Mike AliceaFull Stack Engineer & Architect

Founder · Built In Space

• Swift
• TypeScript
• AWS Lambda
• Next.js
• Supabase

Full Stack Senior Engineer · Squarespace

• Led the technical arm of an org-wide effort to tighten the security of login affecting millions of users, we coordinated with eng, data, ML and product to introduce 2FA for login attempts that were deemed risky. This was a full stack effort across from MongoDB to Java Spring and React. We took this from ideation, to coordination all the way to implementation.
• Created the architecture, task breakdown and implementation of the React application for domain permissioning enabling feature parity between Google Domains and Squarespace for the acquisition of 10 million domains from Google.

• React
• Java Spring
• MongoDB

Personal Projects

• Enabled users to query a vast dataset of podcasts/talks and receive a custom-length podcast composed of relevant audio snippets by developing a cutting-edge solution. This was achieved by leveraging ChatGPT for intuitive question understanding, OpenAI Embeddings for Vector database storage, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) for precise content retrieval, and WhisperX for efficient transcript generation, placing user needs and technological innovation at the forefront of content accessibility.
• Designed, implemented and expanded upon my app, AstroAI.ai, greatly improved the onboarding flow, implemented the ability for users to compare their chart to others, have multiple sessions and receive a “guide” for the current astrological season.
• Serving multiple startups and technical founders as an advisor in order to help them continually trend towards tech debt elimination, speed up engineer onboarding, automate deployments and increase collaboration between engineering and product.

Monastic Residency · Upaya Zen Center (My intro to agentic development)

• Dedicated 6 months to residing in a Zen Buddhist monastery, immersing myself in mindfulness practice, Buddhist study, communal living, and adhering to a strict schedule.
• During my free time, I developed AstroAI.ai. An AI Astrologist using TypeScript/JavaScript, NextJS/React/Tailwind, AWS Lambda/Node, Auth0, and DynamoDB. I leveraged ChatGPT and deployed using Github Actions and Vercel for CI/CD.
• This was mostly hand coded, but was at the beginnings of GPT 3.5 and copilot and I was using it heavily.

Full Stack Engineer, Contracting · DeSci Labs

• Laid out foundational patterns and provided essential guidance to transition the organization from a custom data flow in a SPA React app to employing Redux and NextJS. This removed a ton of tech debt and has enabled them to move faster than ever.
• Designed and implemented a login flow with ORCID, facilitating a Single Sign-On for the scientific community. Using React and ExpressJS backend integrations for seamless OAuth user creation.
• Implemented a feature that enabled NFT attestations to scientists on the Ethereum blockchain. Crafted the Solidity contracts, developed backend proxy endpoints using Node/Express/TypeScript, and the entire user interface using the new patterns.
• Implemented the ability to parse and display scientific papers written in JATS-XML format. This involves retrieving documents from IPFS on the backend, converting them into SSG components and returning it to the frontend.

• Next.js
• Redux
• Express
• Solidity

Co-Founder / CTO / Lead Software Developer · Communion

• Led all development for 2 separate MVP applications. The client applications use TypeScript / JavaScript, NextJS / React, and Tailwind CSS. The backend was a set of AWS Lambdas, DynamoDB, Ethereum Solidity, and Jest for testing. Deploying with Github Actions and Vercel.
• Created a solution for lowering the high turnover of employees in the restaurant industry by enabling owners and managers to gamify the workplace.
• Built a marketplace for linked restaurant employees to put their availability into a shared workpool enabling them to fill shifts at different restaurants that were approved by their employer. In addition to getting their normal wage, the employee would gain NFTs that were rewards from the employer. These NFTs were modifiers on how employees would earn tokens.
• Crafted a managed crypto wallet solution that enabled employers to give employees their own ERC20 crypto tokens that they could exchange for additional benefits in their workplace with just a username and password. Built out an RBAC system on the Ethereum blockchain that enabled particular roles to perform specific actions.
• Hired, directed and mentored external contractors. Gave thorough PR reviews, task breakdown, explained architecture, onboarded and shared the overall vision all in an effort to help them in their own growth and to help them feel as part of the team.

• Next.js
• AWS Lambda
• DynamoDB
• Solidity

Engineering Lead / Senior Software Engineer · Meetup

• Engineering lead and core contributor of two high performing teams that revamped core infrastructure and multiple features from our legacy application into a modern stack. We heavily leveraged pair programming, test driven development and other extreme programming practices.
• Spearheaded the replatforming of Meetup's pivotal member-to-organizer conversion flow, resulting in a 15% surge in paying customers and a $multi-million annual profit boost. This was a complete overhaul of our primary flow of revenue.
• Transitioned the flow from a monolithic Scala / Java Spring platform to our existing React and AWS microservice ecosystem. Leveraged DynamoDB, Kinesis, and Twilio for sophisticated drip campaigns. We used robust data analytics and split tests in collaboration with the data science team to drive informed decisions.
• Led the transition of Meetup from a Spring Application and SPA React app to a unified NextJS application that met full production requirements. Scaling to millions of users, CDN, Internationalization, E2E (end to end) tests, unit tests, full CI/CD flow, PagerDuty and DataDog integration.
• Quickly responded to new needs imposed by COVID by devising and integrating an innovative strategy for enabling online events into our traditionally in-person system. We built and launched a full featured prototype in 2 days, leading to millions of online events and positioning us at the forefront of the digital transition.
• Established standards for architecting React applications, encompassing naming conventions, file and folder hierarchies, and streamlined patterns for data flow throughout the application.
• Formulated the foundational architecture and built the code repository for our monorepo microservice lambda applications.
• Led efforts architecting and implementing a replacement for our bespoke venues system using Google Places API. This gets several million requests per month, is resilient and creates a faster and more consistent user experience.
• Served as the inaugural engineer and interim technical lead for the fast paced and high impact 'Meetups at WeWork' team—a collaborative venture between Meetup and WeWork engineers. We crafted a 'Google Flights'-style interface, enabling organizers to seamlessly book WeWork spaces for their Meetups.

• React
• Next.js
• Scala
• DynamoDB
• Kinesis

Lead Mobile Developer / Software Engineer · PrePaid Ventures LTD

• Lead developer for our 3 hybrid mobile banking apps (Ionic2, Angular2, TypeScript / JavaScript), and creator of 2 automation tools (C#) that run 24/7 and save the company several man hours a day
• Hit the ground running. In the first month I created QBS, a tool in C# that saves the company ~400 hours a year
• Jumped head first into our mobile app, I was closing out tickets and implementing features within the first week of joining the team, all on a code base and framework that I’ve never dealt with before (Ionic 2 / Angular2)
• Spearheaded the much needed face lift for the entire home screen of the mobile apps shifting to material design.
• Increased the in app performance by around 30%, shrunk the file size by 20% and decreased boot time by 1/5
• Added countless features such as fingerprint login, push notifications, balance preview, Google Analytics, and profile pictures
• Implemented localization (English & Spanish) on the mobile apps and on the Java Spring API backend
• Forged a reliable, and open ended reporting tool. ART is written in C# and is responsible for transforming, encrypting and uploading data to FTP servers owned by various banks, sending statistics to our CEO, and communicating to our customers any errors that have occurred while also sending them their data at the end of the day