✩ Ross Olson

✩ Highlighted Projects

✩ Professional Experience (Management)

Software Engineering Manager
— Lithia Motors <https://www.driveway.com>

Direct management of two teams of 9 engineers and coordinating their associated teammates. The teams built React frontends connecting with Kotlin backends on Azure services. Direction of all Agile-based sprint ceremonies and planning. Hiring of team members, and management of their continuous career growth in order to retain them. Special projects include a peer-to-peer recognition program with planning, copywriting, graphics package, and execution. All aspects conducted entirely remotely using Azure DevOps, MS Teams, and Office365 apps.

September 2020 to April 2021, Portland, Oregon

Technical Production Lead
— Opus Events Agency <https://www.opuseventsagency.com>

Production lead and team management for dozens of microsites to support corporate events worldwide. Using an in-house platform (Microsoft stack) to spec, design, code, QA, and support web sites with custom components for attendee registration, payment, scheduling and reporting.

• Management of 2 - 6 Technical Producers with Kanban methods
• Coordinating teams of designers and developers, often in real-time support of events
• Projects ranging from $20,000 to $1,000,000+

March, 2014 to November 2014, Beaverton, Oregon

Sr. Web Architect & Web Team Manager
— Planar Systems <https://www.planar.com>

Responsible for all public web and internet communications for an international corporation with $300 million/year revenue. Management of primary planar.com web site along with a dozen satellite sites. Initiated and managed a complete overhaul and transition of out-of-date tools and architecture to a new standards-compliant modern code base with localization, advanced server technology and infrastructure with Akamai CDN. Responsible for project schedules, budgets, and employee evaluation and management. Tools included Windows/IIS/MS SQL production environment; HTML/CSS/JavaScript with ASP, PHP and Python; project management and documentation with MS Office suite; Photoshop and Illustrator for design projects, Final Cut Pro and Motion for video projects. Provided direct support to brand overhaul in 2007.

As Web Team Manager I managed employees and contractors in a variety of projects including the redevelopment of web sites; the design and development of 14 sub-brand specific sites (in 5 languages); implementation of marketing automation tools (Marketo, Eloqua, custom); deployment of SEO and PPC efforts using Google AdWords, Google Analytics and WebTrends; and creation of a Salesforce-backed partner portal with Python. I built an e-commerce site to support our customer service group and provided guidance and training on use of SharePoint.

As Senior Web Architect I scoped and directed the technical systems that supported our internally hosted sites, including the use of proxy servers and Akamai content acceleration services. I maintained a legacy CMS and fortified it against potential breakage while exploring new platforms. I reviewed security reports and implemented intrusion prevention procedures.

October 2005 to April 2013, Beaverton, Oregon

Production Manager & Web Producer
— Hot Pepper Studios <https://www.hotpepper.com>

Management of a wide variety of digital media projects for Web, print and film. Creation and development of web sites for company clients and internal resources. Produced voice-over tracks, Director-based CD-ROM presentations, and Web sites for Portland General Electric, PBS, Intuit, Reser’s, PacifiCorp, Reebok, Mentor Graphics, among others. Responsible for schedules, budgets, and client communication. Tools used included LAMP/MAMP stack environments; HTML/CSS/JavaScript with PHP; project management and documentation with MS Office suite.

April 2001 to October 2005

Project Manager & Lead Web Developer
— Exact Interactive

Managed projects and developed web sites for a startup interactive communications firm. Created and implemented entire process of project management and development for all portions of the company’s projects. Created and developed web sites for company clients and for internal resources. Clients included Nikon, NorPac, Portland Advertising Federation, and many dot-com ventures. Tools used included LAMP/MAMP stack environments; HTML/CSS/JavaScript with PHP and Perl; project management and documentation with MS Office suite.

February 1999 to March 2001

✩ Professional Experience (Engineering)

Senior Software Engineer
— Nike (Global Technology/Nike Direct Engineering) <https://www.nike.com>

Web engineering of a custom tool for managing product data. Front-end development using React + Redux and Jest with an AWS backend and data access via GraphQL. Reliably delivered end-user value on a 2 week cadence. Focused on UX / UI aspects, while providing mentorship to other team members. Founded and joined initiatives to improve accessibility of internal tools and to promote shared code libraries to improve project delivery speed, code quality and security.

January 2019 to June 2020, Beaverton, Oregon

Lead Software Engineer
— CloudBolt Software <https://www.cloudbolt.io>

Front-end web development delivering a cloud management appliance with Web and API interfaces, using a Python/Django backend and React/vanilla JS frontend. Reliably delivered end-user value on a 2-week cadence. Directed UX/ UI efforts along with other leadership staff, co-ordinating with Sales and Marketing departments. Began UX Center of Excellence team.

July 2018 to January 2019, Portland, Oregon

Senior Front-end Web Developer
— DAT <https://www.dat.com>

Front-end web development for multiple teams and contexts. As a senior developer I supported a variety of legacy and greenfield projects, all of which are the premiere tools in the trucking industry. The projects were delivered with Angular 2.0+ or pure JavaScript libraries in responsive layouts and configurations. Back-end data culled from a variety of legacy and Node-backed APIs. Consistently praise for the clarity of code and documentation produced.

• TruckersEdge — State of the art on-demand loadboard service
• OnTime — realtime truck load tracking software
• Single sign-on via Auth0 services

July 2017 to July 2018, Beaverton, Oregon

User Experience Developer
— Nike (Consumer Direct Technology) <http://www.nike.com>

Front-end web development for multiple successful projects. Working in a true Agile environment, my team delivered advanced web applications, on time and under-budget. The projects were delivered with React and Redux JavaScript libraries in highly responsive layouts and configurations. Data was pulled from Node-based microservice APIs hosted through AWS. Special recognition was received for efforts in helping employees document their activities and learning in a sharable library of knowledge.

• Nike+ Digital Sports and Membership
• Nike.com ecommerce checkout
• Internal sales tools
• See Data Visualization Development under highlighted projects

August 2015 to July 2017, Beaverton, Oregon

Engineering Consulting & Contracting

Providing a wide variety of skills in support of web design and development agencies including Turtledove Clemens (turtledove.com), Copious Creative, We Got That, OpenSourcery, as well as Bay Area Refrigeration (BARefrigeration.com). I reviewed platforms and tools, and developed short- and long-term plans to improve the development and deployment environments while maintaining ongoing e-commerce and communication operations. I provided custom development to support highly specialized tools using a wide variety of technologies.

• Python, PHP coding with MySQL databases to maintain and extend websites
• Design, layout and SEO efforts for branding and UI design improvements
• Front-end design with Zeplin, Photoshop, HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript
• Implementation of continuous integration environment
• CDN, hosting and LAN configuration
• Dealt with budgets, contracted resources, and remote teams
• Improved system documentation
• Video editing with After Effects and DVD mastering

March 2013 to August 2015, Portland, Oregon

Web Resource Developer
— Oregon Museum of Science and Industry <https://www.omsi.edu>

Developed web versions of all new floor exhibits. These sites supported the exhibits as they traveled nationally. Worked with inter-museum team of educational web developers via the Science Learning Network. Re-designed and developed primary web site www.omsi.edu. Developed, designed, tested and presented educational resources for teachers and students. Tools used included LAMP stack environment; HTML/CSS/JavaScript with Perl; project management and documentation with MS Office suite.

July 1997 to January 1999

Web Developer & Network Administrator
— The New Group

Responsible for conception, design, development and management of corporate web site. Additional responsibilities included technical support for hardware, software, and network. Responsible for all network servers; recommended, purchased, and installed software and hardware upgrades. Coordinated, scheduled, and supervised consultants. Implemented staff training.

November 1996 to May 1997

✩ Professional Experience (Instruction)

Instructor, Professional Development Center
— Portland State University <https://www.pdx.edu>

Instruction and curriculum creation of internet design and development courses. Primary class was Producing Digital Media, the capstone course for both the Design and Producer tracks. The class involved creating web sites for live clients in Wordpress, Drupal, ExpressionEngine and custom CMS tools. Other classes included Introduction to Web Graphics, focusing on Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and other Adobe products. Trained students in use of project management tools such as Basecamp and other hosted services.

July 1999 to January 2013

✩ Additional Skills

✩ Special Projects

Stage manager for WebVisions conference, 2001—2015. Event has featured presentations by Jesse James Garret, Jeffery Veen, and Jeffery Zeldman, among others. (Portland and Barcelona)

Featured speaker and guest presenter at Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, DevGroupNW, Refresh Seattle and other organizations.

Founder of Josephine County Internet Council, a community-oriented, non-profit Internet provider in 1994. JCIC now part of a leading provider in Southern Oregon.

✩ Contact