Professional Summary
Senior software engineer with 15+ years shipping web, mobile, and cloud products. Deep hands-on work in React, React Native, TypeScript, Node.js, AWS, PostgreSQL/Supabase, and CI/CD, including agency delivery via The Designory for clients such as Amazon Music, Nissan, and Audi, plus aviation compliance software at FlyCompliant. Led offshore teams (typically 3–5 engineers) across multiple time zones while remaining hands-on. Open to remote or hybrid roles in the LA area. Seeking Senior Software Engineer roles.
I work at the intersection of hands-on engineering and delivery leadership — writing production code while shaping process, architecture, and team cadence. My career spans agency delivery for Fortune 500 brands, aviation compliance software, and founder-led products under the Bixby Apps umbrella. I am comfortable owning a feature end-to-end, mentoring offshore engineers across time zones, and presenting trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders.
Core Competencies
Engineering: React 18 · Next.js · React Native · TypeScript · Node.js · Angular · REST APIs · PostgreSQL · Supabase · AWS (Lambda, API Gateway, S3, RDS, CodePipeline)
Quality & DevOps: GitHub Actions · Puppeteer · Maestro · Docker · Jenkins · CI/CD · OAuth (Sign in with Apple / Google)
Mobile: iOS · Android · Ionic Capacitor · App Store & Play release workflows
Leadership: Agile/Scrum · code review & mentoring · client-facing technical leadership · offshore coordination
AI: OpenAI API · LLM product features · prompt engineering · production AI (image matching, assistants)
Across roles I have repeatedly been the engineer who modernizes legacy stacks, stands up CI/CD from scratch, and introduces test automation where manual QA was the bottleneck. I favor incremental migration over big-bang rewrites when risk warrants it, but will drive full platform shifts — Kony to Capacitor, React 16 to 18, monolith to Lambda — when the business case is clear.
Professional Experience
FlyCompliant — Senior Software Engineer
FlyCompliant · Aviation compliance SaaS · Torrance, CA · January 2023 – Present
- Migrated legacy React front end to React 18 (~100 components); shipped 250 production releases over 2 years with a core team of 3.
- Built AWS deployment pipeline (CodeBuild, CodePipeline, S3, RDS, Lambda, API Gateway) across 4 environments; migrated 120 Lambda functions and services.
- Rebuilt LevelFlight in React Native; 40 store releases over 2 years; used by ~100 pilots across 12 operators (~90 aircraft).
- Upgraded 5 Angular apps through major version jumps (Angular 10–17), including large dependency upgrade sets.
- Authored 70 Puppeteer E2E tests covering 12 user flows on ~90% of PRs via GitHub Actions — cut QA incidents from ~20/month to ~1/month.
- Integrated the web platform with Salesforce via bidirectional API sync for operator, pilot, and compliance records.
Technologies: React 18, React Native, Angular, Node.js, AWS, Salesforce, Puppeteer, GitHub Actions
FlyCompliant builds compliance and operational software for Part 135 charter operators. LevelFlight, the flagship mobile product, gives pilots digital access to aircraft manuals, flight logs, and regulatory workflows that were previously paper-bound. The React 18 migration touched routing, concurrent rendering boundaries, and shared component libraries used across multiple operator-branded deployments. The AWS pipeline standardized artifact promotion across four isolated environments with IAM least-privilege roles per stage, CloudWatch alarms on Lambda errors, and automated smoke tests before production gates.
The Designory — Senior Software Engineer
The Designory · Long Beach, CA · September 2012 – January 2023
- Delivered Amazon Music internal React + Next.js application (~60 screens, 18 Lambda functions) for ~250 internal users — concept through production in 8 months with a 4-person team.
- Built React + Amazon Chime SDK telehealth solution across 3 platforms; 5+ years in production; peaked at ~500 concurrent sessions.
- Migrated 3 Nissan Sales Training apps from Kony → Cordova → Ionic Capacitor (v3–v6) with full iOS certificate/provisioning workflow.
- Implemented OneTrust consent across 6 apps/sites and 12 locales (web, iOS, Android Mobile SDK).
- Built Audi eDelivery/ePDI native iPad app for ~200 dealers; 45 automated tests across 18 shipped versions.
- Led HAAH auto group multi-site WordPress (8 dealership sites) with GitHub-to-EC2 pipeline, S3, and RDS.
Technologies: React, Next.js, Angular, Cordova, Ionic Capacitor, WordPress, AWS, Amazon Chime SDK, OneTrust
Peak delivery: 3–4 concurrent client projects; led teams of up to 5 engineers.
The Designory is a Long Beach digital agency serving automotive, entertainment, healthcare, and energy clients. I was often the senior engineer slotted into 3–4 concurrent engagements — owning architecture, sprint planning, and client demos while junior and offshore developers executed feature work. Amazon Music's internal tooling required HIPAA-adjacent discipline around access controls and audit logging. The Nissan training apps evolved through three mobile frameworks over a decade of OS churn; each migration preserved dealer-facing UX while swapping the underlying bridge and build toolchain. Telehealth work with Amazon Chime demanded real-time session recovery, device permission flows on three platforms, and graceful degradation when bandwidth dropped.
Warner Music Group — Web Developer
Warner Music Group · Burbank, CA · November 2008 – September 2012
- Developed Dead.net, Sinatra.com, and Rhino.com — 12 custom Drupal modules/themes across 3 flagship sites.
- Shipped 5 music-related iPhone and Android applications; contributed to Warner’s early Spotify integration (20+ API endpoints).
At Warner Music Group I maintained flagship artist properties on Drupal and shipped early mobile experiences before app-store distribution was mainstream. The Adobe AIR download client bridged label fulfillment systems to desktop listeners. Spotify integration work involved OAuth flows, rate-limited catalog sync, and rights-metadata edge cases across territories.
Proactive SEO Solutions — Senior Engineer
Proactive SEO Solutions · Long Beach, CA · January 2002 – August 2008
- Led MatchMillion.com (WordPress/BuddyPress) to ~5,000 registered users at peak with a custom theme across ~50 templates.
- Owned IA and roadmap for DentalTrader.net through 3 major WordPress upgrades and a ~200-product WooCommerce catalog.
This freelance role focused on membership communities and e-commerce for dental and medical verticals. MatchMillion.com combined BuddyPress social graphs with custom matchmaking flows. DentalTrader.net paired WooCommerce inventory with a content strategy I helped shape — balancing SEO landing pages with logged-in dealer workflows.
Selected Consulting & Offshore Leadership
Long Beach, CA — Independent Consultant
Long Beach, CA · January 2019 – Present (nights and weekends alongside full-time roles)
- Assembled and led distributed teams of 2–5 engineers across 5 countries with overnight delivery cycles and US daytime client communication.
- Led 4 developers in the Philippines for 14 months on a multi-platform app and website for freelance medical professionals (1099 Pro).
- Managed 5 engineers in India/Bangladesh for USAI Lighting; rebuilt an ~80-page site and ~12,000-SKU catalog with AI image pattern matching over ~8,000 product patterns.
- Led a 5-person team delivering Pet Life (pet health records) on React Native and Supabase.
My consulting model uses overlapping time zones deliberately: US mornings for standups, client calls, and code review; overseas engineers implement through the US night. I write the first vertical slice of each feature to set patterns, then scale the team. Typical engagements include weekly demos, shared Figma or written specs, and GitHub PR workflows with mandatory review before merge.
AI & LLM Experience
- Shipped production image similarity search for USAI Lighting over ~8,000 catalog patterns (photo upload → product discovery).
- Built a natural-language restaurant ordering UI with the ChatGPT API (Bounteous AI Hackathon, 48-hour build).
- Shipped an LLM business assistant in Invoicerator spanning 6 data domains (clients, revenue, invoices, expenses, hours, estimates).
AI work spans hackathon prototypes and production features. For USAI Lighting, image embeddings and similarity search let contractors photograph an installed fixture and find the closest catalog SKU among thousands of patterns — reducing mis-orders and support calls. Invoicerator's assistant uses structured prompts over Supabase-backed business data with guardrails so answers cite queryable facts rather than hallucinating invoice totals. I treat LLM features as product surfaces: latency budgets, fallback copy when the API fails, and clear disclosure that output is AI-generated where appropriate.
Code & Portfolio
Homepage: https://darrengates.bixbyapps.net
Invoicerator — invoicing and business-management app for contractors and freelancers (React Native, iOS & Android, Supabase; web app at bixbyapps.net):
- Client management (contact import), time tracking, expenses with receipt photos, recurring expenses, mileage/GPS trip logging
- Estimates and quotes with one-tap conversion to invoices; recurring invoices; PDF preview, email, and share; 4 branded invoice templates
- AI business assistant (natural-language Q&A over 6 data domains: clients, revenue, invoices, expenses, hours, estimates)
- Dashboard analytics, 24 exportable reports (PDF/CSV), Stripe/PayPal/Square payments, QuickBooks/FreshBooks/Zoho Books sync; 12 App Store / Play releases
iOS App Store · Google Play · Product site
Invoicerator is a full product stack: React Native mobile apps, a Vite web client sharing Supabase auth and data, Edge Functions for payments and accounting sync, and 130+ SEO calculators that funnel organic traffic to the brand. The AI assistant routes natural-language questions to typed Supabase queries across clients, invoices, expenses, hours, estimates, and revenue aggregates — with conversation context kept server-side. Twelve store releases reflect a steady cadence of App Store and Play Console submissions, screenshot refreshes, and privacy nutrition-label updates.
- 18 categories including mortgages, loans, debt payoff, savings, investing, retirement, federal and 50 state income/paycheck tax calculators, freelance rates, and SaaS metrics
- Shared JavaScript math libraries (amortization, brackets, time-value-of-money); React directory with search, category hubs, and related-calculator linking for SEO
The calculator network is entirely client-side — no server round-trips for tax or loan math — which keeps hosting costs negligible and pages fast for Core Web Vitals. Shared amortization and bracket libraries ensure consistent results across related tools (for example, mortgage payment vs. affordability vs. refinance break-even). Category hubs and internal linking were built for long-tail search coverage across all 50 state tax calculators.
Game Night — board-game social app for planning nights, groups, and collections (in development; iOS & Android release planned for late 2026):
- ~65 screens — event hosting, group chat, friends network, public discovery, BoardGameGeek import, custom card-deck editor, “Meet your Meeple” matching
- 25 Maestro E2E tests; mirrored web client and 40+ how-to docs on bixbyapps.net
- Technologies: React Native, TypeScript, Supabase, React Navigation, push notifications (Notifee), Sign in with Apple / Google / Facebook
Product site & web app · How-to docs
Game Night models a social graph of groups, events, friendships, and game collections synchronized with BoardGameGeek. Realtime chat uses Supabase channels; push notifications (Notifee) remind players of RSVPs and messages. The web mirror at bixbyapps.net/gamenight/app shares authentication with mobile via Supabase OAuth. Maestro E2E tests cover critical flows on both platforms; 40+ how-to articles document every user-visible feature for launch support.
Public code: https://github.com/g8z
Public repositories showcase patterns I use in production — React Native navigation, Supabase RLS policies, and marketing-site tooling — while most client and employer code remains private under NDA. I welcome live pairing and architecture discussions in interviews.
Technical Skills
| Languages | JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Node.js, Python, SQL, Swift, Java, C#, HTML5, CSS3 (SASS/SCSS) |
|---|
| Front-end | React, Next.js, React Native, Angular, RxJS, Bootstrap |
|---|
| Back-end & APIs | Node.js, Laravel, Symfony, REST, WebSockets, API Gateway, Swagger, Postman, Supabase, PostgreSQL |
|---|
| Cloud & DevOps | AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, IAM, CodePipeline, CodeBuild), Docker, Jenkins, GitHub Actions |
|---|
| Mobile | iOS, Android, Ionic Capacitor, Cordova, App Store & Play release workflows |
|---|
| CMS | WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore, Laravel CMS |
|---|
| Testing | Puppeteer, Selenium, Maestro, QUnit, Angular .spec, React component mocks |
|---|
| Tools | Webpack, Gulp, Figma-to-code, Xcode, Android Studio |
|---|
| AI & LLM | OpenAI API, ChatGPT integrations, prompt engineering, production AI features (image matching, assistants) |
|---|
The table above is the full career toolkit. Day-to-day product work centers on React / React Native, TypeScript, Node.js, AWS, and Supabase/PostgreSQL; CMS and hybrid-mobile stacks remain available for modernization and migration engagements.
Education
- M.S. Information and Computer Science — University of California, Irvine · Irvine, CA · June 2001
- B.A. Molecular and Cell Biology — University of California, Berkeley · Berkeley, CA · May 1997
UC Berkeley's molecular biology background trained rigorous experimentation and technical writing — skills I apply when documenting architecture decisions and running disciplined release processes.
Earlier Experience
UC Irvine — Graduate Student Instructor
Irvine, CA · 1999 – 2000
- Taught undergraduate programming courses; managed software and hardware labs.
Graduate teaching reinforced fundamentals — data structures, introductory systems — for undergraduates in ICS. Lab management included imaging machines, compiler toolchains, and debugging student submissions across C and Java assignments.
UC Peace Corps — Volunteer Computer Science Teacher
The Gambia, West Africa · 1997 – 1999
- Taught undergraduate and secondary programming courses; managed software/hardware labs.
- Built a 12-machine computer lab and authored district CS curriculum.
Peace Corps service in The Gambia combined curriculum design with infrastructure: sourcing hardware internationally, training teachers who had never used a computer, and aligning lessons with national health-office reporting needs. The experience shaped how I communicate technical concepts to varied audiences and build software for low-bandwidth environments.
Certifications & Training
- Claude Certified Architect Foundations (CCAR-F) — Anthropic · September 2026
- Sitecore CMS 6.5 — Website .NET Developer Certification (2013)
- Adobe CQ/AEM — 4-day in-house training, The Designory (2014)
- Native iOS / Objective-C — 4-day in-house training, The Designory (2013)
Claude Certified Architect Foundations (CCAR-F) covers Anthropic’s architecture foundations for designing and shipping production systems with Claude. Earlier enterprise CMS certifications (Sitecore, AEM) and native iOS training complemented day-to-day delivery on client platforms where certified expertise was a procurement requirement.
Additional Experience
Long Beach Code Academy — Business Operator & Instructor (2012–2020, part-time) — Taught 100+ students Python on Raspberry Pi systems across 8 course terms; program ended during COVID-19.
Independent Mobile Development — Contractor (2008–2016, off-hours) — Shipped 6 cross-platform games/utilities (Corona SDK); Angular/Ionic/Cordova app with Firebase, PouchDB, and CouchDB (~500 users).
Long Beach Code Academy introduced teens and adults to Python on Raspberry Pi hardware — emphasizing tactile learning over slides. Independent mobile projects under Corona SDK and Ionic honed rapid prototyping before React Native became my default mobile stack.