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Jake Ryan

Software Engineer – Systems & Developer Tools

Building performance tooling and scalable systems for developers who ship real products.

I architect backend services, full-stack analytics platforms, and developer-facing tools. From contributing 50K+ lines to AI research codebases and presenting at world conferences to building collaboration dashboards and performance instrumentation for indie games, I solve hard problems at the intersection of systems engineering and user impact.

Background

About Me

I bridge research, systems engineering, and developer-facing tools. My work started in IT infrastructure and campus support, where I learned to translate technical solutions into user-centric outcomes. From there, I moved into research-driven software development, contributing heavily to AI and educational analytics projects while presenting findings at international conferences. Today, I build production-grade backend services, full-stack dashboards, and performance instrumentation systems. My current focus is Indie Game Performance Lab, where I apply systems thinking and scalable architecture to solve real problems for game developers who need performance insights without enterprise budgets.

Professional Path

Experience & Research
Jun 2020 - Present

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Texas A&M University | College Station, TX

Engineered FastAPI REST API and PostgreSQL backend for LMS data analysis. Built full-stack Flask + React + Docker application to visualize collaboration patterns. Designed scalable web tools that enhanced insights into educational dynamics across multiple research projects.

May 2019 - Jul 2019

Artificial Intelligence Research Assistant

Southwestern University | Georgetown, TX

Contributed 50K+ lines of code to AI research codebase via Git. Developed Java-based game to test procedural generation algorithms. Designed human subject study to evaluate game design techniques. Presented research at World Conference on Computational Intelligence and published 8-page paper.

Sep 2018 - Present

Information Technology Support Specialist

Southwestern University | Georgetown, TX

Collaborated with managers to configure campus computers and maintain 200 printers. Assessed and troubleshot technical problems for students, faculty, and staff. Bridged technical solutions with user needs, providing infrastructure support across campus.

Selected Work

Featured Projects

Gitlytics – GitHub Collaboration Analytics

Full-Stack Engineer & Architect

Context: Developers needed visibility into team collaboration patterns across repositories but lacked tooling to surface meaningful insights from GitHub data.

Approach: Built a Flask REST API with GitHub OAuth integration, React frontend, PostgreSQL storage, and Celery + Redis for async task processing.

Outcome: Delivered a production-grade web app that transforms raw GitHub data into collaboration metrics.

Python, Flask, React, PostgreSQL, Docker, Celery, Redis

LMS Analytics Platform – Educational Data API

Backend Engineer & Research Developer

Context: Researchers and educators lacked programmatic access to learning management system data for analyzing student collaboration.

Approach: Engineered a FastAPI REST API with PostgreSQL backend to ingest, normalize, and expose LMS data. Built a full-stack Flask + React + Docker application.

Outcome: Enabled scalable data analysis for educational research, providing insights into student interaction.

Python, FastAPI, Flask, React, PostgreSQL, Docker

AI Dungeon Game – Procedural Generation Research

Game Developer & Research Engineer

Context: Academic research required empirical validation of procedural dungeon generation algorithms through human subject testing.

Approach: Developed a Java-based game to implement and test multiple generation techniques. Contributed 50K+ lines of code via Git.

Outcome: Presented findings at WCCI. Published an 8-page paper and validated algorithm effectiveness.

Java, Git

Entrepreneurial Projects

Indie Game Performance Lab

Performance Instrumentation Service

A hosted performance instrumentation service for indie game developers. Lightweight SDKs and CLI tools run scripted gameplay scenarios on a device cloud with real Steam Deck-class hardware, capturing frame-time traces, shader cache events, asset IO stalls, battery drain, and thermal behavior. Results surface in a web dashboard with reproducible traces and code-linked optimization recommendations.

Target Market

Small-to-mid indie teams and solo developers shipping on Steam or itch with Unity, Godot, or Unreal who lack internal QA labs.

Current Stage

Launch

Technical Approach

Device cloud orchestration with automated scenario execution. SDKs instrument game engines to capture low-level performance metrics. Backend services aggregate telemetry into PostgreSQL, process async with task queues, and serve a React dashboard.

Technical Expertise

Skills & Tech Focus

Systems & Backend

C, C++, Java, Python, FastAPI, Flask, REST API design, PostgreSQL, asynchronous task processing (Celery, Redis)

Data & Analytics

Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib, SQL, telemetry services, data visualization, educational analytics

Full-Stack & Frontend

React, Node.js, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Material-UI, Flask + React integration, OAuth flows

Tooling & DevOps

Git, Docker, TravisCI, Google Cloud Platform, continuous delivery, debugging tools, testing frameworks (JUnit)

Public Speaking

Talks & Publications

Procedural Dungeon Generation Algorithms

World Conference on Computational Intelligence | Conference Presentation

Presented research findings on procedural generation techniques validated through human subject testing. Published accompanying 8-page paper.

AI Research Presentations

Southwestern University (On-Campus) | Multiple Talks

Delivered multiple presentations on AI research, game design evaluation, and procedural generation to faculty and student audiences.

Get In Touch

Contact

Open to backend, systems, and developer tools roles. Interested in collaborations around performance tooling and game-adjacent infrastructure.

Email: jake@su.edu
Phone: 123-456-7890
Location: College Station / Georgetown, TX