+++ title = “A History” description = “How I got here: 15+ years of building backends, platforms and embedded systems” date = 2026-11-01 +++
A History
How I got here
Note: Preliminary draft from the CV dump (gabe-cv/cv_dump_updated.json), limited to the show_in_pdf entries. Needs a pass for tone and cuts.
The timeline
| When | Where | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2008–2013 | WPI | BS Electrical & Computer Engineering |
| 2013–2018 | Gecko Health → Teva | Backend Developer |
| 2018–2019 | AdmitHub | Senior Backend Developer |
| 2019–2021 | Wayfair | Senior Software Engineer |
| 2021–2022 | Soofa | Software Architect |
| 2022–2026 | Tulip Interfaces | Embedded Software Engineer |
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2008–2013
BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Note: Picked up python because PHP was banned.
Gecko Health Innovations
2013–2018 · Backend Developer
A HIPAA-compliant backend helping asthma and COPD patients through reminders and monitoring
- Django on AWS EC2, provisioned end-to-end with Ansible
- One secure API for iOS, Android and web clients
- Targeted <100 ms, averaged ~60 ms
- Real-time feedback via push notifications
–
Then Teva bought us
September 2015
- Generalized the platform for Teva’s wider medical product line
- Broke the monolith into event-driven microservices on crossbar.io
- Dev stacks provisioned from Slack
- Interviewed and grew the team
AdmitHub
2018–2019 · Senior Backend Developer
EdTech: improving outcomes for students
- Moved the Meteor/Mongo prototype onto Python/Postgres
- Partner data import and export over SFTP / CRM APIs
- Designed the first public API
- Statistical tooling to measure the platform’s impact
Wayfair
2019–2021 · Senior Software Engineer
International Supply Chain: replacing spreadsheets with systems
- Containerization and warehousing microservices on Kubernetes
- An end-to-end integration test harness across services
- An Android scanning app for container loading and unloading
- A customs broker API to replace paper bills of lading
Soofa
2021–2022 · Software Architect
Solar-powered digital kiosks
- Image capture and analysis pipeline on RabbitMQ + Kubernetes, GCP: 50%+ lower cost per device
- Elixir/OTP to model a fleet of mixed hardware in the field
- Reusable transit and municipal data integrations
- Postgres tuning for sensor analytics
- Logging and monitoring: Loki, Sentry, Grafana
Tulip Interfaces
2022–2026 · Embedded Software Engineer
Edge hardware for the factory floor
- Rewrote the embedded Elixir product in Rust: ~90% less CPU, memory, disk and startup time, same API
- Yocto Linux: improved wireless and driver support on hardware already shipped
- Containerized third-party workloads (FlowFuse / Node-RED) at the edge
- OpenTelemetry metrics in place of pulling logs off devices by hand
- Per-customer rate limits and quotas: Redis & Prometheus
–
Now: Cooperative Systems: Spaces
2025–
Workspace management for makerspaces, hackerspaces and community workshops
- A single Rust binary with an embedded Vue frontend, under 20 MB
- Members, roles and permissions; a hot-reloadable
config.toml - Tool tracking, maintenance and lockout, training that gates access
- RFID/QR door access cached at the edge, so doors still work when the internet is down
- Auditing, signed webhooks, an admin CLI
The Current Toolkit
Languages Rust, Elixir, Python, SQL, Kotlin, JS, bash, C, QML
Backend Axum, Phoenix, Django, FastAPI, Celery
Messaging Redis, RabbitMQ, Kafka, Oban, MQTT, WebSockets
Infrastructure AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Docker, Podman, Ansible, Argo, Git, Postgresql
Embedded Yocto, Bitbake, PCB layout (EAGLE/KiCad), OTA