Work · Client engagement · a location-services company

A location-services platform, and a client since 2012

A location-services and QR-addressing company I first joined in 2012. I moved their large codebase from SVN to Git, then led the platform rebuild that is now live in production.

A location-services platform: short codes and QR codes resolve to rich, mappable places with widgets and content, all managed by multiple tenants.

The context

Physical places need a simple, shareable digital identity: a short code or QR code that opens a mappable location with data, media and embeddable widgets.

I’ve worked on this platform, for the same company, through most of my career: first as an employee (2012–14), then as their long-term contract engineer and technical lead (2018 → present).

What I built and led

  • Legacy upkeep: moved the ~100K-line Grails 2.0 platform from SVN to Git and kept shipping releases on it.
  • A platform rebuild, now live in production, as technical lead directing offshore developers. About 1,290 of ~1,500 commits are mine. It deploys on AWS ECS.
  • A geospatial core: coordinate and grid calculations, markers and polygons, US National Grid tooling, and a grid-box algorithm.
  • Addressing and embeds: short-code addressing with vanity URLs, QR code generation, and configurable embeddable widgets.
  • API and proof-of-concept work (2020–26).

Results

  • A client relationship that started in 2012: the same company keeps bringing me back.
  • Legacy code handled responsibly: version control modernized and releases kept shipping on a large legacy codebase.
  • Offshore leadership: technical lead for a mixed team, owning most of the code and its quality.
  • Geospatial depth: grid systems, US National Grid and coordinate math.

My role

Technical lead and core engineer. I own the architecture and the geospatial and addressing core, handle the integrations and deployment, and direct the offshore contributors.

Tell me what version you're on and what's breaking.

I'll tell you what the path looks like.