Alejandro Chang - Professional Profile

About Me

Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer with over 15 years of experience building end-to-end solutions using Java, Spring, JavaScript, TypeScript and React. Skilled in designing cloud-native systems, distributed architectures, and optimizing performance following DevOps best practices. Experienced at driving cross-functional collaboration, mentoring engineers and aligning technical initiatives with business goals. Committed to delivering impactful solutions at scale and fostering innovation through hands-on leadership. Located in Burlington, Ontario, I am passionate about building software that makes a meaningful difference in people's lives.

Key Strengths

Full-stack development with React, TypeScript, and Java
Expertise in cloud architecture and deployment on AWS
Strong background in data structures and algorithms
Advocate for clean code and software craftsmanship

LinkedIn GitHub Contact Me

Work Experience

Founder & Lead Software Architect | Playdly

December 2024 - Present | Burlington, Canada

Founded Playdly, a technology company dedicated to developing innovative AI-driven solutions that enhance productivity, trust, and efficiency in project management and automation.
Leading development on ATLAS, an advanced AI system that enhances Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) through dynamic embedding model selection and intelligent orchestration.
Designed an AI system with dynamic LLM model selection, implementing a framework that adaptively chooses among various retrieval-augmented strategies based on the context and requirements of each task.

Tech & Tools: Python, FastAPI, TypeScript, React, Next.js, OpenAI API, LangChain, Pinecone, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker, GitHub Actions, AWS SQS/SNS

Senior Software Engineer | Intuit

September 2020 - September 2024 | Toronto, Canada

Led development of a key service enhancement that cut onboarding time for new document types from one month to three days, enabling TurboTax to deliver real-time feedback on customer edits.
Led the team's DevOps responsibilities, ensuring 99.9% uptime for CI/CD and streamlining Git branching strategies to boost deployment speed and system stability.
Coordinated team responsibilities in company-wide effort to allow data imports for major crypto providers, securing +350K customers and increasing revenue by ~7%.
Mentored junior engineers and interns, providing leadership in troubleshooting, technical development, and best practices.

Tech & Tools: Java, Spring Boot, React, Gatling, CI/CD, Jenkins, AWS, Snyk, Kubernetes, Docker, macOS, IntelliJ, Git, npm, AWS, Splunk

Senior Full-Stack Software Developer | RBC

April 2019 - August 2020 | Toronto, Canada

Played a key role in modernizing RBC's cross-asset single-dealer platform, boosting performance by 30% and elevating code coverage from 25% to 85%.
Engineered and deployed responsive front-end interfaces for critical trading applications using React and Redux with real-time data streaming via Solace.
Streamlined CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and GitHub, reducing deployment times by 30% and minimizing production errors.

Tech & Tools: JavaScript, TypeScript, React, Redux, Java, Spring Boot, Jenkins, Git, Solace, Kafka, AWS

Technical Skills

Programming Languages

Java

JavaScript

TypeScript

Python

SQL

HTML

CSS

Frontend

React

Next.js

Redux

Angular

HTML5

CSS3

Bootstrap

Tailwind CSS

Backend

Spring Boot

Node.js

Express

FastAPI

Django

GraphQL

REST API Design

Databases

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Oracle

MongoDB

DynamoDB

Redis

Elasticsearch

DevOps & Cloud

AWS

GCP

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

CI/CD

Tools & Methodologies

Git

Jira

Confluence

Agile

Scrum

TDD

BDD

Microservices

AI & Machine Learning

LangChain

Pinecone

OpenAI API

Retrieval-Augmented Generation

Vector Embeddings

Prompt Engineering

Soft Skills

Technical Leadership

Project Management

Mentoring

Clear Communication

Problem Solving

Agile Methodologies

Team Collaboration

Critical Thinking

Client Relationship Management

Education

Master of Science in Computer Science

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada | 2016

Specialization in Software Engineering
GPA: 3.9/4.0

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering

McGill University, Montreal, Canada | 2014

Minor in Mathematics
Graduated with Honors

Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional

Amazon Web Services, 2023

Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect

Google Cloud, 2022

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

Cloud Native Computing Foundation, 2021

Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)

Scrum.org, 2020

Projects

ATLAS AI System

An advanced AI system that enhances Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) through dynamic embedding model selection and intelligent orchestration.

Key Features:

Implemented a novel architecture for dynamic model selection
Created an adaptive orchestration layer for context-aware retrieval strategies
Built a performance analytics dashboard to optimize token usage and relevance

PythonFastAPILangChainOpenAI APIPineconeReactTypeScript

TurboTax Document Processing System

A system for automated document verification and data extraction that significantly reduced processing time for tax documents.

Key Features:

Reduced onboarding time for new document types from one month to three days
Implemented real-time validation feedback for customer document uploads
Created a flexible template system for easy addition of new document types

JavaSpring BootOCRMachine LearningAWSS3Lambda

RBC Cross-Asset Trading Platform

A modernized single-dealer platform for financial trading across multiple asset classes with real-time data streaming.

Key Features:

Improved platform performance by 30%
Increased code coverage from 25% to 85%
Implemented responsive design for mobile and tablet access

ReactReduxJavaSpring BootSolaceKafka