Creative technologist who combines artistic practice, deep
engineering experience, and AI-augmented workflows to take ideas from
concept to polished production — fast. As a photographer, painter, and
engineer, I bring a designer’s eye and an architect’s discipline to
every project. I direct AI tools (Claude, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT Codex)
as creative collaborators, single-handedly shipping three production web
platforms while accelerating delivery 70-80% — with the organization,
documentation, and infrastructure-as-code rigor to keep everything
maintainable. Seeking roles at the intersection of creative vision,
technical depth, and AI-driven efficiency.
Core Competencies: AI-augmented delivery (Claude,
GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT Codex) accelerating development 70-80% •
Creative development & UX design • Solution architecture with Python
and AWS serverless systems • Process efficiency: infrastructure-as-code,
CI/CD automation, documentation & SOPs • End-to-end product delivery
with Next.js/React
Core Competencies:
AI-Augmented Delivery: Direct AI tools (Claude,
ChatGPT Codex, GitHub Copilot) as creative collaborators — tiering model
capability to task complexity (frontier models for architecture and
design decisions, lighter/faster models for high-volume implementation
and automation) — to prototype, build, test, and document 70-80% faster,
while verifying every generated artifact for correctness and
security
Creative Development & UX: Design and build
visually stunning, user-centered applications with focus on intuitive
interactions and responsive design; blend artistic vision with technical
execution
Solution Architecture: Design scalable,
maintainable systems — Python backends, AWS serverless, event-driven
architectures, and clean API design — from concept through
production
Organization & Process Efficiency: Turn chaotic
workflows into repeatable systems through infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD
automation, standard operating procedures, and documentation that teams
actually use
Artist & Problem Solver: Apply creative
problem-solving from art practice to technical challenges; user empathy
drives architecture decisions; storytelling through data visualization
and interface design
CASE STUDIES
Longer write-ups on the problems behind the platforms I’ve built —
not just the tech stack, but why they exist.
Data & Integration: DynamoDB (Streams, GSIs,
TTL), MySQL, NoSQL Schema Design, API Integration (PayPal, Salesforce,
3PL), Data Migration
Tools & Platforms: Git, GitHub, VS Code, Linux,
Windows Server, Shell Scripting (Bash, zsh), PowerShell
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
AssetWatch | Westerville, OH
Lead Backend Engineer | July 2023 – Present
Lead backend development for IoT monitoring platform, architecting
scalable Python-based systems and applying creative problem-solving to
build elegant solutions for complex technical challenges.
Architect and develop Python backend services for real-time IoT data
processing, building robust Lambda functions and ECS Fargate
microservices that handle high-throughput event streams from AWS IoT
Core and Kinesis
Re-architected data flow and system architecture to improve
application responsiveness by 60%, optimizing event processing pipelines
and implementing efficient caching strategies
Build RESTful APIs using Python and FastAPI with API Gateway,
enabling communication between IoT devices and client applications
Implemented zero-downtime canary deployments with rollback
capabilities, gradually migrating production traffic while monitoring
CloudWatch metrics for error rate and latency thresholds
Leverage AI coding agents (Claude, ChatGPT Codex, GitHub Copilot)
throughout the development lifecycle — from architectural design through
code generation, testing, and documentation — accelerating delivery by
70-80% while verifying all output for correctness and security
Brought 95% of the environment into infrastructure-as-code (IaC)
using Terraform and pipeline automation tools, implementing fully
functional non-prod environment that reduced production errors by
80%
Craft comprehensive technical documentation with visual diagrams and
clear narratives, transforming complex technical concepts into
accessible stories for diverse audiences
Tracy Elsinger
Development | Dublin, OH (Freelance)
Creative Technologist & Independent Developer |
April 2020 – Present
Design, build, and deploy production websites for independent clients
— from content architecture and design through secure AWS hosting and
deployment pipelines — merging artistic sensibility with modern
technology.
Real Estate Photography
Portfolio - Designed and built a portfolio-first Astro site
for independent real estate photographer Rob Ridlehoover, from content
architecture through AWS deployment. Built a non-technical content
workflow (headless CMS + GitHub pull requests) so the client manages his
own property listings without ever touching code. Live and in
development, with placeholder photography pending his final work.
Personal &
Résumé Site — Sydney Ridlehoover - Designed and built a
personal site and résumé for a client, with a serverless contact form
(API Gateway, Lambda, SES) and a share/print-to-PDF résumé that keeps
her phone and email off the public page entirely. A fail-closed indexing
control keeps it out of Google and other crawlers at her request until
she’s ready to launch.
Design responsive, accessible interfaces with Tailwind CSS that
adapt beautifully across all devices, ensuring visual consistency and
delightful interactions
Apply design thinking and component-based architecture to create
maintainable, scalable applications with artistic attention to detail in
every interaction
Optimize for performance and SEO using Astro’s static site
generation, ensuring fast, discoverable, and engaging user experiences —
with indexing gated behind an explicit client sign-off when a site isn’t
ready to go public
Manage end-to-end development lifecycle from concept and wireframing
through deployment and iteration, demonstrating both creative vision and
technical execution
Led site reliability engineering for 600+ AWS and GCP instances,
bringing systematic problem-solving and user-focused thinking to
infrastructure and compliance challenges.
Designed and developed centralized account management application
(Python/Flask) with intuitive interface for vendor access provisioning
and termination, reducing access review time by 70% and ensuring
consistency in execution across all external accounts
Standardized processes and security on Windows and Linux systems
using Chef and Ansible automation and reporting tools, maintaining
HITRUST and SOC2 compliance requirements across 600+ instances
Collaborated with project managers, application SMEs, and
infrastructure teams to develop standardized project designs.
Maintained project schedules and budgets through effective technical
planning and risk mitigation
Improved solution architecture processes, reducing project kickoff
time by 40%
Gap, Inc | Groveport, OH
Server Engineer | Dec 2013 – June 2015
Server engineer responsible for VMware, Windows, and Linux
infrastructure management and development.
Continuously improved Windows and VMware environments with automated
reporting, security hardening, monitoring, and alerting
Created efficiency reporting dashboards that allowed management to
make better hiring and purchasing decisions based on actual environment
utilization data
Technologies: VMware vSphere, Windows Server, Linux,
PowerShell, Bash
Cardinal Health | Dublin, OH
Server Engineer | July 2008 – Dec 2013
Managed virtual environment consisting of VMware vSphere (450 hosts
and 4300+ guests) and 10 vCenter servers across multiple remote
sites.
Managed the VMware environment with security patching, upgrades, and
large-scale migrations
Participated in projects for planning and deployments in the virtual
environments
Researched and tested new technologies to continually improve the
environment
Technologies: VMware vSphere 4.0-5.1, Windows
Server, PowerShell
Full-stack web application with Claude AI integration, deployed on
AWS with 100% Infrastructure-as-Code.
Architected an AI-powered ingredient parser to normalize recipe data
against an imported and cleaned USDA nutrition catalog, cutting out
manual data entry
Developed AI-powered skin sensitivity tracker enabling users to
photograph cosmetic product labels for automatic ingredient extraction
via Claude vision API, with differential analysis comparing reaction vs
safe products to identify likely trigger ingredients, reducing product
selection trial-and-error by 80%
Rebuilt the separate food sensitivity tracker from a static
dietary-framework checklist into a personalized pattern-detection
engine: a statistics layer surfaces repeat-meal reaction consistency,
stress/sleep cofactor correlation, cumulative meal-load effects, and
freshness/storage patterns from the user’s own logged history, feeding
an AI reasoning layer that generates falsifiable hypotheses with
supporting and contradicting evidence
Added dietary-approach effectiveness scoring (e.g., low-FODMAP
vs. low-histamine) evaluated against the user’s actual tracked outcomes
rather than generic guidelines, plus a follow-up interview loop where
AI-generated clarifying questions are answered once and persisted to
sharpen future analyses — surfacing patterns standard elimination diets
miss
Built intelligent recipe modification system analyzing recipes
against dietary restrictions (FODMAP, allergens) and suggesting viable
substitutions with structured JSON responses from Claude AI
Designed per-user AI usage governance system enforcing monthly token
budget caps across six AI-powered features, with an admin-configurable
override and a real-time usage dashboard — protecting shared API spend
from any single user exhausting the budget
Created comprehensive Playwright test suite covering authentication
flows, recipe submission, and meal planning across Chrome, Firefox, and
Safari with parallel CI/CD execution
Technologies: Next.js, React, TypeScript | Claude AI
(Haiku), Anthropic SDK | AWS Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, CloudFront, Cognito |
Terraform, GitHub Actions, GitHub OIDC | Playwright | Python for Lambda
functions
Art E-Commerce Platform | Personal Project
(Production)
2022 – Present | https://tracyelsinger.com
Full-stack e-commerce platform for selling original artwork and
photography with integrated payment processing, digital downloads, and
interactive discovery features.
Built complete e-commerce solution with PayPal and Apple Pay
integration, shopping cart persistence across sessions, and
dimension-based shipping calculator with geolocation-based restrictions
using FedEx API
Implemented secure digital download system for purchased photography
using S3 pre-signed URLs with 48-hour expiry, automated email delivery
via AWS Lambda and SNS with custom HTML templates
Developed interactive UI features: before/after slider comparing
reference photos to finished paintings with drag/touch controls,
algorithmic color palette generator extracting dominant colors with hex
code copying, and Leaflet.js travel map displaying photography locations
across multiple countries
Architected multi-table DynamoDB schema for artwork catalog (500+
items), order management, user favorites, and purchase history with GSIs
for efficient email-based lookups and cross-device sync via Cognito
Created advanced search functionality using Fuse.js fuzzy-matching
across artwork metadata (title, genre, medium, description) with
responsive masonry grid layout and lazy-loading for optimal
performance
Built Python data loading scripts for batch importing artwork
metadata with coordinated S3 uploads for high-resolution images and
automated thumbnail generation
Technologies: Next.js, React, TypeScript | AWS
Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, CloudFront, Cognito, SNS | Terraform, GitHub
Actions | PayPal SDK, FedEx API | Leaflet.js, Fuse.js | Python for data
processing
Memory Lab - Language Learning Platform | Personal Project
(Production)
2026 – Present | https://memory.tracyelsinger.com
Advanced language learning platform with spaced-repetition scheduling
(SRS) and AI-powered explanations, supporting Italian, Japanese, German,
and French across multiple interactive exercise modules.
Architected comprehensive spaced-repetition system implementing SM-2
algorithm in Python Lambda functions, intelligently scheduling 7+
exercise types (vocabulary flashcards, kanji stroke-order writing,
sentence reconstruction, verb conjugation drills, cross-language pairs,
math formulas) across a NoSQL single-table design with GSI-based due
querying
Delivered a broad feature set spanning a Daily Mix mode that
interleaves due items across all languages to prevent backlog and add
beneficial context-switching difficulty; on-demand Claude AI grammar
explanations with entitlement gating, quota enforcement, and response
caching to control cost and latency; a kanji writing module with
stroke-order validation, drag-drop sentence reconstruction, and a verb
conjugation trainer across four languages; a cultural notes system and
full-conjugation dictionary search; and six cognitive training games
(N-Back, Corsi Blocks, Paired Associates, Focus Stream, Mental Rotation,
Listening Span) built on a shared, extensible save architecture
Added adaptive personalization settings — configurable grading
leniency for handwriting recognition and intelligent daily rotation
logic that balances practice across all active languages — giving users
control over pacing and difficulty while leaving default behavior
unchanged for everyone else
Designed and shipped an AI-graded creative writing exercise: users
get a level-appropriate prompt, submit a short story, and receive
feedback scoped to only the errors appropriate to their stage — so a
beginner’s more advanced mistakes stay silently out of scope instead of
causing frustration
Tiered AI model selection by task within the writing feature — a
lightweight model generates prompts while a stronger reasoning model
produces structured feedback (specific praise quoting the learner’s own
text, prioritized correction patterns with the underlying rule, and one
concrete next step) — keeping AI-generated scoring fully separate from
the platform’s deterministic spaced-repetition core by design
Added a dedicated privacy consent flow for the writing feature,
since user-authored stories — unlike the platform’s existing card-based
content — can contain personal details, with persistent in-context
disclosure and full self-service deletion
Extended per-user AI usage tracking and configurable monthly token
budgets across all of the platform’s AI-powered features, with an admin
dashboard for real-time visibility into usage and cost
Rob’s Real Estate Photography Site | Client Project (In
Development)
2026 – Present | https://robridlehoover.com
Portfolio site built for an independent real estate photographer,
taking a non-technical client from a blank domain to a self-serve
publishing workflow on production-grade AWS infrastructure.
Architected a static Astro site with build-time image optimization
(AVIF/WebP, responsive sizes) for a photography-first portfolio,
deployed on a private S3 bucket behind CloudFront with Origin Access
Control — no public bucket, ever
Built the client’s entire publishing workflow: a headless CMS form
writes to a dev branch, an automated build check runs on
every pull request with no AWS credentials exposed, and a reviewed merge
is the only way changes reach production — letting a non-technical
photographer manage his own listings without being able to break the
live site
Set up keyless CI/CD via GitHub OIDC (no long-lived AWS keys), a
strict CloudFront response-headers policy (CSP, HSTS, frame-deny), and
DNS-level hardening (CAA plus a null-mail policy while the domain has no
mailbox) — all in Terraform
Stood up CloudFront access logging into a shared, partitioned
S3/Athena pipeline with saved queries and CloudWatch traffic-spike
alarms, giving visibility into abuse and traffic without a WAF
Designed and built a second, PII-safe private subdomain hosting the
client’s own job-search résumé and cover letter, with an automated
pre-deploy check that fails the build if contact details ever leak into
the output