About Me

Senior Software Developer with 5+ years development experience, built on 11 years IT foundation.

Caleb Allen - Senior Software Developer

I’m Caleb Allen, and I like bringing things to life. Most of my focus is on creating high-quality software, but I’m always creating - crafts, miniature painting, and stories through TTRPGs. I’m driven by bringing visions to life.

There’s no combination of difficult and rewarding work that quite matches software development. Where differences in style can truly help your peers. Where the proper approach can save hundreds of hours in maintenance. I like seeing something done well, and it drives me still.

My Journey: Started in IT infrastructure → evolved into full-stack development → now leading teams through complex modernizations.

Currently: Senior Software Developer & Team Lead at Aeries Software, serving thousands of schools nationwide.

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Case Studies

📊 Ed-Fi Real-Time Dashboard

Situation: ETL processing with limited visibility during high-stress reporting periods, with 268M-536M records stored in SQL tables increasing lookup and join complexity
Task: Build enhanced real-time troubleshooting dashboard with significantly improved visibility and transparency
Action:
UI Implementation: Implemented comprehensive dashboard based on Subject Matter Expert requirements, advocated for UX improvements that were adopted during development
Real-Time Architecture: Implemented Server-Sent Events with parsimonious data layer design, live updating UI only on relevant changes
Performance Optimization: Addressed efficiency issues during development by analyzing SQL wait time statistics, optimizing queries with appropriate includes, simplified data layer by removing unnecessary soft delete checks
Database Complexity Management: Led the handling of increased complexity from massive record volumes in SQL tables affecting lookup and join performance
Result: ✅ Dramatically enhanced process transparency and troubleshooting capabilities • Significant customer satisfaction increase • Enhanced quality through better algorithm transparency • Delivered comprehensive real-time monitoring for critical reporting periods

🚀 UI Modernization Project

Situation: Flagship SIS application serving thousands of schools needed modernization across 450+ pages with significant technical debt
Task: Lead 18-person engineering team (including offshore contractors) through two-phase UI overhaul to next major version
Action:
Technical Leadership: Overcame massive technical debt by repairing Bootstrap framework, creating modular JavaScript components for jQuery + ASPX environment
Quality Assurance: Implemented universal component testing across all 450 pages, accounting for unscoped page-level changes
Team Leadership: Daily blocker resolution, pair programming mentorship, multi-timezone standups, extensive contractor communication
Culture Building: Fostered psychological safety and collaborative environment for team success
Crisis Management: When Phase 2 failed due to race condition in concurrent scenarios, represented team in root cause analysis and helped lead execution of remedies for successful re-release
Result: ✅ Phase 1: Successful launch of next major product version • Improved accessibility with better contrast ratios • Enhanced user experience with reduced visual saturation • Increased customer confidence through demonstrated commitment • Measured success via user interaction analytics and satisfaction surveys • Converted Phase 2 failure into learning opportunity and successful re-launch

🧪 Automated Testing Initiative

Situation: Legacy system with 0% test coverage, senior technical leadership convinced unit testing was "impossible" to implement
Task: Introduce automated testing to improve reliability and development confidence in previously untested codebase
Action:
Technical Innovation: Overcame "impossible" constraints using Dependency Inversion principles (Factories, Delegates, NSubstitute mocking)
Proof of Concept: Built working examples to demonstrate feasibility and gain buy-in from skeptical senior/lead developers
Knowledge Transfer: Trained direct team through pair programming sessions, advocated for and mentored developers during TDD adoption across teams
Cultural Change: Shifted team mindset from "testing is impossible" to "testing is standard practice"
Result: ✅ Transformed 0% coverage legacy system into testable architecture • Achieved steady growth in line coverage percentages • Increased team confidence in legacy code modifications • Paved the way for unit testing as standard team practice across multiple teams

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