Rafe Colton

: rafecolton.com
: rafecolton
: /in/rafecolton

Summary

Positive and optimistic, with 12+ years of professional experience writing custom software across the entire stack. Operating with a bias towards action and a grounded, empathetic demeanor. You can find me in a growing engineering team that values mentorship, collaboration, learning, courage, and getting shit done!

Skills

Software Engineering

  • Languages: JavaScript (React), PHP, C++
  • Databases: SQLite, MySQL, Bedrock
  • Tools: Git, Vim, Tmux, GitHub, Slack

Infrastructure

  • Components: Elasticsearch, Rsyslog, Kibana, Nagios, Collectd, Nginx, Systemd
  • Services: Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, AWS (EC2, S3, IAM, CloudFront, Route 53)
  • Operating Systems: macOS, Ubuntu LTS, JunOS
  • Tools & Scripting: SaltStack, Fabric, Terraform, PagerDuty, 1Password, Bash, Python
  • Hardware: Lenovo SR950/SR530, Juniper QFX

Leadership

  • Audit & Compliance: SOC 2 (SSAE 18), SOX ITGC & ITAC, PCI-DSS Level 1, Bank TPCA (Bank of America, Amex, Chase, Wells Fargo), internal (various)
  • Governance: Policy development & documentation, risk management, incident response, data governance, disaster recovery planning
  • Human: Communication, tenacity, creative problem solving, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, grit

Other Technical, Less Recent

  • Software: WordPress, Go (Golang), Ruby, Redux
  • Infrastructure: Docker, Ansible, PostgreSQL, Redis, Chef, RabbitMQ, SmartOS, Joyent/SDC
Work Experience

Expensify

Senior LeaderDec 2023–Present
  • Address org-wide behavioral issues, deliver feedback & PIPs
  • Implement policy on company-wide topics, such as vacation, referral, expenses, DEI, & PIP-management
  • All Leader & SRE responsibilities
LeaderSept 2022–Dec 2023 (1 year, 3 months)
  • Address org-wide productivity issues, deliver feedback & PIPs
  • Lead a team of 7-10 SREs and Software Engineers
  • Formally mentor 1-3 employees per year
  • All SRE responsibilities
Site Reliability EngineerJan 2020–Sept 2022 (2 years, 8 months)
  • Implement & maintain systems, deployment pipelines, security policies, and tooling
  • Define controls, gather evidence, and represent IT organization in security & public-company audits
  • Manage infrastructure & software projects from conception through implementation
  • Train new-hires

Himalayan Institute

Web Development ManagerOct 2015–Dec 2019 (4 years, 2 months)
  • Built the web team and the entire web presence from scratch. Conducted hiring activities for web, marketing, A/V, and graphic design, and established best practices, working methodologies, and yearly roadmaps.
  • Responsible for conceptualizing, planning, coordinating, and executing all web products, including two full WordPress sites, two mini-sites (same domain, different branding), a Shopify site, an internal documentation website, and a $150k/yr membership program. Primary stack included WordPress (PHP) and React/Redux.
  • Acquired $7k/yr in grants on AWS and Azure and built custom monitoring and integrations platform, leveraging Go (Golang), Ansible, Terraform, Icinga2, and Docker.

Apple

Software EngineerMar 2015–Sep 2015 (7 months)

Maintained software platform that managed infrastructure deployment and automation for Maps. Developed full-stack using Rails, Sinatra, AngularJS, PostgreSQL, and Redis.

ModCloth

Software Engineer Oct 2012–Dec 2014 (2 years, 3 months)

Served on multiple teams, providing deployment tools, infrastructure automation for Ubuntu and SmartOS, and back-end services. Installed, configured, and operated persistence and communication layer, including PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, Memcached, and RabbitMQ. Primary languages included Go (Golang) and Ruby, with scripting in Bash. Used Chef, Ansible, and Docker for provisioning, configuration management, and containerization.

Kemists

Software Engineer Jun 2012–Sep 2012 (4 months)

Full-stack development in Ruby on Rails & JavaScript; iOS 5 development using Objective-C, Cordova, & JavaScript

Fireman Creative

Web Development Intern Dec 2011–Apr 2012 (5 months)

Full-stack development for small business customers using WordPress, PHP, LESS, jQuery, and MySQL

Apple Store, Shadyside

ExpertMay 2018–May 2011 (3 years)

Lead sales, facilitated daily operations, mentored new-hires, assisted in new store openings & other special events

Talks & Publications
Education

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science with Honors, University of Pittsburgh, Summa Cum Laude (2012)
Bachelor of Arts, Politics & Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, Cum Laude (2010)