I’m a Senior Staff Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience increasing engineering leverage through platform tooling, frontend systems, and scalable JavaScript architectures. I specialize in full-stack JavaScript, UI/Frontend engineering, platform engineering, and Node.js. I care deeply about continuous learning, mentorship, and building thoughtful systems with great people.
- 🤖 Currently building and learning AI-Driven Development (AIDD) with the amazing team at Parallel Drive
- 💼 Senior Staff Software Engineer with experience spanning startups and large-scale platforms
- 💡 Motivated by improving developer experience, systems design, and team effectiveness
- 😄 Big(gest?) fan of The Simpsons
- 🌍 Based in Austin, TX (Central Time)
- JavaScript (ES6+)
- Ruby
- HTML & CSS
- AIDD
- React
- Node.js
- GraphQL
- Expo & React Native
- Test-Driven Development (TDD)
- Cursor & Claude (terminal-centric workflows)
- Git & GitHub
- Developer Experience (DevEx) tooling & workflows
- REST & GraphQL APIs
The most meaningful impact of my work comes from improving the systems around the code — enabling teams to build, test, and ship high-quality software more effectively over time.
Across both high-growth product teams and large, mature platforms, I’ve worked at the intersection of product delivery, platform evolution, and engineering culture.
- Designed and influenced shared frontend and backend systems used across multiple teams via UI/library frameworks and micro frontend (MFE) accelerators
- Helped guide JavaScript and Node.js architectural direction with a focus on clarity, testability, and long-term maintainability
- Invested in developer experience as a force multiplier, treating internal tooling and workflows as products
- Acted as a technical multiplier through mentorship, design reviews, technical documentation, tech talks, and cross-team collaboration
- Balanced short-term delivery with strategic technical investments that compound team velocity over time
This work includes experience in:
- Fast-scaling product environments (ZenBusiness), where growing teams and systems quickly was critical
- Global platforms at scale (Vrbo / Expedia Group), where reliability, ownership boundaries, and incremental evolution mattered most
Some principles that consistently guide my work:
- Leverage over output — improve the system so everyone ships better software
- Developer experience is a product — friction compounds, in both directions
- Simple solutions over clever code - and provide abstractions only as necessary
- Testing enables speed — strong feedback loops unlock confidence
- People are the system — mentorship, trust, and shared understanding matter
- Choose the right tool for the job - There is nothing inherintly wrong with monoliths or microservices, only the misapplication thereof
- Velocity without direction is just motion
- Testing is a design tool, not a tax
- Consistency (usually) beats novelty at scale, but not at the sake of rigidity - I try to consider as many approaches as possible
- The best codebases teach
- Small DevEx improvements compound into outsized gains
I’m currently working with Parallel Drive exploring how AI-Driven Development (AIDD) can fundamentally improve how software is designed, built, and evolved.
My interest in AIDD is a natural extension of my long-standing focus on:
- Scaling human judgment, not just code
- Reducing cognitive load and shortening feedback loops
- Using AI to augment engineers, not obscure understanding
- Making high-quality practices easier to sustain over time
I’m particularly interested in how AIDD can improve:
- Architectural exploration and decision-making
- Onboarding and shared system understanding
- Long-term maintainability of complex systems
🔗 Related: How to Learn to Build Apps in 2025 (AIDD)
I’m well-suited for roles and engagements focused on increasing engineering leverage in addition to shipping quality features.
I can help teams with:
- High quality application and system development
- Platform and DevEx strategy
- Scaling React and Node.js architectures
- Staff+ IC collaboration and technical guidance
- Mentorship and technical leadership
- Pragmatic modernization of existing systems
If you’re working on problems where clarity, leverage, and long-term thinking matter, we’ll likely get along well.
- 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianwhitedeveloper
- 📍 GitHub: https://github.com/ianwhitedeveloper
- 📧 Email: ianwhitedeveloper@gmail.com
I’m most motivated by problems where thoughtful engineering, strong collaboration, and long-term impact align.