Rocky Warren
An AWS Certified Solutions Architect with over ten years of experience shipping and maintaining tested, distributed, secure systems from thousand-line microservices moving billions of dollars each year to multi-million line GPS guidance systems. I deliver customer value utilizing object-oriented, functional, statically-typed, dynamic, and database languages and lead teams as a Principal Engineer, Architect, and Startup Co-founder.
Skills
- Scala
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- C#
- Bash
- Python
- Java
- Ruby
- PostgreSQL
- DynamoDB
- RDS
- Lambda
- SQS
- Athena
- Kafka
- Redis
- gRPC
- REST API Design
- Software Architecture
- React
- GraphQL
- Test-Driven Development
- Docker
Recommendations
- "If no one is telling you, it's appreciated how intentional you are with growing our collective knowledge and being a champion for training. Thanks for doing this stuff, Rocky. I've also been hearing great things about your contributions and speed-of-delivery. The leadership team is impressed." ―VP of Product Development
- "Rocky has incredible optimism and intense dedication to effectiveness, quality, and performance. Every week Rocky would have delivered not only critical changes to our systems but improvements to our workflow and general technology." ―Head of Engineering
- "Rocky created projects and libraries that improve all teams using Scala, empowering us to collaborate with higher quality, efficiency, and consistency. While typically remote, he's quick to help anyone who may need it, whether it's a code review, questions, or working through ideas." ―Principal Software Engineer
- "He's a one-man wrecking crew, one of the most productive engineers I've worked with." ―Technical Lead and Manager
Experience
Vertex Software
Principal Engineer and Architect
Remote
Feb 2020 - Present
- Architect and implement distributed, streaming, event-driven systems capable of sub-second bill of materials and rendering updates on massive CAD models. Exposed through REST APIs built from the ground up to OpenAPI, JSON:API, and CloudEvents specifications. Code coverage >90%.
- Strong focus on developer productivity with step-by-step guides, top-of-class documentation, and always up-to-date code samples.
Staff Data Engineer
Remote
Sep 2019 - Feb 2020
- Created and own Scala core libraries and build plugins to reduce duplication, improve security, and multiply engineering team's productivity.
- Regularly audit AWS costs and sped up local development startup times 5x, saving tens of thousands of dollars per year to date.
Dwolla
Principal Software Engineer
San Francisco, CA
Jun 2016 - Sep 2019
- Transitioned most business-critical database table from mutable to immutable, enabling point-in-time user balance queries, robust statements, and snapshots. Snapshots resulted in query speeds up to 200x faster and a 75% reduction in overall database deadlocks.
- Migrated webhooks to serverless Lambda functions and scaled to millions of messages a day while reducing peak delays from hours to minutes and cutting costs by 50%. Launched with zero downtime (and greater than zero fist pumps).
Lead Developer
San Francisco, CA
Jul 2014 - Jun 2016
- Led development of API responsible for moving billions of dollars per year while decreasing partner "time to first API call" from hours to minutes with step-by-step guides and SDKs.
- Led Instant Bank Verification, cutting account verification times from three days to a few seconds via 3rd party integration. Built as containerized, auto-scaling microservice.
Senior Software Engineer
Des Moines, IA
Jul 2012 - Jul 2014
- Led company's foray into microservices with Dwolla Credit, integrating a credit provider to inject millions in buying power into the network. Mitigated partner downtime with caching and fault-tolerant background processes.
- Won internal hackathons by reducing ACH clearing times and allowing account creation via API. Each influenced what are now best-selling products.
Crucible Commodities
Co-founder
San Francisco, CA
Jul 2014 - Dec 2016
- Built commodities trading platform from the ground up complete with reactive, real-time market, PDF contract generation, and e-signing.
- Secured with encryption in transit and at rest, A+ Qualys TLS score, and OWASP Top 10 mitigations.
John Deere
Technical Lead
Des Moines, IA
Jan 2010 - Jul 2012
- Led CommandCenter project development, an in-cab self-driving GPS guidance display. Now factory installed in all large-scale John Deere vehicles worldwide. Two million+ lines of code, released on schedule, with all known defects closed.
- Led fortnightly meeting of 25 tech leads across all guidance displays comprising over 150 developers.
Software Engineer
Des Moines, IA
Jan 2008 - Jan 2010
- Led coding Katas of multiple 50+ developer groups teaching keyboard shortcuts, refactorings, test-driven development, pair-programming, and Linux shell commands.
- Organized company’s first Hackathons. After votes from 200+ employees, won both with customer analytics, predictive keyboard, touch screen gestures, and Tetris! Demoed results to CEO and staff.
Software Engineer Intern
Des Moines, IA
May 2006 - Jan 2008
University of Iowa
Software Developer
Iowa City, IA
Aug 2006 - Dec 2007
- Created psychology studies and GUIs in DirectX and GDI+.
Education
University of Iowa
Bachelor of Science, Computer Software Engineering
Iowa City, IA
Aug 2003 - Dec 2007
- Minors in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Business
Talks and Publications
Sending Millions of Serverless Webhooks
Talk at the dsmJS Meetup describing my serverless webhooks architecture.
Lessons Learned From Sending Millions of Serverless Webhooks
Blog published on Serverless.com describing faster, lower cost webhooks using my serverless architecture.
Certifications
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - AssociateApr 2020 - Apr 2023
Triplebyte Certified Software EngineerJan 2017 - No Expiration