About Dan
My background is in Web development, especially full-stack development using the Django and Ruby on Rails frameworks. I'm from Wayne, Pennsylvania and graduated Penn State in 2007. I previously lived in Bethesda, MD, and Philadelphia. I moved to the Jersey shore in 2021.
My wife Lili and I have two amazing daughters, and seeing them both embrace video games and tech has been really awesome. Personally, I love playing pinball, watching the Phillies, and listening to audiobooks about computer programming, productivity, and startup stories.
I'm a Staff Software Engineer at CDK Global, where I work on the Roadster platform. Our product makes the car-buying process easier for consumers by allowing them to get upfront pricing, and complete most of the paperwork remotely, before stepping foot into the dealership. It also makes the selling process easier for the employees at the dealership, allowing them to make more sales and improve customer satisfaction. I work alongside 25 developers, developing the platform using the Ruby on Rails framework. Recently I've been focused on our ops, specifically improving our response time and availability, and fostering engineering practices that ensure ongoing success.
Download Printable Resume
Technical Skills
Python
Ruby
JavaScript
HTML5 / CSS3
Django
Rails
MySQL
Postgres
Elasticsearch
Experience
present
Roadster/CDK Global
Staff Software Engineer • Remote
- Developed features and managed ops for Roadster, a Ruby on Rails application that enables car dealerships to offer a streamlined online car buying experience.
- Built a new Flask-based reporting application that securely integrates with Roadster. This solution eliminated a third-party dependency, saving the company ~$65k annually.
- Managed technical operations, including Heroku and Cloudflare resources.
- Built features related to single sign-on for the CDK Unify product, which migrates users from using app-specific credentials to company-wide SSO authentication.
- Mentored and onboarded over a dozen new engineers, conducted thorough code reviews, and supported the team through high-pressure operational periods.
May 2021
U.S. News & World Report
Senior Software Engineer • Washington, DC
- Developed features and bugfixes for U.S. News Best Cars, a Django application focused on car reviews and lead generation integrations.
- Developed a “car finder” faceted search using Elasticsearch, reducing its load time by 88% compared to previous Postgres-only solution.
- Led efforts to change domain name and successfully preserved our SEO on thousands of URLs.
- Resolve ops issues and configure New Relic for optimal performance and monitoring.
Jan 2016
WorkWave
Senior Software Engineer • Neptune, NJ
- Developed features on existing classic ASP application, an enterprise CRM for managing pest control and other field service companies.
- Overhauled internal documentation covering development environment setup, allowing new developers to get themselves up and running in hours rather than days.
- Trained three new developers on architecture of application, source control workflows, manipulating application data and completing other common maintenance tasks.
- Wrote complex SQL queries, optimized existing queries and performed one-time data updates.
April 2015
Bizyhood
Consultant • Remote
- Developed a Django application for start-up offering small business marketing tools.
- Completed projects requiring a variety of skills including consuming REST APIs, building a front-end with AJAX, designing a DB schema and authenticating users through oAuth.
