James R. Cowan

Developed and maintain SaaS, FERPA-compliant internship management system for higher education. Developed and maintain daily-engagement content websites. Train interns into developers.

• Developed and implemented operational strategies to enhance business efficiency.
• Oversaw daily operations, ensuring high-quality service delivery and customer satisfaction.
• Implemented new technologies, streamlining processes and enhancing overall productivity.
• Managed day-to-day business operations.
• Supervised work of programmers, designers and technicians, assigned tasks and monitored performance against targets.
• Authored code fixes and enhancements for inclusion in future code releases and patches.

Lead a team of four developers to create and update Next.js top-of-funnel content websites serving more than 9 billion sessions annually. Scrum Master. Designed, planned, and executed an overhaul of our code base merging multiple projects into a single, flexible system. Optimized backend functions and hosting reducing costs across the board while increasing the number of available sites and traffic handled. Created reports using data from Amazon Athena.

• Led cross-functional teams in developing and deploying high-impact applications, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Designed and implemented scalable software solutions to enhance system performance and reliability.
• Mentored junior engineers, fostering skill development and promoting best practices in software development methodologies.
• Conducted code reviews to ensure adherence to quality standards, improving overall project efficiency and reducing defects.
• Collaborated with product management to define technical requirements and deliver innovative features that meet user needs.
• Streamlined development processes through automation tools, significantly decreasing deployment times and operational overhead.
• Developed scalable applications using agile methodologies for timely project delivery.

Tech lead, lead developer, and Scrum Master for a team of 8 developers, QA Engineers, and Product Owners. Designed and built WordPress websites, upgraded these and other sites to headless-WordPress APIs with React and Gatsby frontend and Marketo A/B testing. Optimized sites for performance, accessibility, and search engine optimization. Worked with Product Owners and stakeholders to define requirements and come up with new solutions. Updated and enhanced developer tools and processes. Maintained documentation and facilitated communication.

• Led development of scalable software solutions using JavaScript and PHP frameworks.
• Mentored junior engineers, providing guidance on best practices and fostering professional growth.
• Streamlined deployment processes, reducing downtime and improving release cycles.
• Promoted a culture of continuous improvement through regular code reviews and constructive feedback sessions among team members.
• Analyzed proposed technical solutions based on customer requirements.
• Corrected, modified and upgraded software to improve performance.

Created and maintained web applications in ASP.Net, C#, MSSQL, and Angular. Designed and built web sites in PHP using WordPress including custom themes and plugins. Updated legacy Perl systems by adding new user interfaces, designs, and APIs to unlock data from these systems to be used for new reports and data analysis. Created a reporting service conglomerating data across legacy and newer systems to provide a wholistic view of a students academic journey (education progress, financial state, etc). Enabled administrators and advisors to assist students and manage the student body as a whole by providing greater insight.

• Designed system architecture for high-availability applications, ensuring robust performance.
• Analyzed system performance metrics to identify bottlenecks and optimize functionality.
• Rapidly prototyped new data processing capabilities to confirm integration feasibility into existing systems.
• Translated technical concepts and information into terms parties could easily comprehend.

Converted, cleaned, and processed large data files using Microsoft SQL Server, C# and other technologies to create easy to use voter registration data reports and tools separated by localities and business priorities.

• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to gather requirements for data warehouse enhancements.
• Designed and maintained complex SQL queries for reporting and analysis purposes.
• Used Unix and Windows operating systems to complete assigned tasks and create unique data solutions.
• Ensured data accuracy and integrity by conducting thorough audits of source systems, validating transformation logic, and monitoring ongoing data quality.

Maintained SaaS APS.Net web application handling project bids, invoicing, and work order scheduling. Architected and lead development upgrading the system to C#, Entity Framework, Bootstrap CSS, and AngularJS. Created new APIs for better data accessibility. Rethought how we create work orders which eliminated a weekly three-day-long generation process. This freed up job-site administrators to manage their teams rather than babysitting an automated process.

• Designed RESTful APIs for seamless integration between front-end and back-end systems.
• Optimized database queries to enhance application performance and reduce load times.
• Worked with back-end developers to design APIs.
• Reduced page load times by optimizing front-end assets such as JavaScript files, stylesheets, and images.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to design, develop, and launch new features for web applications.
• Refactored legacy codebase to modernize software architecture and improve maintainability.

Created web sites and applications for clients including brochure sites for businesses in both ASP.Net and WordPress. Developed custom web-based applications for large business clients using ASP.Net, JavaScript, SQL, and C#.

• Consulted with customers to assess needs and propose optimal solutions.
• Developed and maintained scalable web applications using modern frameworks and languages.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to define project requirements and deliver solutions.
• Authored code fixes and enhancements for inclusion in future code releases and patches.
• Designed architecture for complex systems, ensuring alignment with business goals and performance standards.

Designed web applications and desktop applications in JavaScript, ASP.Net, JQuery, Java, and MSSQL databases. Built and maintained servers, desktops, and printers. Developed automated printing processes for insurance policy forms using XSL, XML, and Java.

• Managed user access rights to maintain a high level of information security while ensuring appropriate levels of accessibility for authorized personnel.
• Installed and configured network printers and other peripheral devices.
• Diagnosed and resolved hardware and software issues.
• Planned and implemented upgrades to system hardware and software.
• Developed secure, scalable software solutions by utilizing industry best practices for coding and architecture.
• Developed functional databases, applications and servers to support websites on back-end.