Hello!
I'm a software engineer at Facebook. Previously, I was working on the Instagram server, where I was involved with code ownership & developer tooling such as linting.
These days I own and maintain the management console for an internal NoSQL database. It's built using modern React, Relay, GraphQL, and Hack (Hack is FB's performant version of PHP).
And I'm very happy with the product! As a dashboard meant for internal teams, it has to be quick, informative, well-organized -- and of course: useful! It implements libraries like Highcharts to give customers a detailed understanding of their db instances.
This role involves working with a quite a few different stakeholders.
The most recent, large-scale effort has been migrating the entire dashboard to a completely new UI framework that my team contributes to. This project took quite a few months from inception to beta, but I'm happy to say that our users are very pleased with the changes.
Previously I worked on a server team at Instagram. My work revolved around internal tooling and developer experience. I streamlined processes for Instagram's API and other Insta/Facebook engineers. We made use of LibCST (as well as a few other internal frameworks) for updating code with newer standards. We made changes to a multi-million line codebase in a fashion that kept Pyre and other linters/tests/devs happy.
(One notable contribution at IG that I can write about without being corporately cryptic was forking an existing open-source documentation tool in order to get significantly better page & search performance. We have a lot of docs.)
Before my time at Facebook, I worked for a lovely company called Simulmedia, in Manhattan. I was responsible for maintaining a group of Ruby microservices written using Roda and adding new endpoints to them for features. I also occasionally wrote some Ember code for our front-end, but I wasn't terribly familiar with it and generally left that to the folks who found it pleasant :).
My time with Simulmedia was unfortunately brief. How brief? Only four months or so. I moved to CA to work for Facebook in large part because being on the West coast was a lifelong dream. I still often think about my time with Simul.
I don't regret leaving. FB is my dream job so far and that doesn't seem likely to change. But it's bittersweet to have left a place jam-packed with scrappy talent and great memories. If you're a Simul alum from our short time together and you're (somehow!) reading this, and you don't reach out (you should!), I at least want you to know that your time made a real difference in my life.
Before that I worked at a company called SAMsix, based in New Paltz NY, where I got my start -- first as an intern, and then as a full-time employee for about three years. I wore nearly every hat, at one point or another. While there was a lot of scripting & database work, this role involved a lot of support and administration, and I subsequently attended Flatiron School to round out the programming skills that I wanted to focus on in the first place. While none of the folks who taught me are still Flatiron employees, their classes and experience were instrumental in propelling my career lightyears ahead.
Originally I attended SUNY New Paltz to pursue a career in art and fell in love with computers along the way. You can check my Instagram for some very out-of-date drawings that are not great but prove that, at one time, I might have paid for classes.
These days I tend to focus on being a good dog-dad rather than my creative endeavours, but I usually have time to snap a pic or two and call myself an amateur photographer. The ones I like end up on Insta.
My list of interests is very long and while I am normally open to new opportunities, I am currently unavailable. If you have something you'd like to collaborate on in the future and think I'd be interested, please drop me a line at my email!
© Chris Bojemski 2021