Cirriculum Vitae
Rob McLarty
I have built products at startups, consulted at enterprises and SMBs, and run my own businesses. I have a background in cognitive science, artificial intelligence, philosophy, computer science, graphic design, illustration, applied research, and creative technology. I'm best suited to be in a position where I need to solve unique problems that don't fit neatly into a prescribed box (I thrive in the unknown; tailoring solutions to custom contexts). My best skill is connecting disparate ideas and concepts across problem domains that may be more difficult for specialists to notice.
At the end of the day, I like making things. I like teaching other people how to make things. And I love it when we can all make things together that are bigger than ourselves.
Technologist - Full-stack Software Engineering, Systems Architecture, Security & Privacy, UI/UX/IX, APIs, Infrastructure, Performance & Monitoring
Creative - Illustration, Graphic Design, Writing, Motion Graphics, Photography, Fine Art
Teacher - Visualization, Presentation, Demo, Discovery, Communication, Consulting
Leader - Strategy, Process, Review, Hire, Coordinate, Collaborate, Mentor, Holistic Project Management
Researcher - Imagine, Experiment, Evaluate, Connect, Exapt, Prototype, Document
Experience
Technical Director
2023-present @ Computechnosoft
Tackled technical debt and guided game towards modular, working, demo on Steam, now collecting wish-lists and marketing itself towards release candidate. Worked with artists and designers to take creative assets and integrate them with code to fulfill the interactive expression for telling the game’s story and having fun.
Principal Software Engineer
2019-2022 @ WorkTango
Helped take company from less than 10 people to 50+ being acquired by Kazoo. Focused on software & systems architecture, cloud orchestration, and security. Lead internal committees, hired new staff, organized and guided production path, and stitched everything together: systems, people, practices, and docs.
Staff Software Engineer
2015-2019 @ Myplanet
Worked with Telus to develop custom proofs-of-concept for web and mobile apps requiring the highest levels of security and privacy as well as an integration of legacy and bleeding-edge tech. Also worked closely with Newstore to develop their new omni-channel retail e-commerce platform using custom serverless architecture and integrated fulfillment platform.
Senior Developer + UI/UX Designer
2013-2015 @ Verold
Created web application platform which acted as the authz & identity system and social network for the rest of the ecosystem (3D editor, graphics engine, coding IDE) and assisted in the design and development of those parts. Spoke at conferences, consulted on strategy, and collaborated on architecture, culminating in our acquisition by Box.
Staff Software Engineer
2011-2013 @ Overdrive Design
Lead technology efforts such as software development, archive process, hardware acquisition and management, staff knowledge sharing, and the hiring + onboarding of new engineers. Worked with many clients each with their own unique software challenges including custom CMSs, mobile ride hailing, museum kiosks, and custom e-commerce solutions.
Co-founder + CTO
2006-2011 @ Philosophy Factory
Managed office IT tasks like code versioning, asset archiving, comms, presentations and networking while also leading software development such as interface design, data modelling, code architecture, and diagnosing user experience. Coordinated contractors and kept clients updated on their projects’ status. Worked with clients to design unique web presences for their brands, and provided custom software solutions such as live race results, CMSs, e-commerce, authz, games, ads, and back-office automation.
Formal Training
Amazon Web Services
2016-2018 @ AWS
Solutions Architect, Cloud Practitioner, Sysops, and Security.
Illustration & Graphic Design
2000-2003 @ Sheridan College
Editorial, Technical, and Digital Illustration, Data Visualization, UI/UX, Motion Graphics, Web, and Print.
Cognitive Science
1997-2000 @ University of Toronto
Computer Science, Philosophy, Linguistics, Psychology, English, and Classics.
CSIA Ski Instructor
1996-1997 @ Blue Mountain Resort & Chedoke Ski Centre
Level-1 certification: entry-level skiing and basic racing.
Canadian Ski Patrol
1996-1997 @ Snow Valley Resort
Emergency first-aid and mountain rescue.
National Lifeguard
1995-1997 @ McNab Recreation Centre
First aid and emergency response for incidents in and around pools.
Volunteering
Open Source Developer + Maintainer
1997-present @ see selected projects below
Director of Technology
2023-present @ MTBCO
Ride Leader
2018-2020 @ Dark Horse Cycling Club
Cycling Safety Advocate
2015-2020 @ City of Toronto
Computer Technology Instructor
1999-2001 @ Simcoe County Board of Education
Ski Patrol
1995-1997 @ Snow Valley Resort
Swimming Instructor
1995-1997 @ Hamilton Wentworth Aquatic Club
Spoken Languages
English
Native.
French
Business-Conversational.
Computer Languages
Browser: Javascript (vanilla & ES6+), Typescript, HTML, CSS, Sass/Less
Server: Javascript (Node), Ruby, Python, Elixir, PHP, Perl
Data: SQL (Postgres/MySQL/SQLite), Redis, XML, CSV, JSON, Yaml, MongoDB
Documentation: Markdown, JSDoc, PEP
Infrastructure: Nginx, Apache, PM2, Docker, Bash
Network: REST, SOAP, GraphQL, Websockets, SIP, FTP, HTTP
Game: GDScript, Actionscript, , JS, C, C# (Unity)
General: C, C++, Ruby, Java, Python, Pascal, Turing, Basic, Lua
Templates: Haml, Nunjucks, Underscore, Liquid, ERB, EJS, Handlebars, Mustache, JSX
Coding Frameworks
UI: React, Angular, Preact, Backbone, jQuery, Storybook, Knockout, React Native, PhoneGap/Cordova, Electron
Server: Node, Rails, Express, Knex, Wordpress, Phoenix, Next.js, LoopBack, CakePHP, WS, Symphony, Flask, Sinatra
Generators: 11ty, Jekyll, Hugo, Hexo, Gatsby
Styles: Normalize, Tailwind, Bootstrap, Sass/Less, MaterialUI
State: Redux, ActiveModel, Signals, PWA, Hexagonal, XState, Reactive
Security: NaCl, Stripe Protocol (for double-ratcheted E2EE group chat), Letsencrypt, OAuth, Cred, Auth0, Okta, OpenSSL
Test: Rspec, Jest, Mocha, Jasmine, Selenium, ESLint, MSW, Tape, Testunit, AVA, Enzyme, SuperTest, Chai
Game: Unity, Godot, Pixi, Phaser, FlashPunk, PushButtonEngine, Allegro
3D: Three.js, Pixi, WebGL, SketchFab, Verold
AI: PyTorch, TensorFlow.js, OpenAI
Payment: Shopify, Stripe, Authorize.net, Monaris, Lightspeed, Netsuite
Build: Rollup, ESBuild, Parcel, Webpack, Husky, Browserify, Babel, CRA, Gulp, Grunt, Capistrano
Versioning: GIT, NPM/Yarn, NVM, RVM, SVN, n, Gem, Homebrew
Infrastructure: AWS, Digital Ocean, Media Temple, Cloudflare, Hover, Twilio, Google Cloud
Orchestration: K8s, Docker Swarm, Fargate, EC2, Passenger
Monitor: Mixpanel, Datadog, New Relic, PM2, Splunk
Deploy: Puppeteer, Github Actions, Gitlab CI, Travis CI, Bitbucket Pipelines
Software Tools
Graphics: Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, GIMP, Affinity Photo
Design: InDesign, Quark Express, Affinity Designer, Sketch, Figma
Motion: Final Cut Pro, Premiere, Flash, After Effects
Code: Sublime, Atom, Vim, Visual Studio, Notepad, CLI
Communication: Discord, Slack, Teams, Zoom, Google
Coordination: Trello, Notion, Jira, Assana, Basecamp
Security: Lastpass, 1Password, KeyPass
AI: ChatGPT, Midjourney, Copilot, Flux
Versioning: Github, Gitlab, Bitbucket
Game: Unity, Unreal, Godot, Flash
Apps
Safe Dose
2023-present @ Rocket Flower
Personal medication-management tool and E2EE zero-knowledge cloud-based mobile app to securely store and share sensitive medical data with healthcare providers.
Hello, Cave Monster!
2023-present @ Computechnosoft
Desktop and console tactical RPG game where the player attempts to establish friendly relations with alien beings on other worlds through communication techniques instead of fighting. Distributed on Steam.
Droto
2018-present @ Rocket Flower
Tool and method to coordinate project stakeholders more holistically, organically, and easily, with a bit of (optional) gamified fun. Secure cloud-based project management and visualization web app for individuals, SMBs, and enterprises.
Employee Pulse
2019-2022 @ WorkTango
Measure and improve employee sentiment and engagement through secure anonymous surveys, business insights, and real-time dashboards. Feedback is more genuine and business-actionable when participants know their inputs are protected.
Wellness Messenger
2018-2019 @ Telus
Securely coordinate the communication of sensitive and private user medical data to enable sharing only between trusted sources (e.g., doctor, technician, family).
Phone Collider
2018 @ Telus
API and native app to help simplify interactions between customer endpoints and IMS systems for authz, placing & receiving calls, messaging, e911 and push notifications. Enables interaction with SIP/SMS telcom networks over IP networks.
BaRSS
2016-2017 @ Rocket Flower
Web app to read and manage multiple RSS feeds in a single easy-to-use interface that presents articles in user-configurable columns (bars) with real-time updates.
Verold
2013-2015 @ Verold
WebGL studio, community hub, cloud platform and API (think Unity in a web browser, plugged into its own Instagram). 3D visualization, animation, editing/modelling, code-controlled, native web, and security.
Co-op Ride Hail
2010-2013 @ Co-op Cabs
Standalone mobile web app and CMS integrated directly into cab company dispatch system + GPS tracking for real-time updates.
CAPT
2012 @ Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy
Find, meet, learn, and interact with therapists nationwide, in the cloud, private and secure.
Burgess Shale Museum Kiosk
2010-2012 @ Royal Ontario Museum
Interactive exhibition kiosk touch-screen application with automated statistical analyses and backend admin controller with reporting, data management, and visualization.
Tour d’Afrique
2006-2012 @ Tour d'Afrique Ltd
Live race tracking & results from remote locations (middle of Africa) via satellite uplink + custom CMS.
Sportacular Events
2007-2008 @ Sportacular Events Inc
Regional hockey league management system. Cloud-based CMS, back-office automation, security, and events management.
Open Source
cred
Authentication + authorization for NodeJS apps using JWT for transport.
soko
CLI tools for building and running javascript applications.
storium
Unified cloud storage abstraction for Knex apps.
fuzzle
CLI tools for static asset name reversioning.
crypto-butter
Collection of cryptographic functions for web clients.
knex api template
Example starter web server NodeJS API with scalable architecture.
robchat
Double-ratcheted E2EE websocket zero knowledge (client + server) group chat app.
suggestible-input
React component for fast selectable list of fuzzy-matched suggestions in an input field.
paginated-redux
React/redux state management for paginated records.
nginx-config
Reference nginx config files using SSL and reverse proxy. A+ rating on SSL Labs.
nav_panel
A simple navigation component for your Rails app admin interface.
Articles
Is There Something Better Than Time-Tracking?
Reduce Complexity, Not (Necessarily) Code
Alternative React Component Patterns
Machine Learning Is Not Learning
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cascade
The Creative Process in Software Development
Installing Let’s Encrypt With Certbot
Other Interests
Mountain Biking
2018-present
Love my full-face DH laps (whether jumping gaps or smashing tech), but also enjoy the odd XC adventure into remote parts of the forest.
Skiing
1995-present
Raced, patrolled, instructed, carved, and free-rided, but have still never touched a snowboard.
Writing
1995-present
Collection of ontological investigations, technical manuals, science fiction, project management techniques, code patterns, and bad poetry.
Road & Gravel Cycling
1994-present
Love getting lost in farmlands and covering vast distances with my own body’s power. Climbed the highest mountain in Thailand and can pump out almost 2000W in a sprint.
Hiking
1982-present
Adventuring off-grid with friends, around the neighbourhood with mom, or all the way to the summit of a mountain solo, nothing beats immersion in nature.
Gaming
1980-present
Love Settlers, Chess, and Axis & Allies. Dumped many hours grinding to realm-firsts in WoW and FFXIV. My guilty pleasure is Civ V. I’m Intellivision years old.
Life Drawing & Painting
1980-present
Pressed for time and direct from reality are my favourite ways to capture human beauty. Won my dad’s company art contest when I was 3.
Swimming
1979-present
Have been in a pool since before I could walk. Broke three Canadian age-group records which stood for over twenty years.
References
Available upon request.