MARK H. HOWARD II
Professional Summary
- Skilled in communication, customer service, and requirements gathering.
- Extensive experience with .NET Core, Node, React, and Angular for software development.
- Continually studies architectural design patterns for building scalable, maintainable systems.
- Enthusiastic about TDD, DDD, SOLID principles, Clean Code, Messaging, and Microservices.
- Strong front-end development skills for Web and Mobile (PWA & React Native).
- Proficient in data warehousing, from design to implementation, including developing analytical reports.
- Quick to understand and apply new, complex concepts.
Professional Experience
RippleWorx Inc
Huntsville, AL (Remote)
Senior Software Engineer / Technical Product Lead
May 2018 – Present
RippleWorx is a SaaS product in the human resources sector, offering a flexible survey tool, tasks module, shared calendar, and training plans for monitoring employee sentiment and other various functions.
- Transformed initial prototypes into a production-ready, scalable, regionally available solution running on Azure and AKS.
- Led the team in sprint planning, task development, documentation, code reviews, and release management.
- Championed design patterns, clean code, and test-driven development to ensure high-quality, resilient features.
- Implemented a DevOps stategy for automating builds from code check-in all the way through production releases.
- Designed a SQL Data Warehouse and ETL processes to move data from Mongo to a star-schema model, utilizing message queues achieving near-real-time reporting.
- Embedded analytics via Tableau for both viewing and authoring, developed scripts to automate configuration and setup.
Allstar Financial Group, Inc
Atlanta, GA
Senior Software Engineer
July 2014 – May 2018
ALLSTAR is a wholesale insurance company offering various products through specialized divisions.
- Built a sales data warehouse to provide near-real-time KPIs across many dimensions such as producer, product type, and carrier.
- Developed custom solutions to fill gaps in various off-the-shelf Agency Management software products and adding automation for unique business needs.
- Automated complex reporting to carrier partners and state insurance departments.
- Built a central .NET codebase with feature toggles and configuration options to support diverse department needs.
- Established DevOps pipelines using TeamCity for streamlined releases.
Elexient LLC
Canton, GA
Owner/President - Senior Software Engineer
January 2005 – July 2014
Elexient LLC was a custom software development company serving clients across various industries.
- Consulted with stakeholders to gather requirements and implement features in an iterative, user-focused process.
- Built and led a team, expanded shared code libraries, and developed end-to-end systems across sectors including insurance, construction, and e-commerce.
- Created numerous brochure websites with a custom CMS, allowing clients to manage their own content.
- Provided ongoing application support and maintained servers both on-site and in Azure.
Envision Communications, Inc
Atlanta, GA
Junior Developer
January 2004 – May 2007
Envision is a pharmaceutical marketing company.
- Developer on a complex event planning system, expanding it significantly.
- Worked with a Technical Lead to translate requirements into functional and technical specifications.
- Contributed to configuration and maintenance of on-premise database and web servers.
- Implemented source control.
Side Projects & Other Interests
- Grocery Board: Developed an app with my wife for shared shopping lists and meal planning, available on iOS, Android, Windows, and as a PWA. Built with React, Ionic, Capacitor, C# .NET Core, SignalR, WordPress, and Power BI.
- IoT, Raspberry Pi, Arduino: Enthusiastic about tinkering with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and NanoFramework for various projects.
- Contest: Won a Microsoft app contest in 2015 with the app TimesheetAnywhere (now discontinued).