Eric Sanders

Career Essentials in GitHub Professional Certificate

This 4.5 hour course was earned on July 2, 2024 and is certified by GitHub and LinkedIn.

Docker Foundations Professional Certificate

This 3.5 hour course was earned on July 1, 2024 and is certified by Docker and LinkedIn.

Leadership Training

I went through a 40 hour leadership training course once I became a Manager at HomeFinder.com. I received the training in 2009 and it was conducted by Bill Joy, Founder of The Joy Group. Honestly, I was reluctant about having to spend an entire week at a training session, but in the end I was 100% satisfied with what I learned. I highly recommend The Joy Group to anyone that is looking for great leadership/management training.

From Karl Kell, Senior Manager, Sophia Software Engineering at Wellspring Worldwide

July 4th, 2024

I have always loved working with Eric and I've had the lucky opportunity to do so for around 10 years after being part of the interviewing team that initially hired him at Wellspring. I don't feel it's facetious to say that Eric is the best Software Engineer I've personally worked with. He not only picks everything thrown at him up with ease, but he deeply comprehends it. Not only the technology behind it, but the business, the domain, he plunges all of himself into every aspect of what he does at a company and it shows every day.

In addition to Eric's notable skills as a Software Engineer, he is an even better peer. Eric is consistently friendly and professional. In my time working with Eric I saw him organize and bring together cross-department events; even between departments that wouldn't normally interact much like Marketing and Operations. Eric would set up lunches, create a friendly team atmosphere via optional off-hours events such as a bowling league or softball team, and throughout it all he not only brought people together and improved morale, he made people better at their jobs. Whether by offering new insights from a different point of view, or through mentorship via his own experiences, Eric's involvement consistently made work efforts more successful.

I genuinely cannot recommend Eric enough as a co-worker.

From Rebecca O'Brien, Manager, Sophia Software Engineering at Wellspring Worldwide

June 13th, 2024

I had the pleasure of working with Eric at Wellspring for 3 years. Eric took a keen interest in my professional growth, as he did for everyone on our team. Eric excels as an engineer, a leader, and a mentor. As a manager, Eric is both fair and conscientious, with a knack for identifying opportunities for growth within his team and fostering an environment where that growth can happen. As an engineer, Eric has an eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to high standards. His focus on standards also comes through as a mentor; when Eric identified areas team members could excel he consistently took opportunities to expand our knowledge and involvement in engineering as a whole. Eric will bring experience, leadership, and mentorship to any team he joins.

Principal, Software Engineering, Wellspring Worldwide

October 2023 - May 2024

• Led performance optimization initiatives in our flagship PHP application resulting in reduced page load times by up to 75%
• Implemented code optimizations and refactoring efforts to increase performance supporting ongoing client retention and satisfaction
• Leveraged internal analytics to guide prioritization of page-level vs framework-level improvements
• Conducted code reviews and provided guidance to ensure best practices in performance optimization are followed
• Reported directly to CTO

Director, Software Engineering, Wellspring Worldwide

October 2018 - October 2023

• Developed and executed software engineering strategy to achieve FedRAMP authorization within a three year period while addressing over 1,000 security and compliance tickets
• Collaborated with C-suite, Compliance, Operations, and Project Management teams to establish audit and review procedures to maintain our FedRAMP and ISO 27001 authorizations
• Led the software teams and partnered with managers to mentor and retain software engineers resulting in significantly better than average retention rates
• Converted our localhost tooling to Docker reducing our onboarding time from 3 days to 45 minutes
• Worked with cross-functional teams to execute product roadmap and ensure high quality / on-time delivery
• Led and continually improved our SDLC and related processes
• Maintained and improved architectural stability, simplicity, and efficiency
• Architected and implemented a new framework for building Jenkins pipelines
• Reported directly to COO and CTO

Manager, Software Engineering, Wellspring Worldwide

May 2015 - October 2018

• Managed a team of software engineers and QA analysts while upholding company values
• Provided leadership, set goals, and evaluated performance of my team
• Utilized profiling tools to identify sub-optimal code to improve application performance
• Conceived and executed the creation of an internal analytics system aimed at extracting insights pertaining to our application's performance and user behavior
• Cultivated a culture of ongoing professional development through the establishment of tailored learning objectives, curated tutorial sessions, introduction to Pluralsight, and coaching to equip team members with effective presentation skills for internal knowledge-sharing sessions
• Ensured the timely delivery of projects by providing precise and reliable estimates
• Engaged in collaborative efforts across various teams, including leadership, Project Management, Client Services, Sales, and Marketing, to optimize the chances of success

Senior Software Engineer, Wellspring Worldwide

May 2013 - May 2015

• Became SME on proprietary PHP framework for company's flagship product
• Designed and built out backend technology for several features per year
• Helped instill strong code review practices
• Introduced coding standards and accomplished adherence through automation
• Contributor to internal documentation, guides, and wikis
• Refactored, optimized, and deleted code as necessary

Engineering Team Lead, RECSOLU

May 2012 - May 2013

I lead a Ruby on Rails engineering team at RECSOLU. We built out RecPass which is a way for college students and employers to connect with each other.

Founder, Find a Car

January 2010 - Present

As Founder, and sole employee, of findacar.us, I am in charge of maintaining everything. I have come up with my own SEO strategy, while learning SEO from the ground up. I have also learned to use Amazon EC2 and have successfully deployed the site using their services.

Director, Software Engineering, HomeFinder.com

March 2012 - May 2012

• Served as primary owner of HomeFinder.com's software development practice
• Recruited, managed, motivated members of the software engineering organization
• Collaborated with the Product, Sales, Marketing, and Operation teams in conjunction with the rest of the Technology team to deliver products that impressed our customers while improving business results
• Ensured a high level of quality in our software and product requirements
• Continuously looked for ways to improve the overall success of the engineering team to increase throughput, quality, and reduce time to market
• Utilized Agile and lean product development principles and methodologies
• Lead application development team members in the detailed design, development, code reviews, and deployment of features and components

Manager, Software Engineering, HomeFinder.com

July 2010 - March 2012

• Responsible for leading a team of engineers to design, implement, test, and deploy a range of products, from traditional web applications to mobile applications.
• Conduct best practices such as pair programming, code reviews, peer reviews, and test driven development to improve the quality of applications.
• Concisely document architecture design, web services, and code libraries.
• Suggest and implement process improvements within the team.
• Work closely with the Product team to ensure desired functionality is implemented efficiently and accurately.
• Coach and mentor team members to improve knowledge of programming techniques, languages, and best practices.
• Provide estimates for feature implementation, within an agile development process (Scrum).

Application Developer, HomeFinder.com

November 2007 - June 2010

• Responsible for implementing and testing a range of products, from traditional web applications to mobile applications.
• Participate in best practices such as pair programming, code reviews, peer reviews, and test driven development to improve the quality of applications.
• Concisely document web services and code libraries.
• Work closely with the Product team to ensure desired functionality is implemented efficiently and accurately.
• Provide estimates for feature implementation, within an agile development process (Scrum).
• Resolve production issues in a timely manner.
• Other duties assigned by manager.

Softare Engineer, Infosys Technologies LTD

July 2006 - October 2007

I was recruited as one of the first Americans to complete a six month training and work program in Mysore and Bangalore, India. This training strengthened technical skills in various areas including Java, J2EE, C, unit testing, and SQL. During this period I also gained hands on experience with the Global Delivery Model as well as the Software Development Life Cycle.

Once I returned to the United States I was contracted to ABN-AMRO / LaSalle Bank in the LaSalle Business Credit division. While working there I provided application support for the Asset Based Lending Environment (ABLE) application. I also coordinated software updates and installations while using tools such as Peregrine and Test Director to manage tasks with the client and IBM.