Ryan Johnston

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Hi, my name is Ryan Johnston.

I'm a software developer at Amazon and graduate of the University of Michigan where I studied Computer Science Engineering. I've been coding for over eight years and have had lots of great experience in industry through various internships and research. I also enjoy teaching computer science and had the opportunity to serve as an IA at my alma mater. Most of all I just love coding and enjoy attending hackathons, coding my own side projects and staying up to date on all the latest development. I'm always looking for ways to make the world a better place through computer science.

Resume

Skills

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More Proficient

C++
JavaScript
Java

Less Proficient

More Proficient

Python
ReactJS
HTML/CSS

Projects

SlideSync

SlideSync is a lecture web application with main features of synchronized slides, collaborative note taking, and a chat. As part of the MHacks11 Hackathon, my team and I designed this project in 36 hours. We heavily leveraged ReactJS, Google Firebase, and Twilio to create this. I'm particularly proud of how neat the code was kept and how polished the features turned out to be despite this being a hackathon project.

Demo Source
BigChat

BigChat is a Google chrome extension to bring chat functionality to every site. This project was started at the MHacks12 Hackathon but my team and I are continuing development. We plan to improve the interface as well as add additional sync functionality for sites with video such as Netflix. I'm particularly proud of the low chat latency and custom chat UI. Source


IoT Asset Tracker

The IoT Asset Tracker is a proof-of-concept decentralized application designed to run on the Ethereum platform. It’s an adaptation on a simple bidding application made to allow IoT device owners to list their data for sale. The front-end was designed with ReactJS and it connects to a custom smart contract written in Solidity. I'm particularly proud of how this project leverages asynchronous calls to accomodate for Ethereum transaction times.

Source
ryanpjohnston.com

I designed this site from scratch using HTML5/CSS3 and the Bootstrap framework with the goal of making it lightweight and easy to navigate. This site is a continual work-in-progress and I try to update it often with new accomplishments and different design trends that interest me.

Source

Experience

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r4 Technologies | Developer Operations Intern | Summer 2016-18

r4 is a data science company leading in cross-enterprise artificial intelligence. For three summers I have worked in developer operations designing and implementing tools for its server infrastructure. Many of my solutions are used daily on production environments. This experience taught me how to effectively automate processes as well as general Linux troubleshooting.

Lunds Tekniska Högskola | Research Assistant | Summer 2018

Lunds Tekniska Högskola (LTH) is a top-ranking University in Sweden. For two months I researched blockchain technology and decentralized applications, specifically with the Ethereum platform. In addition to designing the IoT Asset Tracker described above, my partner and I also automated setup of a private Ethereum network and researched many of the possible use cases and short comings of Ethereum. We presented our findings to the faculty and wrote detailed documentation for further work.

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University of Michigan | Instructional Assistant | Fall 2019 - Winter 2020

EECS 485 is a popular upper-level Web Systems course taught at the University of Michigan with over 400 enrolled students. After taking the course, I was selected to become an Instructional Assistant with the responsibility of designing and delivering projects and exams to students. Additionally, I teach a weekly one-hour lab and hold office hours throughout the week.

BNY Mellon | Summer Technology Analyst | Summer 2019

BNY Mellon is the world's largest custodian bank and asset servicer. I worked within the Alternative Investments Technology department with the main goal of designing and building a new testing framework. I learned a lot about object-oriented programming and design patterns as well as behavior-driven testing. This experience also strengthened my knowledge of Selenium and Java.

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Amazon | Software Developer | Fall 2020 - Present

Education

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University of Michigan | Computer Science B.S.E | 2016-2020

  • Relevant Coursework: Advanced Operating Systems (EECS 482), Distributed Systems (EECS 491), Web Systems (EECS 485), Database Management Systems (EECS 484), Compiler Construction (EECS 483), UI Design (EECS 493)
  • UM::Autonomy: UM::Autonomy is a student project team focused on making an autonomous boat. As a member of the business team I have led the design of a new website: umautonomy.com and completely redesigned our sponsorship material. I also carry out various tasks such as reaching out to sponsors and coordinating with the University.