Steve Adams

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Steve Adams | Senior Full-Stack Engineer

Senior Full-Stack Engineer | Victoria, Canada

LinkedIn | GitHub | steve@steve-adams.me

Experienced software engineer focused on React, TypeScript, and Go. I build safe, reliable, performant software people (and robots) can depend on. Also see Work with Me.

Work Experience ​

Hakai Institute ​

Senior DevOps & Development | Nov 2024 - Present

  • Modernizing monitoring system backends and building data pipeline tooling
  • Creating intuitive tools to allow scientists to produce and publish higher quality data
  • Exploring and implementing AI solutions for using and sharing research more effectively
  • Working in the field to maintain and repair monitoring systems
  • Improving programming in Campbell Scientific datalogger deployments

Consulting ​

Software Engineer | Jan 2019 - Present

  • Developed a 3D simulation environment for a robotic arm, streamlining experiment planning and saving researchers time and hardware expenses
  • Refactored a trucking logistics system's SQL schema and backend to improve worst-case query performance by ~15x, average-case by ~3x
  • Rebuilt a realtime, multiplayer game’s Python backend in Go, reducing the number of live instances at peak loads from ~50 to less than 10, and reduced spin-up times by ~60%
  • Developed a multi-tenant content management system with SSO for unified website management, including granular RBAC, drag-and-drop content editing, and a custom React-based RTE for long-form content

Wombat Safety ​

Senior Full-Stack Engineer | Jul 2023 - May 2024

  • Developed a highly concurrent, robust, memory-safe job scheduler with Go for creating and managing events, reminders, routines, and other time-based data from user input
  • Designed and implemented an API and multiple UIs for integrating with the scheduler across multiple components of the application
  • Refactored a large React application to be simpler, more reliable, and easier to maintain
  • Developed complex features for a highly dynamic, powerful form builder
  • Researched and Experimented with safe, practical applications of AI in critical safety software

Instant Domains, Inc. ​

Senior Full-Stack Engineer | Mar 2020 - Apr 2023

  • Built very fast, reliable, and capable React-based UIs with exceptional look and feel
  • Contributed to building an incredibly fast (8s to DNS propagation) domain registrar from the ground up
  • Built services with Node, Go, and Rust such as authentication, payments, and bot detection
  • Improved frontend search performance by orders of magnitude by improving rendering performance and simplifying state management
  • Established cohesive and clear conventions and direction for frontend technologies across several applications, enabling fast, reliable, and quality execution

More work experience...

Checkfront ​

Senior Software Engineer | Nov 2015 - Aug 2019

  • Helped build a WYSIWYG "site builder" for Checkfront customers' inventories
  • Built CLI tooling to standardize and expedite site builder theme development
  • Helped determine tools and strategies to gradually refactor the core booking product
  • Improved site builder onboarding by reducing average processing time from ~15s to 1.5s
  • Led planning and implementation of end-to-end testing of the site builder

Redbrick ​

Software Engineer | Mar 2012 - Aug 2015

  • Helped build a custom reporting API for fast querying of coarse or granular time series data spanning minutes to years
  • Created a flexible, intuitive, and capable UI to integrate with the reporting API featuring zoom and drill-downs, multivariate analysis, and event annotations.
  • Built and maintained a large CMS tailored to the company's business

Skills ​

TypeScript, React, Web APIs, Next.js, Node.js, Go, Rust, SQL (SQLite, PostgreSQL, DuckDB), Docker, CI/CD, Process Automation, Mentoring

Volunteering

Natural Areas Program ​

Invasive Plant Removal | Jun 2024 - Present

I join my community in ongoing efforts organized by the City of Victoria to restore parts of Cecelia Ravine off of the Gorge Waterway. We prepare sites for invasive species removal, do the removal, and plant native species in their place with the guidance of Parks staff.

Habitat Acquisition Trust ​

Habitat Restoration | Mar 2022 - Present

I help with manual labour in habitat restoration efforts. This often looks like pulling out invasive plants, moving tools and supplies around, carrying bins and tarps of detritus to trucks, and similar activities.

Scouts Canada ​

Scout Leader | Sep 2015 - Jul 2019

I supported a local scout group by joining on as a leader. I prepared structured events for the kids to encourage curiosity and engagement, organized on a weekly basis with other leaders, helped manage routine projects like bottle drives and other fund raising, and spent a lot of time in the woods.

Hobbies

Freediving, Aquascaping, Plant Tissue Culturing, Electronic Automation, Microscopy, Stargazing