Made with React 18, Next.js, TypeScript, CSS Modules, & JavaScript
{ David_Katz ∕ }


Open to new opportunities as of Fall 2024

Senior Software Engineer specializing in highly-available, scalable, distributed systems (Java, event-driven architectures), and full-stack web development (React, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails). Additionally, a coding course creator with 315,000 students, demonstrating a passion for mentoring engineers.


Senior Software Engineer, Full-Stack
Zendesk | July 2021 - June 2022

* Led a refactor of the Triggers (business rules) page, introducing Trigger Categories. Implemented the backend in Ruby on Rails, Redis, Aurora, Kafka, Elasticsearch, and the frontend in React, Redux, TypeScript, GraphQL. Achievement: delivered the enhanced Trigger Categories product to over 160,000 customers, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and contributing to 30% annual revenue growth.

* Played a pivotal role in creating a greenfield workflow orchestration service. Built on our own framework written in Java and Vert.x (reactive, functional programming, event-driven toolkit). Designed for highly scalable, fault-tolerant, microservices and distributed systems. Integrated with DynamoDB, Kafka, Datadog, Consul, Elasticache, Docker, Kubernetes. Achievement: framework used by 20% of the engineering org.

* Led a critical investigation into duplicate actions caused by Automations (hourly jobs on Resque), and engineered a Ruby on Rails and Redis-based solution to intelligently resume automations during deployments.

* Enhanced observability and monitoring for Triggers and Automations (Ruby on Rails) by expanding metrics collection and creating detailed Datadog dashboards and graphs, providing insights into uptime and availability.

* Spearheaded the overhaul of a bespoke legacy JavaScript framework, replacing deprecated dependencies and enhancing browser compatibility by upgrading to React, Redux, TypeScript, and GraphQL.

* Streamlined the onboarding process by introducing a mentorship/buddy system, curating a backlog of newcomer-friendly tasks, hosting cross-team technical presentations, and documenting our agile development practices + tribal engineering knowledge into a detailed guidebook. Achievement: reduced onboarding time by 25%.


Software Engineer, Full-Stack
Zendesk | July 2018 - June 2021

* Achievement: Contributed 200+ PRs, participated in numerous incident investigations, and performed hundreds of code reviews driving improvements in system scalability, fault tolerance, and high availability across the board.

* Implemented limits within Automations (Ruby on Rails and Redis) by capping query amounts, restricting automations per customer, and optimizing key processes, which reduced job load and ensured high availability.

* Collaborated with cross-functional teams including stakeholders and architects, to define technical requirements, create user stories, and establish the engineering timeline, leveraging tools like JIRA and Figma.

* Mentored a team of 5+ engineers on best practices, code quality, and agile development processes.

* Selected for a high-impact tiger team to develop the frontend for a crucial project, utilizing Ember.js and React to deliver a responsive and user-friendly interface.


Coding Course Creator
Udemy | 2016 - Present

* Published 18 courses with 315,000+ students from over 200 countries, fostering engineering growth worldwide.

* Created multiple bestselling courses, including an official Docker-endorsed course.

* Covered topics including React, Node.js, Next.js, Docker, PostgreSQL, Test-Driven Development, cloud-native applications, performant web applications, blockchains & cryptocurrency development, and more.