Nessa Nguyen
  • About me
  • Resume
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
Nessa

Nessa Nguyen

Full-stack Software Engineer

What I do

I started programming in 2014 after attending General Assembly's Web Development Immersive. It was an unique and engaging learning experience that opened me to a fulfilling career path. I love software development because it allows me to solve problems creatively.

Based in New York City, I am currently working as an engineer at Narrativ, a content marketing platform. My expertise lies in Ruby/Rails, Python (Flask), Javascript, SQL/NoSQL databases, AWS tools, and building RESTful APIs. I am passionate about modular code, building service-oriented architecture, automated testing, and continuous integration.

Interests & Causes

I'm interested in improving my skill set and giving back to the tech community. In 2017 and 2018, I volunteered to teach HTML, CSS and Ruby on Rails at Code Now workshop for underrepresented high school students. I am also currently serving as a mentor at iMentor, a nonprofit that champions college education for low-income and first-generation students.

Issues I care about include conserving the environment, reforming higher education, advancing women/minorities in leadership and technology, and promoting a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

In my free time, I train in aerial arts, dance, listen to EDM, watch TV shows, and read. I like traveling and exploring new places. I have done work remote trips in Berlin (Hacker Paradise), Barcelona (Be Unsettled), and London.

Skills

Back End

Ruby / Rails

Python / Flask

NodeJS

SQL / ElasticSearch

Front End

Javascript / ES6

React

AngularJS 1+2

SASS / HTML5

Tools

AWS (Cloudwatch / Lambda)

SQS / Celery

Docker / Jenkins

NewRelic / Papertrail

Work Experience

  • Lead Software Engineer, Narrativ | April 2018 - Present
    • Serve as a productive individual contributor of the Publisher Features team while managing four full-stack engineers
    • Play a key role in sprint planning and refining priorities, outline technical requirements in JIRA tickets
    • Continuously uphold code quality and standards, facilitate learning and collaboration throughout the engineering organization
  • Software Engineer, Narrativ | August 2016 - April 2018
    • Built and maintained dashboard app utilized by admins and clients to monitor performance (Angular 1.5)
    • Worked on backend endpoints corresponding to the dashboard application (Python, Flask)
    • Built Javascript widgets and tags that run real-time auctions on page and collect consumer events (Node, Javascript)
    • Spearheaded the Linkmate feature, which automatically converts product links to Narrativ SmartLinks in order to enable link auction
    • Collaborated with and mentored other engineers through code reviews, upheld code quality and reliability through refactoring and writing automated tests
  • Software Engineer, Sportsrocket | June 2015 - August 2016
    • Built the Bedrocket Rails API and various workers that carry out video ingestion/distribution tasks
    • Constructed Rails API that acts as a gateway for geographically restricted and paid content
    • Added new features and refactor the Angular client-facing CMS Boxxspring
    • Implemented new features (e.g. ad playback) for the custom video player (Angular, HTML5)
    • Revamped the video analytics process using multiple AWS services and databases (Kinesis, Lambda, Redshift, ElasticSearch)
  • Junior Software Engineer, Waywire | Sept 2014 - May 2015
    • Built a RESTful API to manage and store video channels + a UI for editors to manage/edit them (Rails, Backbone)
    • Implemented front-end features (carousel, endless scroll) and constructed mobile responsive pages Waywire.com & clients' sites
    • Debugged and added features to Waywire's admin tool (Angular, Perl/Mason)
    • Refactored and styled Waywire's CMS admin application (Javascript, SASS)
  • Email Marketing Associate, Vendome Group | 2013 - 2014
  • Digital Marketing Coordinator, STC Associates | 2012 - 2013

Education

  • General Assembly, 2014 / Web Development Immersive
  • California Lutheran University 2008 - 2012 / B.A. Marketing Communications

Download PDF resume

Projects

Fit Schedule

FitSchedule: all your fitness classes in one place

Integrated with Google Calendar and FitReserve, FitSchedule allows you to easily find and book fitness classes. The app remembers your favorite studios and class types and filters class times against your calendar events to show you classes you can book.

Try me View code
Rave/Repeat

Rave/Repeat: Trip planner for EDM festivals

Rave/Repeat helps EDM festival goers keep track of all their travel plans in one place. The front end uses Backbone and jQuery to facilitate seamless user experience, back end is built on Rails. Log in with Facebook/Twitter.

Try me View code
Leafthru

Leafthru: A personalized news aggregator

Leafthru aggregates articles from users' Twitter timeline. Built on Rails, content retrieval and parsing with Twitter and Alchemy APIs. Log in as guest@ga.com/Password1.

Try me View code
Fashionize

Fashioni.se: Virtual closet assistant

Fashioni.se helps users search and bookmark clothing items for future purchases using the ShopSense API. They can also 'steal' inspiration from other fashionistas' closets. Log in as guest@ga.com/password.

Try me View code

One-page apps

  • New Zealand photo journal
  • Tweet Tracker: A two-model Rails CRUD app using the Twitter API gem to let you search and save your favorite tweets / Github.
  • Sinatra Colors: Sinatra app for discovering and saving color palettes / Github.
  • WDI Class Page: Static portfolio page for General Assembly's WDI Proto April 2014 cohort.
  • LinkedIn
  • Github
  • Twitter
  • v.nessa.nguyen@gmail.com
@_myfashionhub