Ken Crocken | Front End Engineer

Skills

Frameworks, Libraries & Languages: React, Angular, Ruby on Rails, Django, CSS, SASS, Material UI, Bootstrap, Redux & RTK, Jest, React Testing Library, Enzyme, Keylines.js, D3.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, Ruby, Python

Tooling: Git, BitBucket, GitHub, Vite, Webpack, Storybook, React DevTools, Redux DevTools, OpenAPI, Postman, VS Code, Chrome DevTools, AWS S3/Code Artifact

Development Best Practices: SOLID, DRY, Documentation, Reusability, Repository Health, CI/CD Pipelines, Testing Strategies, OOP

Collaboration: Figma, Miro, Slack, JIRA, Confluence, Agile

Experience

Ken’s UI Engineering

Freelancing

• I craft modern, scalable, responsive web applications that deliver exceptional user experiences. My technical toolkit is carefully selected to include industry-leading technologies and frameworks, ensuring that each project meets and exceeds client expectations.

• I leverage React and TypeScript to build robust and maintainable user interfaces, while TailwindCSS and Material-UI provide the aesthetic and functional framework to ensure sleek and intuitive design. For more complex applications requiring full-stack capabilities, I utilize Next.js and Remix, which allow for versatile rendering strategies and streamlined routing.

• On the backend, my solutions are powered by Prisma with PostgreSQL and MongoDB, offering robust data management and scalability. For projects requiring custom backend logic, I integrate Django REST framework and Ruby on Rails, which enable rapid development and effective API services.

• My approach is to work closely with clients to understand their unique requirements and challenges, ensuring that every solution is a technical fit and strategically aligned with their business goals. Whether you’re looking to build from scratch, enhance an existing platform, or require specific technical expertise, my freelance business is here to help you navigate the digital landscape with confidence and innovation.

Dragos, Inc.

Sr. UI Engineer
Hanover, MD
Sept. 2018 - March 2024

• Member of a cross-disciplinary team of engineers and designers in the Front-End Community. We employ React, TypeScript, Redux Toolkit, and Material UI to engineer a secure, modular, and intuitive user interface for an air-gapped single-page application that provides operational technology network monitoring capabilities, offering visibility into assets, threats, and response mechanisms.

• Responsible for developing and documenting in-house node packages for custom, reusable components with Material UI, streamlining forms with React Hooks, and innovating a unique Material UI data grid component. These contributions significantly elevated the user experience and design consistency across applications.

• Work with back-end teams to integrate the OpenAPI specification and RTK Query, streamlining service layer generation. This critical enhancement bolstered the reliability of front-to-back-end contracts and expedited the development process.

• Developed a pull request preview mechanism within BitBucket Pipelines, automating the deployment of code changes to a dedicated S3 bucket for seamless review. This process improvement markedly increased code review efficiency and accuracy.

• Maintained testbed leveraging the React Testing Library, which encompassed custom render functions, mock handlers for state and session management, providers, and fetch responses. This framework underpinned robust testing methodologies, ensuring high-quality application builds.

• Developed testing processes by implementing pre-push hooks and pipelines in BitBucket, significantly reducing errors and improving code quality before deployment.

• Fostered a collaborative relationship with Product Owners and Project Managers, regularly engaging in requirement gathering and scope definition sessions. My efforts were instrumental in translating complex requirements into actionable, efficiently managed JIRA tickets, driving project success, and aligning development with strategic objectives

REQ

Sr. Front End Engineer
Washington, DC
Sept 2015 - Sept 2018

• Built and maintained a diverse range of digital properties for clients, leveraging Angular JS, React, Gulp, SASS, UnderscoreJS, D3.js, Ionic, Laravel, Rails, and headless WordPress.

• I worked in cross-functional teams consisting of a backend developer and a designer. These teams were responsible for the project lifecycle, from initial specifications and requirements, design, and time estimates through development, testing, and deployment.

• Developed the single-page app for a turn-key system to create and deploy political grassroots campaign websites and a client-side integration with APls and componentry for users to identify government representatives and participate in an active campaign, such as email. Built components for data visualizations, using D3.js, of client data overlayed on various federal and state maps and subdivisions.

• Led the i18n project for Arabic translations for a ‘React on Rails,’ ensuring that the dynamic switching of languages does not affect performance or layout.

• Developed and maintained template SPA for landing pages, default Gulp configurations, and SASS defaults.

BTS Software Solutions

Front end Engineer
Columbia, MD
Nov. 2014 - July 2015

• I worked on a team with a senior developer, creating responsive, user-friendly websites to design specifications, leveraging a stack including HTML, LESS, JQuery, Angular, PostgreSQL, Python, and DjangoCMS.

• Developed plugins for DjangoCMS to display interactive maps with the GoogleMaps API. These plugins allow clients to enter points of interest and boundaries, presentation slides, and contact forms.

• Utilized GitHub for version control, issue tracking, and stakeholder communication.

• Managed design handoffs, feedback, and resolving issues through GitHub issues, in a collaborative environment.

• Engaged with our white label partner remotely to gather requirements and feedback, ensuring the delivered solutions aligned with the specifications.

Law Office of Kenneth E Crocken

Attorney
Owings Mills, MD

• A general practice with a focus on handling consumer fraud, foreclosure defense and fraud, consumer real estate transactions, personal injury, impaired driving defense, general contract liability litigation, small business best practices. Additionally, worked on a contract basis to manage large scale electronic discovery productions, including leading a team of 10-25 attorneys, privilege logs and quality assurance.