Lead UI Engineer, Gazillion Entertainment, Platform Services Team, San Mateo, CA
Nov. 2009 - Present
- I'm currently the lead UI engineer on the platform services team.
- Development environment includes: CodeIgniter, jQuery, MySQL, Unobtrusive JavaScript, advanced CSS, TestTrack, Perforce, VIM, Intellij IDEA, WordPress, Memcache, Mac OSX, CentOS... etc.
- Mentor and lead to two front end developers and one UX designer.
- Built a proof-of-concept prototype that single handedly saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of integration work that sealed the deal with a third-party partner.
- Very familiar with issues that deal with CDN deployment using WordPress, Flash, Javascript, server-side sessions and other quirks.
- Multitask across multiple concurrent projects between two geographic locations.
- Always willing to take on new challenge and learn something new with a can-do attitude.
- See my LinkedIn Profile & Recommendations: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shunchu.
Sr. Software Engineer (Interaction), Gazillion Entertainment, SmartyCard Team, San Mateo, CA
May. 2008 - Oct. 2009
- SmartyCard is the winner of the People's Choice Award at DEMO 09 and NAPPA Gold Winner 2009.
- I was part of a small and highly productive team of developers. I'm a versatile client-facing interaction developer who can comfortably converse with back end application engineers on data-driven interactions. I also worked with Design & UX team to implement design and business specs and often able to make suggestions for better user experience. As part of the launch team, I was pivotal on developing and implementing key user-facing features.
PHP Web Developer/Owner, PowerAtom Technologies, San Jose, CA
Dec. 2004 - Feb. 2009
- Web development for database-driven websites and applications using LAMP/MAMP stacks. Highly proficient with the whole stack from top to bottom.
- Setup e-commerce operations using various readily available shopping cart software and services.
- Transform Photoshop and Illustrator design specs into highly interactive websites.
- Custom WordPress blog setup, template development and custom plugin modification.
- MySQL database design, normalization and implementation.
Clients included:
Motomichi Nakamura (award winning artist), Patrick Melton (award winning screen writer), Main's Mini Storage, BSBtv, DUCK Studios (award winning VFX production studio), Carnegie Mellon University, Thunderbird School of Global Management and others.
Business & Technology Strategist, PLANETii USA Inc, San Jose, CA
Apr. 2002 - Dec. 2004
- Product research and analysis of K-12 education industry.
- Requirements gathering and project planning with developers.
- Primary go-to person between developers and business development.
Project Manager, PLANETii USA Inc, New York, NY
Dec. 2000 - Mar. 2002
- One of the original founding and launch team members.
- Committed the company to open source standards using Linux, Apache and Java as primary technology foundations. These significant savings kept the company from going bust when others were spending a fortune on proprietary solutions (Sun/Oracle/WebLogic... etc.) during the 2000 dot-com boom.
- Hired all key engineering personnel, including senior Java developers, Flash interaction developer, art director and eventually the CTO.
- Facilitated the engineering team to work with the designers.
Curriculum Resources Manager, Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah, GA
May 1999 - Dec. 2000
- Managed high-value lab/facility equipment and resources for the Computer Art department.
- Head of 60+ work study students and managed their schedules and daily responsibilities.
- Implemented an equipment sign up and check out system that increased efficiency and drastically reduced damage and theft, contributing to greater annual savings on repairs and replacements.
- Systems administration for a mixed environment of high-end Windows and Mac animation/rendering workstations.
Admissions Online Specialist, Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah, GA
Jun. 1998 - May 1999
- Responsible for setting up the college's first online recruiting operations; application screening time was reduced from several days to just two.
- Designed and developed the department's first intranet system for document and information sharing.
University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
- Certificate, Unix/Linux System Management and Administration, 2007
Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah, GA
- MFA, Interactive Design and Game Development, 2000 (thesis completed in 2006)
- Awarded a prestigious Presidential Fellowship.
Savannah College of Art & Design, Savannah, GA
- BFA, Computer Art, 1998
- Awarded a scholarship for outstanding portfolio.
- Received five prestigious leadership awards.