Katherine McClintic

Katherine McClintic

Software Engineer

About Me

Where I'm From

I'm a proud native of Washington, DC. I love my city and love to complain about its continually disappointing sports teams.

Becoming a Developer

My academic background is in education and the humanities. I received my Master's in Secondary Education (Social Studies) in the summer of 2013, but the lack of career options and a lifelong interest in and aptitude for technology lead me to Dev Bootcamp. At the end of October (2014) I completed the 19-week intensive web development training. After the bootcamp I was a teaching assistant at another bootcamp (The Iron Yard), which was a perfect way to bridge my previous and future careers. I'm currently employed as a Software Engineer.

The Influence of Teaching

While at first glance teaching might not seem to relate to web development, it's increased several of my web development skills. Teaching has made me a better team member. As a teacher you can't put yourself first and still ensure that students are learning and growing. The principles of good unit and lesson planning, particularly backwards design, apply quite well to programming projects. Backwards design puts the desired outcome as the focus at the start of planning, with all steps of the unit or lesson working to meet that goal. This mirrors developing a project with the user experience or expectation in mind. Teaching rarely goes according to plan however, so the ability to respond to change (occasionally in just the few minutes between classes) will serve me well in an environment that utilizes good agile methods.

Hobbies

I was a fencer in my undergraduate years, but due to an injury and lack of time to devote to it I haven't fenced much lately. Luckily fencing is easy to pursue at any stage of life.

The reason why it's so hard to find images of myself to use is that I'm usually the one taking the pictures. Another hobby of mine is photography. I took the following photo on a trip to Nova Scotia in the summer of 2011 and it's one of my favorites.

Whale

I also love music. Singing it, listening to it, playing it--I like it all. Unfortunately I don't know how to play too many musical instruments (or at least how to play them well) aside from the piano.

Current Position(s)

Software Development Engineer - Groupon (January 2017 - current)

  • Help build the backend of a service enabling the support of legacy LivingSocial vouchers for Groupon customer service reps and merchants
  • Support the transition of merchant data from LivingSocial to Groupon’s platform

Associate Software Development Engineer - LivingSocial (September 2015 - current)

  • Support our merchant center product as its sole engineer, impacting over 370,000 merchants
  • Reorganized our SEO structure from old microdata to preferred JSON-LD, resulting in as much as a full page increase in search result placement for deals and restaurants
  • Assisted with the creation of a guest checkout feature that increased conversion rates

Volunteer Experience

Director of Education - Women Who Code DC (January 2016 - current)

  • coordinate all education efforts for Women Who Code DC
  • develop a way to bridge the gap between beginners who can follow tutorials and intermediate programmers who can create their own apps without following someone else's instructions
  • continue the focus on creating ways to promote the retention and involvement of our hundreds of regular members

Rails Lead - Women Who Code DC (February 2015 - January 2016)

  • co-ran the Ruby on Rails study group
  • gave lectures and lightning talks on Ruby and/or Rails topics when appropriate
  • participated in planning the overall functionality of the organization

Vice Chair / Secretary - DC ACM (July 2015 - July 2016)

  • helped plan events for the DC Local chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery
  • reached out to members of the community who might not normally be as included in the broader tech field
  • took minutes for organization meetings

Previous Work Experience

Teaching Assistant - The Iron Yard (January 2015 - April 2015)

  • assisted with the Ruby on Rails and Front-End Engineering tracks
  • served as a resource for students during exercise and project work

Substitute Teacher - DC Public Schools (October 2013 - January 2015)

  • carried out the main teacher's lesson plans in different subjects, grades, and schools throughout the DCPS system
  • as a long-term substitute, designed and taught lessons on post-Revolutionary War through Wounded Knee US History to 11th grade students

Floor Staff - Landmark Theatres (August 2010 - March 2012)

  • served customers a variety of concessions items (including barista duties) and maintained appropriate inventory
  • ensured quality environments in the cinemas

Conference and Event Assistant - University of Vermont Conference and Event Services (May 2009 - December 2009)

  • helped set up and take down University-sponsored events
  • was responsible for housing arrangements for conferees staying on the University of Vermont campus over the summer and ensured their satisfaction during their stay