Eric Feigner
EFF
Software development, technical direction
Design, writing
Dirtbikes, guitar, skiing, running
Infinte toothpicks
I spend most of my life combining software, logic and design to solve problems. Creativity with a scientific approach, in relentless search of simplicity, efficiency, elegance.
My goals? To find a big box of money and buy a hovercraft. Failing that, I want nothing more than to solve tough problems with great teams, crafting beautiful, functional things that (hopefully) make people smile.
Consultation / Freelance
Sole Proprietor
2006-PRESENT
Let's build some cool stuff, solve some tough problems and have a great time doing so.
CTO
2021-Present
Python, Go, JavaScript, TypeScript, Vue, Docker, Redis, AWS, GCP, Stripe, Shopify, iOS, Android
Working for a tiny yet far-reaching startup, doing big things with limited resources. Having a blast working with friends. Core duties include everything tech -- architecture, development, scoping, scheduling, coordination, planning, support, testing, etc. Additional duties include anything else that needs to be done. Extensive hat collection.
Combine technology + data to connect people IRL in an attempt to reduce waste, keeping hundreds of tons of stuff out of landfills every year.
Senior Developer / Tech lead
2018-2021
Python, Go, JavaScript, TypeScript, Vue, Docker, Redis, AWS, Firebase, Stripe, FFmpeg, Snowflake
Working for a remote startup with a huge install base and an international team, my duties were both varied and ever-changing, including product design, feature development, analytics, architecture, prototyping, production support, coaching, management, automation, devops, etc.
The bulk of my time was spent honing the primary API and myriad supporting microservices. Constant context switching. Converted said API from crufty Python 2 -> gleaming Python 3 with zero downtime and zero bugs, all while under extremely active development / load. Prototyped and launched a subscription-based product that immediately started printing money. Survived the zerg rush of new users when the pandemic hit and everyone was frantically searching for viable video collaboration tooling.
Joyfully jumping in and out of countless codebases, leading multidisciplinary dev teams across numerous successful projects and initiatives. Hard work with excellent people on a great product.
Technical Director / Director of Ecommerce
2015-2018
Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Saltstack, Docker, AWS, NetSuite, Contentful, Chargify, Square, Stripe
Used technology, data and process to automate away much of the manual labor / complexity of a multimillion dollar online business. Provided top-tier UX for customers while simultaneously building heavy-duty, fault-tolerant integrations with third-party systems and a gnarly ERP.
Helped bootstrap and manage a non-trivial coffee subscription service. Managed production / staging / development systems. Grew revenue 30% in one year. 100% system uptime for my entire duration.
Built and operated a finely-tuned coffee-selling machine. Automated everything. Big things with miniscule budget.
Technical Director
2011-2015
Python, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Clojure, AWS
Working for a fantastic agency, my duties consisted of writing mountains of code and leading a team of developers across multiple in-flight projects. From idea to execution, I lent a hand in crafting a sizable amount of high-quality work using fun technologies, with great people.
Implemented a culture of best practices including unit / integration / performance testing, continuous deployment and multi-contributor git workflows, all while building big, beautiful, robust, high-availability interactive experiences.
Built complicated yet maintainable software. Flexed soft skills and right brain. Teamwork is everything.
Senior Application Engineer
2007-2011
Java, Spring, Jetty, Tomcat, Apache, JMeter, ATG, Endeca, Solaris, JavaScript, HTML, CSS
Working for the nike.com e-commerce group, my duties included extensive frontend / backend development using a variety of technologies with multiple, remote agencies / offshore teams.
Lead developer on a scalable internal framework to serve NikeStore and many other consumer-facing websites. Shaved 150ms off HTTP response times. Lead developer on NikeStore mobile. Primary developer for NikeStore search engine / product API.
Additional duties included project setup, planning, documentation, support, resource management, budgeting, product demos, quality assessment, performance testing, profiling and monitoring / alerting.
Built some neat stuff, solved a bunch of hard problems at scale, all while handling crushing volumes of global commerce.
Support Engineer
2006-2007
Java, JSP, Oracle, PHP, VBasic (no joke!)
Acted as first-line support engineer for nike.com. Duties included development, debugging, scripting, database management, configuring and troubleshooting production systems, issue assessment / research, code reviews, version control management, pager duty.
Fixed a million horribly broken things, day in, day out. Learned on my feet. Honed troubleshooting skills to a sharp point.
The Daily Barometer
Section Editor, Copywriter
2003-2006
Java, JSP, Oracle, PHP, VBasic (no joke!)
Worked under extremely tight deadlines (daily) reviewing, reporting, critiquing and designing for a National award-winning college newspaper. Duties included managing a team of six writers, designing page layouts, cover art, interviewing and writing copy.
Gained deep appreciation for a dying trade and effective, concise copywriting. Stress city.
What's with the design?
An anachronistic combination of ANSI art and ASCII shaders, inspired from DOS / bulletin board system (BBS) interfaces from my salad days of computing.
What is ANSI art?
It's an old, short-lived computer art form widely used on BBSes back in the day. 80 columns wide, 16 colors and 256 characters. It's a chunky and limited format, but sometimes constraint breeds creativity.
See 16colo.rs for more info.
... why?
I first encountered ASCII / ANSI art on my local BBS back in the early 90s and it melted my young, impressionable brain.
Thanks to ACiDDraw, escapes.js and BOOTSTRA.386, I can boot a 386 VM, draw ANSI art using an app from '94 and render in the browser, sort of making it look like the old DOS term I'd stare at for hours, so that's exactly what I did ❤