Software Architect | Full Stack Engineer

Reliable systems, thoughtful design Never done learning, constantly curious

I build resilient web platforms, modernize legacy systems, and turn ambiguous requirements into practical software.

I'm driven by curiosity. I explore side projects for what they teach me, not always because they're practical. I've had a long-running fascination with information visualization, seeking to make data intuitively understandable at a glance. Lately, I've been captivated by the MIDI standard. It amazes me how much can be accomplished with a 40-year-old protocol, a 5-pin DIN connector, and a few bytes of data. The fact that an entire industry worked together to create a standard that is still relevant and used today strikes me as a particularly noble endeavor.

When I'm not at a keyboard, I'm at the park with my son or taking a meditative hike. I build things for work, for curiosity, and sometimes just because they're fun.

Explore Experience See Side Projects

Profile

About

Full Stack Developer and Software Architect with over 12 years of experience building user-friendly web applications and scalable backend services. I care about clean code, thoughtful system design, and collaborative teams that deliver meaningful outcomes.

Career Timeline

Professional Experience

Sep 2019 - Present

AmeriSave

Software Architect / Senior Software Engineer / Software Developer II

  • Instrumental in the creation of the Online Mortgage Application wizard (Angular/TypeScript), streamlining a previously manual process for thousands of applicants
  • Designed and built the Applicant Portal (Vue), giving borrowers real-time visibility into loan status and document requirements
  • For the past four years, the sole consistent owner of the Applicant Portal through waves of team turnover. Acting as the team's de facto subject matter expert and primary onboarding resource for new developers, sustaining the project's stability and evolution without a dedicated, stable team.
  • Maintained and enhanced business logic rules engine (Java) and legacy ColdFusion systems while transitioning core functionality to modern stack

May 2016 - Sep 2019

ADP

Senior Application Developer / Application Developer

  • Full stack developer on MERN stack applications serving internal and external users
  • Built Node.js microservices that served and integrated ADP data with third-party systems, enabling new data partnerships
  • Collaborated with UI/UX to build the Billing Review Console (React), surfacing previously missed revenue through improved data visualization

Jul 2018 - Oct 2018

AppSolutions

Web Developer (Project-based)

  • Built a serverless, fully-responsive React application on AWS that analyzes user spending patterns by parsing transactional emails
  • Architected a Lambda function that receives emails, extracts purchase data, stores raw copies in S3, and forwards receipts to users
  • Data processed and stored in DynamoDB, served to frontend for real-time budget insights

Jun 2015 - May 2016

BetterCloud

Product Developer / Software Engineer in Test

  • Developed and maintained Java microservices using Spring Boot, contributing to multiple backend services powering core product functionality
  • Built the customer-facing registration flow using Angular, creating a seamless entry point for new users
  • Designed and implemented automated functional tests using Spock, Geb, Groovy, and Java, improving release confidence and reducing manual regression effort
  • Led development of the Autobots project, a custom testing microservice that simulates internal and external API behavior, enabling teams to test microservices in complete isolation without downstream dependencies

Jan 2014 - May 2015

The Home Depot

IT Developer

  • Member of the Item Data Management team, ensuring product data accuracy across Home Depot's website and in-store systems while maintaining the vendor portal used by suppliers to onboard new items
  • Translated complex business requirements into automated workflow scripts using object-oriented JavaScript within Stibo's workbench, streamlining data ingestion and validation
  • Served as a frontline troubleshooter for production issues, rapidly diagnosing root causes and implementing fixes to minimize business disruption

Stack and Tools

Technical Skills

Frontend

HTML, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript, React, Vue, Angular

Backend

Node.js, Express, Java/Spring, TypeScript, MongoDB, SQL, RabbitMQ

DevOps and Platform

Git, Docker, AWS, Azure, GitLab CI/CD, Red Hat OpenShift

Personal Work

Side Projects

Small builds I work on when a question sticks around — mostly ways to represent time, weather, and other data so the picture is obvious without reading a table. I also tinker with electronics occasionally; past experiments include circuit bending and audio-reactive display mods.

16-day hourly weather heatmap with color-coded temperatures and weather icons

Hourly Weather

Hour-by-hour weather represented visually so conditions and trends are readable at a glance, not buried in a forecast table.

Play My Synth player interface with Volca Keys knob controls and on-screen piano keyboard

Play My Synth

Share your analog synth with friends anywhere. They get live audio back while playing from an on-screen piano or a connected MIDI controller.

Connect

Contact

Email Raymond.A.Garrison@gmail.com LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/raymond-garrison GitHub github.com/HyruleanHero1988