Ricky Chilcott
Full-stack, product-focused engineer and entrepreneur.
SUMMARY
Job History
- Co-Founder/CTO - Mission Met @ Mission Met (2019 - Current)
- Co-Founder & Principal Software Engineer @ Rakefire (2011 - Current)
- Technology and Facilities Manager @ Scripps College, Ohio University (2009 - 2017)
Education
- M.A. in Communication Ohio University 2016 - Media Management
- B.S. in Communication Ohio University 2016 - Audio-Music Production, minor in Business and Music
Top Technologies
- Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, Sidekiq, PostgreSQL, Redis, SQLite, Turbo/StimulusJS
Additional Experience With
- AI-LLMs, Node.js, Python, Docker, DevOps, CI/CD, TailwindCSS, Design Systems, UNIX Tools
Areas of Interest/Expertise
- Ruby on Rails development
- Web Application Performance and Operational Efficiency
- TDD (Test-driven Development)
- Mentoring Software Engineers
- Online Payments + Subscriptions
- Strategy Planning & Execution
- Running a Business and Solving Problems
- Self-maintaining systems
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Programming Languages
Ruby, JavaScript/Node.js, Scala, Java, C/C++, HTML, CSS, UNIX Scripting (zsh, bash, sh)
Frameworks
- Ruby: Ruby on Rails, Sidekiq, Sinatra, Rack
- JavaScript/NodeJS: Turbo/StimulusJS, Webpack, esbuild, React
- Testing: RSpec, Jest, Capybara, TDD/Test-driven Testing, Integration Testing
- Design Systems: Boostrap, Tailwind CSS, Storybook, ViewComponent, Phlex, Shoelace JS/Web Awesome
- DevOps: Docker, Capistrano, Ansible, Puppet
Architecture/Infrastructure
- Relational Databases: PostgreSQL, SQLite, AWS RDS
- Hosting Platforms: Render, Heroku, AWS
- Edge Networking + CDN: Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront
- Webserver: nginx, Caddy
- WAF + Network Firewall: Cloudflare, RackAttack, AWS
- Application Monitoring: Honeybadger, NewRelic, Skylight, Rollbar
- Business Intelligence: Redash, Posthog, Blazer
- CI/CD: CircleCI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins
Operating Systems
Mac OSX, Ubuntu, Amazon Linux, iOS, UNIX Tools
Software/Tools
Bundler, Rake, Thor, Make, Jenkins, GitHub, Asana
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Co-Founder/CTO - Mission Met
Athens, OH (November 2019 - Current)
- Co-founded a bootstraped startup focused on strategic planning software, training, and consulting for mission-driven leaders.
- Designed and built the web-based Causey platform, growing it from concept to $120k ARR and securing partnerships with 10+ strategic planning consultants/firms and over 80 customers.
- Led engineering team management, application architecture, product development, company strategy, and overall process improvement.
Notable Projects:
- Built i18n and custom-labeling infrastructure to ensure strategic planning firms could customize for their clients and multi-language support.
- Migrated from hosts from Heroku to Render.com + AWS RDS achieving operational efficiency and 30% cost reductions.
- Developed an affiliate consultant program yielding 10+ ongoing relationships.
- Designed an intential training program that transformed a junior engineer into a competent mid-level contributor within 18 months.
Co-Founder & Principal Software Engineer - Rakefire
Athens, OH (September 2011 - Current)
- Developed in-house products and consulted on Ruby on Rails applications.
Notable Projects:
- Developed a solar racking quoting tool for Ecolibrium Solar’s EcoX pitched-roof racking product (acquired by Unirac).
- Developed a IOT Backend and GraphQL API for Glow.
- Developed the a Healthy Heart score calculation system based on emerging research in food and lifestyle choice for Ohio University Health Sciences and Professions.
- Developed a Radio Signal Visualizer Map for emergency radio comunication across the state of Ohio.
- Developed a basic web-based digital signage platform and equipment check-in/check-out system for the Ohio University Patton College of Education.
Technology and Facilities Manager - Ohio Univesrsity Scripps College of Communication
Athens, OH (March 2009 - October 2017)
Oversaw the IT and Technical Production Operations for the Scripps College of Communication.
- Managed, hired, and trained full-time IT staff and part-time student staff to maintain labs, staff computers, and equipment rooms.
- Oversaw the security, patch management, configuration management, etc of 200+ faculty/staff computers and 200 computer lab machines across the college, in addition to several specialized video and audio studios and media suites.
- Automated software deployment through Munki, Munkiserver, shell and python scripts, Windows GPOs, and other configuration technologies.
- Managed a $500k annual budget for multiple college departments and led $120k in software procurement and IT upgrades.
Notable Projects:
- Stood up a campus-wide (and transitioned to central control) a Munkiserver deployment that was used to deploy hundreds of software packages across 1,000+ Mac computers.
- Managed the IT/Media budget and equipment installation for the Schoonover Center remodel of $800,000.
- Coordinate the movement of 200+ faculty/staff computers and 150 lab machines during a multi-phase Schoonover renovation project.
EDUCATION
Ohio University, MA
- Master of Arts in Communication, Media Management, and Media Marketing
- Graduated: June 2016, Magna Cum Laude
- Attended actively 2008 - 2009; finished in 2016
Ohio University, BSC
- Bachelor of Science
- Major: Audio-Music Production
- Minors: Music and Business
- Graduated: June 2011, Magna Cum Laude
- Took several computer science classes
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
- Rotary, Club of Athens Ohio, District 6690 Member and Strategic Planning Chair - [Aug 2023 - Present]
- Leadership Athens County 2022-2023 Cohort participant - Athens County Foundation
- Co-founder and manager of Athensworks, a co-op coworking space supporting local entrepreneurs since 2013
PDF version of this resume at https://www.rickychilcott.com/resume.pdf.
OPEN SOURCE
Below are a list of all of my open source contributions organized by repository and date. I
deeply believe in the importance of open source and utilizing, improving, and contributing
back to the community in a myriad of ways – code contributions, answering questions, and
evangelizing approaches, frameworks, and libraries.