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LEE-sa CHA-choh ・ she/her
Digital Resume
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🌱 Leadership Philosophy
🌱 Leadership Philosophy
My leadership style is grounded in clarity, empathy, and action. I believe that great engineering teams don’t just ship code; they grow people, reduce friction, and make space for creativity.
🧭 Lead with clarity
🧭 Lead with clarity
I strive to make the invisible visible: surfacing expectations, documenting decisions, and breaking down complex systems into something everyone can reason about.
🤝 Support people, not just code
🤝 Support people, not just code
Mentorship is central to how I work. I’ve coached dozens of developers, from apprentices to senior engineers, through code challenges, communication, and career growth.
🧰 Build systems that scale
🧰 Build systems that scale
Good leadership is more than guidance; it’s architecture. I create reusable onboarding flows, decision-making frameworks, and engineering ladders that help teams move faster and grow sustainably.
✨ Culture is part of the stack
✨ Culture is part of the stack
Psychological safety, inclusion, and healthy feedback loops are just as important as CI/CD. I care deeply about creating environments where engineers feel trusted, unblocked, and energized.
🔧 Tech Stack
🔧 Tech Stack
Languages & Frameworks:
Infrastructure & DevOps:
Tools & Integrations:
Dependency Management:
- Ruby on Rails, Django, Spring Boot (JHipster), Java (SOA)
- React.js, Node.js
- SQL (Postgres, MySQL)
Infrastructure & DevOps:
- Docker, Heroku, AWS (Cognito, CI/CD)
- Redis, Socket.IO
- Apache HBase, Hadoop
- CI/CD pipelines, GitHub Actions
Tools & Integrations:
- Twilio, SendGrid, Grape (Rails APIs), Daily.co
- Twine (interactive storytelling) – repurposed for educational use
Dependency Management:
- Yarn, NPM, Bundler, Pip, Maven
🧭 Values
🧭 Values
Kindness is a strength. I believe in treating teammates with empathy, even in high-pressure situations.
Clarity builds trust. I value transparent communication, clear expectations, and shared definitions of success.
Inclusive teams are stronger teams. Diversity of perspective makes the work better and the culture healthier.
Work should have purpose. I’m most engaged when I know who we’re helping—and why it matters.
Clarity builds trust. I value transparent communication, clear expectations, and shared definitions of success.
Inclusive teams are stronger teams. Diversity of perspective makes the work better and the culture healthier.
Work should have purpose. I’m most engaged when I know who we’re helping—and why it matters.
🪜 Background
🪜 Background
Coming from a non-traditional background in music and education, I began building software professionally in 2017. I didn’t start my career in tech, but once I made the switch, I jumped in fully: first as a contractor, working with a range of clients across industries, team sizes, and tech stacks.
Since then, I’ve been a full-stack engineer focused on fraud prevention at a major e-commerce company, built internal tools and mentorship programs that helped over 70 junior engineers grow into confident contributors, and served as the founding engineer at a research-backed EdTech startup where I led architecture, DevOps, product delivery, and team mentoring.
Over the years, I’ve grown from “person who can code” to someone who helps teams move faster, think more clearly, and ship with confidence. I bring a creative, people-first approach to software engineering, and I care deeply about clarity, collaboration, and building tools that make other people’s work easier.
Since then, I’ve been a full-stack engineer focused on fraud prevention at a major e-commerce company, built internal tools and mentorship programs that helped over 70 junior engineers grow into confident contributors, and served as the founding engineer at a research-backed EdTech startup where I led architecture, DevOps, product delivery, and team mentoring.
Over the years, I’ve grown from “person who can code” to someone who helps teams move faster, think more clearly, and ship with confidence. I bring a creative, people-first approach to software engineering, and I care deeply about clarity, collaboration, and building tools that make other people’s work easier.
💻 Projects
💻 Projects
🧠 Real-Time Research Platform
🧠 Real-Time Research Platform
➡️ Role: Founding Engineer
➡️ Stack: Rails, React, Redis, Socket.IO, Twilio, Sendgrid
Architected and built a SaaS platform used in behavioral research and education studies, including federally funded grants. Designed real-time data tracking tools for participant engagement, automated communication systems with Twilio and Sendgrid, and integrated user feedback into iterative UI/UX improvements. Owned the entire stack, from infrastructure to delivery, and led sprint planning, documentation, and freelance developer onboarding.
🚀 Developer Apprenticeship Platform
🚀 Developer Apprenticeship Platform
➡️ Role: Program Founder & Engineering Lead
➡️ Stack: Rails, React, Spring Boot, Angular
Created and scaled a mentorship program for junior developers, ultimately training 70+ apprentices into confident, billable contributors. Delivered multiple internal apps to support technical onboarding, wireframing, DevOps training, and code review practices. Designed the company’s first engineering ladder, hiring rubric, and career development framework, laying the foundation for a more inclusive, scalable engineering culture.
🧩 Enterprise Data Modernization at Cerner
🧩 Enterprise Data Modernization at Cerner
➡️ Role: Software Engineer (Contract)
➡️ Stack: Java, Rails, React, HBase, Oozie
Modernized legacy healthcare infrastructure by upgrading Rails systems and building new Java-based APIs for high-volume patient data. Developed React SPAs with accessibility (A11y) compliance, infinite scroll, and modular component architecture. Introduced custom tooling and led a push for 100% test coverage with RSpec and Jest, improving long-term maintainability and developer experience.
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