danny liu
Ex-Amazon, Startup Expert
I contributed to
Serious C funding for a mhealth startup
Won a startup award

I enjoy code-as-craft and getting to tap into my deep knowledge resources when it comes to making systems talk and work together to solve real-world business problems.

I am a maker at heart, I build all the time, always learning and exploring as I go.

I am someone who impulsively thinks first about the business reasons why something should or shouldn’t be done, and I have expectations of contributing those insights as part of a successful team.

My idea of a good time is coding up an idea from scratch, and using the exercise as both the exploration of a solid solution to a real-world problem, as well as an opportunity to explore new approaches to my craft, knowing I'll soon have the opportunity to use the knowledge I gained.

I appreciate stable code, but at the same time I have a strong pull to innovate new ideas and roadmap exciting new feature developments, and not merely maintain and incrementally improve a relatively static code base.

Given the choice, I want to architect greatness, even if it takes me all night.

I own who I am and what I do, and I do hard things. My favorite phrases are “Now that’s an interesting problem I want to understand better” and “Challenge accepted!”

To me, a good day is jumping from javascript to database to application to API to product meeting and back again, because I can, and it’s just no fun unless I have my hands in every aspect of a project.

I understand that greatness sometimes has to be explained to be appreciated, so I have good technical translation skills, write semantically, test pragmatically, and document adequately for the team members who come behind me.

I don’t mind working with non-technical founders, as long as they’re smart, act interested, try to keep up, and give me space to fully use what I know.

I work well on my own, and manage myself and my projects as a matter of pride.

Let's work together!

  1. Oct 2017
  2. Sep 2020
  3. Nov 2022
  4. Present

  1. Software Engineer,
    Amazon Web Services

    Oct 2017 - Sep 2020, Full-time, Local

    Developed and maintained Python/Django and Node.js backend microservice to Implement Instance health checks for EC2 Instances.
    Collaborated closely with top professionals around the world to develop technical skills.

  2. Full-stack Developer,
    Bank Of America

    Sep 2020 – Oct 2022, Full-time, Remote

    Led strangler-fig migration from a legacy monolith to domain-driven microservices on AWS (EKS);
    improved tail latency, enabled multiple daily releases
    through canary/blue-green, and executed customer-visible cutovers without downtime.

    AWS, Kafka, Redis, CI/CD

  3. Senior Software Engineer,
    Therify

    Nov 2022 – Now, Part-time, Remote

    Played a pivotal role in the product development. The current therify's consumer front-end is the coded solely by me.

    Python, React/Next.js, TypeScript, D3.js

  4. Here I am

    Present

    While looking for my next job of passion, I am vigorously polishing my skills in ReactJS, NodeJS, Python and GraphQL.

"Honorable Mention"

My friend worked for a marketing agency that went into a contract with Disney to promote the upcoming animated film "Finding Dory". They finished the design for the meme generator but was in lack of a developer who could make that happen.

The deadline was looming, I helped him by building the generator from ground up within 2 days - during the weekend.

ReactJS, jQuery, FileSaver, GifJS, HTML2Canvas, and FabricJS were used. It is by far the most interesting project I've built, and also in the shortest amount of time.

Hey, Dory fans, feel free to download the wallpaper and the meme.

Freelanced || Volunteered Projects

About

I strive to become a Pragmatic Programmer. I put special emphasis on software architecture. TDD, SOLID principles and Design patterns are the paradigms I live by as a programmer. I seek the responsibility, whether it is leading a team or owning a feature of the project.

In my free time, I enjoy planting, cooking and writing. I am also a Karate green belt. Practicing strong self-discipline is what makes my life vigorous. As a bookworm and a coffee mania, a good book and an original coffee mug are the best presents for me.

Interests as of Late

Now:

  • Blogging
  • PWA
  • Triathlon 🚴🏊‍♂️🏃

Soon:

  • Oriental Acupuncture
  • IoT
  • Blockchain

Later:

  • ThreeJS
  • Swift
  • Machine Learning

Thoughts

SOLID Principles Checklist (in Python)

With so many soliloquies of SOLID Principles online, ripe with the same old definitions, theoretical verbosity, and yet, the most basic of examples, I’ve always found it difficult to digest and keep it all in mind while developing.

Danny and the startup culture

I worked for 3 startups, as a full-time employee for 2 of them, and a contractor for the other.

BEM and SASS in ReactJS applications

Unless you are using Styled-components for styling ReactJS components, the choice of class naming convention directly affects the productivity and more.

Developer's Dilemma - Folder structure and Component naming

I bet, for many developers or for me at least, there’s often a dilemma in the initial phase of a development project. That is … How to set up the folder structure and file naming conventions, a.k.a the project structure?

Writing is Hard

I have the hardest time with creative writing. Producing a continuous flow of words should be easier than this.

React Native - Native or Hybrid?

React Native is dominating the mobile app development landscape. I tried to come up with a justification of why based on my experience.

Challenge & Solution (Highcharts)

While working at Sigsense Technologies, I was badly stuck with unseen customization of Highcharts graph.

Documenting Database Design

Documenting database design just seems to be one of those things that web developers tend to suck at.

The Simplicity of SQLite

SQLite consists of a single file as the database and a set of CLI commands. “Like all magnificent things, it’s very simple.”

Contact Me

dannyliu.xc@gmail.com