Patrick Dobson

Lead Web Developer with seventeen years of full stack experience. At home in a Linux shell. Capable of recruiting, interviewing, training and motivating software teams toward a goal. Enjoys working with Python, C# and Node.js. Expert in backend frameworks like Django and Express. Comfortable with UI via pure Javascript, Typescript, JQuery, or frameworks like Angular and React. Able to deploy CI/CD pipelines with Docker and Jenkins on self-hosted hardware or Amazon Web Services.

DreamShepherd

DreamShepherd is a MERN app built as a side-project in the summer of 2025, with the help of Claude Code. The React UI makes heavy use of Framer Motion to create a contemplative mood and encourage self reflection. The app aims to take that experience and turn it into an effective goal-setting and task tracking platform for regular people. The Shepherd component offers context-specific help, almost like a guide NPC in a video game. Future improvements will replace the static Shepherd script with an LLM agent that will guide users through the goal-setting process.

https://github.com/downpat/shepherd

Other Projects

ESG Portfolio Screener

Lead Developer - March '22-Present

Django-React monolith written in Python/Typescript deployed with GitHub, Docker, Jenkins and Kubernetes. Enables Client Services personnel to customize investment options according to a client's ESG goals. Also enables Compliance with local ESG laws/guidelines.

Django-SingleStore DBBE

Lead Developer - Jan. '15-Dec. '16

Custom Django database backend designed and implemented in May 2017, maintained to the present. Built as first project as part of Western Asset Management's Front Office Rapid Application Development team. Facilitates rapid development of Django apps connecting to internal data warehouse

ZSI-SCCS Livescan

Developer - Dec. '09-March '11

.Net Windows application that interfaced with fingerprint and document scanners along with background check APIs to build a complete identity report. FBI IAFIS certified. (search 'ZSI-SCCS' in the product field below)

https://fbibiospecs.fbi.gov/certifications-1/cpl

Strengths

Django Development

Monoliths or Microservices
Custom Database Backends
ORM or Raw SQL
Custom Middleware
Authentication & SSO SAML2, oAuth, remote_user, passwords
Static Files monolith, AWS CDN, NFS mounts

Continuous Deployment

Virtualization Docker, Virtual Box, EC2
Package Managers pip, npm, apt, yum, apk
CICD Pipelines in Jenkins
Kubernetes YAML Service, Ingress, Deployments
Version Control git, svn
Source Repositories GitHub, BitBucket

Team Building & Mentoring

Interviewing and Hiring
Training, Knowledge Transfer, Mentorship
Adept at Leveraging Organizational Expertise
Capable of Aligning Incentives to Keep Individuals Motivated Toward Team Goals

Full Time Positions

Lead Developer, Western Asset via Gorilla Logic/Eastridge. May. '17-Present

Responsibilities Led the development of various UI and API projects built on top of Western Asset's primary data platform. Built teams around project goals and leveraged organizational expertise. Worked primarily in Django or Flask and Python with different Web UI frameworks including JQuery, Bootstrap, Angular and React.

Technologies Python, Django, Docker, Linux, Kubernetes, Git/GitHub, Jenkins, Rancher, AWS

Director of Product Development, Lunarline, Inc. Dec. '14-Dec. '16

Responsibilities Oversaw the design, development and marketing of Lunarline's Cyber Security Products. Recruited, interviewed, hired, trained and mentored team members. Designed project plans and managed their implementation. Prepared monthly formal progress reports for the CEO. Managed the development lifecycle by reviewing specifications submitted by developers, testing new features and bug fixes, leading code reviews and managing code repositories. Lead programmer on all products. Maintained development tools like Jira, Confluence, Stash and Jenkins. Navigated yearly ISO 9001 audits for software development. Performed pitches and presentations for customers and investors.

Technologies Atlassian Suite (Jira, Confluence, Stash, Crucible, Crowd), Linux, VMWare vSphere Client, AWS EC2 and S3, Intel NUC, Jenkins, Digital Product Delivery (https://getdpd.com/)

Senior Software Engineer, Lunarline, Inc. Nov. '12-Dec. '14

Responsibilities Software development, project planning, product design and marketing

Airlock

Zero-Install Native Windows application written in Python with a .Net wrapper. User interface consists of web technologies. Applies registry scripts that corresponds to Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs).
Roles Lead Developer, Product Manager
Technology Python, C#, .Net, HTML, CSS, Javascript, AngularJS, Windows Registry Scripts

Vulnerability Scan Converter

Zero-Install Native Windows application written in C# and .Net. Parses output from Vulnerability Scanners like Nessus and Metasploit into spreadsheet reports that conform to compliance organizations like FedRAMP.
Roles Lead Developer, Product Manager
Technology C#, .Net, Executable Reflection

Ground Station

Python-Flask web application that retrieves and parses threat reports from official sources and sorts them according to an organization's relevant infrastructure.
Role Developer
Technology Linux, Apache, MySQL, Python, Flask, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Bootstrap

Sniper

Penetration testing appliance enabling team collaboration. Reports findings from initial network and vulnerability scans in real time. MEAN app deployed on a NUC form factor.
Role Developer
Technology Linux, NodeJS, Socket.io, Mongo, Javascript, HTML, CSS, AngularJS

Founder and Lead Developer, GeoGeist Dec. '10-June '11

Responsibilities Product design and development, technical sales

Project GeoGeist, a GIS-driven web application

GeoGeist made election data analysis affordable for small campaigns. Using election and GIS data from local boards of election and state secretaries of state, GeoGeist was able to overlay elections data onto Google Maps with granularity to the precinct level (a single zip code may have dozens of precincts). Political campaigns could save money by purchasing access to only the precincts they needed, giving city council and board of education members access to data analysis tools normally reserved for national and statewide campaigns.
Role Lead Developer
Technology Linux, Apache, Python, Django and GeoDjango, Postgres and PostGIS, Google Maps API

Clients

Via680 June '11-Nov. '12

Project Ving, a multimedia web application

Responsibilities Architecture design, full stack development, pipeline development, UI/UX design, recruiting and interviewing

Summary Ving was in development hell when I started. Most of the app was broken even in a dev environment. I fixed the bugs, finished key features, and shipped the first version on AWS. I then instituted proper project management, continuous integration best practices, and hired a team. When I left, Via680 was a functioning software business.

Technologies Linux, Nginx, Python, Django, Javascript, JQuery, SASS, CSS, HTML, AWS EC2, Postgres, Memcached, Git, Bitbucket, Jenkins, Atlassian Jira

Carrier Services Group March '11-June '12

Projects eCommerce web application, project management web application

Responsibilities Architecture design, full stack development, application deployment, UI/UX design, recruiting and interviewing

Summary CSG hired me to build the eCommerce portion of their IT equipment reseller business. Their inventory was kept on spreadsheets, so the web application's inventory could be updated by uploading an XLS file. I also contracted with CSG to develop project management software, but this contract was discontinued when their business went in another direction.

Technologies Linux, Apache, Python, Django, Javascript, JQuery, CSS, HTML, MySQL, Git

YouLobby June '12-Oct. '12

Project YouLobby, a crowdfunding application

Responsibilities Full stack development, application deployment

Summary YouLobby lost their previous contractor shortly before the scheduled launch, so I came on and finished the first version of the project. I developed the payments feature using Braintree and fixed multiple bugs. I deployed the app on EC2, added a memcached instance and setup simple backup/recovery scripts for the Postgres database.

Technologies Linux, Nginx, Python, Django, Javascript, JQuery, SASS, CSS, HTML, AWS EC2, Jenkins, Memcached, Postgres

Platform Associates Aug. '12-Jan '13

Project RSS Video Aggregator

Responsibilities Python Development, MySQL Database management

Summary This was a part time role where I helped a content distribution startup consume a long list of video RSS feeds, store the video files on a CDN and update a MySQL database of metadata.

Technologies Linux, Cron, Python, Beautiful Soup, MySQL

Zerco Systems International, Inc. Dec. '09-March '11

Project ZSI-SCCS, Windows Native .Net application

Responsibilities C# Development, Technical Sales

Summary ZSI-SCCS enabled background check professionals to collect all of the data on a subject in one short interview. The integrated package came with a document scanner, and our OCR software was able to pull PII from ID documents. A fingerprint scanner combined with a secure connection to the FBI IAFIS enabled realtime fingerprint background checks.

Technologies .Net, C#, Document Scanner, Fingerprint Scanner, Lexus Nexus API, FBI IAFIS interface