tom@skylarkinteractive.com
919.438.1666
GitHub
keybase

I've been writing rich client applications since 2006.

Recommendations and code samples available on request.

Experience

Head of Mobile, PawBoost, 2020–2024

Android, iOS – 30k MAU | 500k downloads | ⭐ 4.8

(Flutter, OpenAPI, Google Cloud, Docker, AWS, Stripe, Firebase, Amplitude)

I rejoined PawBoost as a principal engineer, to give users the tools they need to bring pets home.

I was responsible for all app design and implementation, including reporting, the user dashboard, search, and matching. I wrote scalable backend services to suggest and match pet photos, authorize requests, and detect phone number harvesting.

I expanded our stack with Apple/Google Pay, A/B testing, remote configuration, continuous integration, and multiple environments.

I defined and reported on quarterly goals, using KPI’s and user engagement to align engineering priorities with business objectives.

My conversations with the App Store review team resulted in the addition of guideline 3.1.3(g), exempting our products from the in-app purchase commission.

VeryGood Ventures, 2019–2020

I was the first remote hire at VGV, an NYC development agency that works closely with the Flutter team at Google. We hosted the conference pre-party for Interact, and run the Flutter NYC and Chicago meetups.

PawBoost, 2019

(Android, iOS)

I built our pet rescue app on both mobile platforms, with (outdated) active installs and (outdated) daily active users.

I made our support team an internal-facing Tinder clone to replace the web dashboard for approving pet submissions.

Break

In 2018, I took a sabbatical to fall in love with Flutter.

Talks: “React for the Rest of Us” (slides), “State of the Union” (slides)

TiO Home, 2015–2018

Apologies for dead links. Many of my employers and clients are now offline.

(Android, iOS) Note: a TiO system is required to explore the app.

I joined as Android lead for a home automation startup.

I introduced testing and continuous integration, crash reporting and analytics, Fastlane deployment, automatic updates, and Java 8 / Jack.

Features I shipped include remote system access via AWS IoT, streaming camera feeds, infrared home theater control, and PIN lock for model homes.

I rewrote our hub’s ARM socket server in Go (from C), converted our hand-rolled network protocol to protobuf, and prototyped serving firmware updates from Google Cloud Storage.

I overhauled our interview process, mentored on git and engineering practices (docs on request), and provided on-site dealer training and trade show demonstrations.

Grand Interactive, 2013–2015

I developed mobile applications in Xamarin for Thermo Fisher Scientific. (iOS[1,2,3], Android[1,2,3,4])

I built our libraries (C#) for data retrieval and persistent storage. I ported (Java) a custom surface view using the device accelerometer. Other responsibilities included platform integration, schema design, maintaining our build infrastructure, and serving as technical liaison to customer teams in Boston and Shanghai.

Our real-time laboratory monitoring app was nominated for a Xammy award and featured onstage at Xamarin Evolve 2014.

Freelance, 2013–2014

Clients included Chiquita, Fidelity Investments, Harvard University, and High 5 Games.

Creative Bottle, 2011–2013

We open-sourced a dependency injection framework for Adobe’s GPU-accelerated game engine.

Our multiplayer game projects (Java/Flash) included Miya: Before and After, Blackjack Extreme, and The Secret World.

Electrotank, 2007–2011

I was an early employee at the industry leader in massively multiplayer (MMO) Flash games during the golden age.

We published a book.

I worked on our platform (Java, MySQL), libraries, and content-creation tools, in addition to dozens of client game projects including NHL, Ubisoft, MTV, Comedy Central, Hallmark, Neopets, American Girl, and Precious Moments.

Contributions

Flutter, Dart [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], Firebase, gcloud, googleapis.dart, backdrop, AWS, Eclipse Paho, cznic/kv, GoASTScanner, Cinnamon [1, 2, 3], Bitrise, Debian [1, 2, 3, 4], Fedora, Signal (1, 2), GNOME [1, 2], Jenkins [1, 2], Chromium [1, 2], Thunderbird, Mono/Xamarin [1, 2, 3], Amber Smalltalk, Backbone.js, Mozilla, sack, protobuf, wavebox, gRPC, Sass, nvm, Material Components, Knative, moby, SoloKeys, Stable Diffusion+ARC, Eden AI

Hobbies

My side project is a cloud-native, mobile-first API framework I call Deft. Key pieces are buf.build, request authorization, Firestore and PostgreSQL adapters, structured logging, and benchmarks.

I wrote the Dart port of dotenv.

I like to explore new languages and frameworks, and follow technology news. See my blog and dotfiles.

I’ve been involved with Linux Mint since 2010. I built and hosted the Cinnamon desktop for Debian until official packages became available.

Miscellaneous

I think more people should discover Upspin and Aether.

I’ve dabbled in Erlang, Racket, and Ruby. I’m curious about IPFS, CRDTs, Key Transparency, CockroachDB and Fuchsia.

Education