoints in their respective programs assessing their programming skill in JavaScript, Web APIs, Web Apps, React, Node.js and PostgreSQL and made hire/no hire decision to determine if students' work and interview performance met quality standard to continue the program.
- Performed ad hoc technical coaching via Zendesk-based “ThinkChat” platform for all web development students and data analytics students at Thinkful and Bloc, helping to answer questions, pair program via Zoom and debug / fix coding issues on-the-fly ifor all materials and at at all levels in the web development Flex, Immersion and Nights/Weekends curricula at Thinkful/Bloc.io, along with top ~30 of ~300 TWDEs at Thinkful/Bloc.
February 2019 – April 2019
Palmie K.K. - Software Engineer (Contractor)
Built internal financial tools, tracking, security, and free trial functionality for Palmie, an e-learning service working to educate and uplift the skills of artists in the Japanese animation industry.
Highlights
- Developed customer management system for user metrics and subscription data supporting over 10,000 users, and $10 - 15M per year operation utilizing Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, AWS S3, and MySQL.
- Created internal tool and windowing system for aggregating customer metrics and calculating LTV ratios monthly of Palmie members following TDD workflow using Ruby on Rails, RSpec, Active Record and JavaScript.
- Added 7 day trial (無料お試し期間 / Muryou Otameshi Kikan) and additional payments functionality and IP based user tracking and auto-reporting features with Active Record, AWS S3 and Ruby via the Slack API.
- Directly reported to CTO daily and collaborated in person in Tokyo office and remotely via Slack and Github.
May 2018 – December 2018
Stroly K.K. - Software Engineer
Built Geolocation, internationalization, and cloud-based image processing services with AWS Batch and Lambda at Stroly, a startup in Kyoto, Japan.
Highlights
- Developed sorting, searching, and geocoding algorithms utilizing forward and reverse geocoding with Mapbox and Mapquest APIs in JavaScript/ReactJS to increase the relevance of Stroly map homepage search results.
- Improved both client-facing and server-side code utilizing JavaScript, Backbone.js, Django, and Leaflet.js, releasing over 30 patches including pinch zoom, rotation, tiling, off by 1 errors, client-side rendering, and a11y/i18n features.
- Produced complete site-map state transition design diagram for StrolyCom website tree β version which assisted in optimizing product workflow and user stories by at least 1 month.
- Developed custom email template using Django and HTML5 and configured DKIM settings for AWS SES, implementing feature into production on Stroly.com.
- Reported to CTO directly for daily standups and contributed to regular team meetings and OKRs guiding decisions related to the product.
- Contributed fixes for linting errors and warnings by refactoring and improving TypeScript/JavaScript code quality.
October 2016 – April 2017
Sunverge Energy (now owned by Budderfly) - Software Engineer
Developed firmware internal tools for Bay Area renewable energy company.
Highlights
- Created aggregation tool to read log data from database and store to AWS and Redis cache using Java, Spring MVC, JSP and JavaScript, displaying unit metrics and auto-generated Log4j data between a given date range for the tech ops team.
- Created tool for logging and uploading 80+ key metrics on SIS units to AWS S3 storage within specified date range utilizing the Java AWS API for obtaining unit data from local and cloud data stores.
- Pair programmed with a team member to create packet data reduction algorithm for mobile app utilizing Java, which successfully reduced average monthly mobile bandwidth rates from 750MB to approx. 40MB per month per user.
- Wrote shell scripts to automate and optimize local build and release process, creating 5 scripts to implement tooling for performing staging for releases, build automation, and code reviews.
April 2016 – July 2016
Girls who Code - Summer Immersion Program Instructor
Full-time teaching position at Girls who Code Summer Immersion program for 3 months in Menlo Park, California.
Highlights
- Facilitated 6 hours of daily lessons and activities, games and programming labs while managing a classroom of 20+ students and 2 teacher assistants, teaching them Computer Science fundamentals using Python and Scratch.
- Followed up with students via email Canvas, Piazza, and in-person while closely supervising and assessing their individual progress.
- Created lesson plans and delivered daily presentations from lesson templates.
- Had a positive impact on the motivations and aspirations of future women programmers, Software Engineers, and Computer Scientists.
February 2015 – August 2015
Mommycare K.K. (now Housecare K.K.) - Software Engineering Intern
Assisted developers at housecare.tokyo, an early-stage startup with a website & mobile app-based Housecare sharing service.
Highlights
- Collaborated with engineering team in Series A startup to develop a scheduling system for “Uber-for-home-cleaning” platform utilizing Ruby on Rails and Sass.
January 2021 – Present
Founder at Studio Triome LLC
Working my personal independent video game and freelancing/consulting projects.
Highlights
- Working on my personal video game and freelancing/consulting projects.
Awards
-
December 2018
Udacity Inc.
Nanodegree - Data Foundations
Selected as a top 1000 student of 10000 student Data Science cohort. Completed all program requirements and received the Data Foundations Nanodegree at Udacity.
-
July 2013
Japan Education Exchanges and Services
Japanese Language Proficiency Test - Level N1
Passed level N1 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (highest attainable level).
Volunteer
International Game Developers Association IGDA
August 2015 – March 2017
Board Member - Seattle Chapter
Volunteered at numerous game industry events and functions, including Game Developers Conference and the IGDA Leadership Summit.
Highlights
- Elected to the board of the Seattle chapter of the IGDA.
Unversity of Washington - Dept. of Communication
– Present
Python Instructor
Volunteered twice as an instructor for the UW Community Data Science Collective's Data Science workshops, teaching a group of adults Python, APIs and Data Science concepts.
Highlights
- Taught at the University of Washington Department of Communication.
Projects
- Node.js | Open Source Contributor: Contributed features and code clean up in Node core using C++ to edit V8 macros and added tests to V8 to support DCHECK.
- Mozilla Foundation / AMP | OSC: Implemented screen reader functionality into AMP Project using JavaScript and Node.js to improve functionality for visually impaired users, and created bug fix for the addLoadReplace functionality in Firefox Fennec nightly builds.
Contact
Undisclosed, Hokkaido Japan
Undisclosed
Education
-
2012 2014
Central Washington University
Bachelor of Science
Computer Science (Mathematics Minor)
Courses- CS470 - Operating Systems
- CS473 - Parallel Computing
- CS446 - User Interface Design
- CS463 - Design Patterns
- CS475 - Programming for Distributed Environments
- CS498 - Software Engineering for Mobile Devices
- CS450 - Computer Network and Data Communications
- CS427 - Algorithm Analysis
- CS420 - Database Management Systems
- CS480 & CS481 - Software Engineering I & II
- CS440 & CS441 - Computer Graphics I & II
- CS301 & CS302 - Data Structures I & II
- CS311 & CS312 - Computer Architecture I & II
- CS361 & CS362 - Principles of Language Design I & II
- CS392 & CS492 - Lab Experience Teaching CS
- CS325 - Technical Writing in Computer Science
- CS250 - Web Development Technologies I
- EET372 - Advanced Digital Circuits
- MAT265 - Linear Algebra
- MAT260 - Sets and Logic
-
2010 2012
Edmonds College
Associate of Arts
Physics
Courses- MAT151 - Calculus I
- MAT152 - Calculus II
- MAT153 - Calculus III
- CS210 - Game Physics
- CS218 - Intro to C#
- CS271 - 3D Game Dev I - DirectX
- CS283 - AI for Game Developers
- CS141 & 142 - Computer Science I & II Java
- PHYS221 & 231 - Engineering Physics I and Lab
- PHYS222 & 232 - Engineering Physics II and Lab
- CHEM121 - Intro to Chemistry
Skills
Web Development
Proficient
HTML
CSS
Java
JavaScript
TypeScript
Backbone.js
Leaflet.js
React
Node
Ruby on Rails
Python
AWS
Google Cloud
Game Development
Proficient
C#
Unity
JavaScript
C++
OpenGL
SDL
XR Interaction Toolkit
Swift
Java (Android)
Blender
Affinity Designer
Interests
Swimming & Diving
Note: I once saved a drowning boy's life by diving from a bridge and
swam him safely to shore with my competitive swimming and diving skills.
Riichi Mahjong
Note: Co-founded Seattle Riichi Mahjong Club (Meetup) in 2010.
Some professional and top teir professional Riichi Mahjong players
emerged in the Pro Mahjong world (JPML/USPML) from this club.
References
As part of the team for the VR development, Melissa is an extremely valuable employee. She has been an incredible talent and dedicated to our clinical trials and with building our outstanding new VR platform.
I met Melissa at the Women Who Code weekly meetup last year in Tokyo. I was impressed by her technical skills, Japanese language competence and kind personality. Melissa is a very motivated individual, ready to grasp challenges and find an innovative way to overcome any issue. I was very sorry that I never had an opportunity to work on a project with her, as she moved back to the US shorty after that. However, she left with an impression of a very driven, trustworthy and capable team player and I hope to have an opportunity to work on some projects with her soon.
[Melissa] is a smart and a goal oriented individual. We worked together for Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program @ Facebook. She has the ability to stay focused and concentrated to complete a project. She has the motivation, incentive and can-do kind of personality in her.