Gulf of Maine Research Institute
69Learning Ecosystems Northeast Website
PostgreSQL Full-Text Search Engine for NASA-Funded Climate Education Platform
UpswellWebJavascriptVue.jsTailwindCSSPythonDjangoWagtailAWS ECS
Hi, I am Hyun (H)
I am a Full-Stack Engineer based in Portland, OR, with 4 years of experience building production web systems and interactive hardware installations. Currently, I work at Upswell, building mission-critical platforms for institutions like the Library of Congress and Gulf of Maine Research Institute. My focus is on backend architecture and system reliability, building fault-tolerant pipelines for large media files, migrating complex search infrastructure (Elasticsearch to PostgreSQL) to reduce costs, and modernizing legacy C++ codebases.
Recent Projects
A few selected projects that define my current focus and capabilities.
Side Project
333D Gallery Website
A fully interactive and immersive 3D image gallery built with modern web technologies.
Side ProjectWebTypeScriptReactReact Three FiberThree.jsZustandSanity.ioTailwindCSS
Toledo Museum of Art
29Rachel Ruysch Table App
An interactive touchscreen app for the Toledo Museum of Art that lets visitors explore Rachel Ruysch’s floral paintings through zoomable images, botanical hotspots, and global context.
UpswellTouch TableTypeScriptVue.jsVitePiniaTailwindCSSAnimeJSElectronBrightSign
Nokia Corporation
24Bell Labs Hypebox Table App
An interactive Electron + Vue 3 application designed for the Bell Labs Showcase Hypebox, a digital exhibit table.
UpswellTouch TableElectronVue.jsVitePiniaTailwindCSSThree.jsAWS S3
Experience
I've been working as a full-stack developer for the past 4 years. Here's a timeline of my journey.
Jan 2022 -
Dec 2025
Jan 2022 - Dec 2025
Full-stack Developer
- Search Architecture Optimization: Replaced an over-engineered Elasticsearch cluster with PostgreSQL Full-Text Search (GIN Indexing). Simplified infrastructure complexity while maintaining <60ms query latency for a 2,000+ item faceted search system.
- Fault-Tolerant Data Pipeline: Engineered a resilient upload system for 30GB+ video files over unstable networks. Wrapped AWS CLI in a Python subprocess with a custom Finite State Machine for retries, reducing failure rates from 40% to <2%.
- Distributed Hardware Synchronization: Designed a UDP multicast protocol in Node.js to synchronize 4K video playback across 6 independent networked devices with <100ms latency, eliminating the need for cloud-based coordination.
- Legacy System Modernization: Led the migration of a 191,000-line C++ codebase (Qt 5 to Qt 6) and parallelized the Jenkins build pipeline, reducing deployment time by 78% (90m → 20m).
- Performance Engineering: Optimized an interactive museum application to run at 60 FPS on hardware-constrained BrightSign players by implementing custom asset caching and removing expensive CSS filters from the render loop.
Aug 2021 -
Nov 2021
Aug 2021 - Nov 2021
Full-stack Developer Intern
Estack
- SSR Optimization: Improved Time to First Byte (TTFB) for a Next.js application by optimizing Server-Side Rendering configurations.
Jul 2021 -
Oct 2021
Jul 2021 - Oct 2021
Quality Champion (QA)
- Quality Assurance: Conducted cross-platform testing on web, Android, and iOS.
- Internal Tooling: Reverse-engineered internal legacy tools to build a Chrome Extension that automated data entry workflows. Reduced ticket processing time by 95%, leading to tool adoption by the core development team.
Sep 2016 -
Jun 2021
Sep 2016 - Jun 2021
B.S. in Software Engineering Tech
- Earned two Dean's List honors and multiple scholarships.
Primary Tech Stacks
Django
Python Web Framework
AWS
Cloud Computing
Python
Language
TypeScript
JavaScript With Syntax
Javascript
Language
Vue.js
JavaScript Framework
React
JavaScript Library
TailwindCSS
CSS Framework
I also love using...
Language
Frontend
Backend
DevOps
Database
Design
😋
MultitaskingReadingFantasy NovelsSmart GadgetsPC BuildingIndie GamesDrawingCookingBakingLemon CookiesTomato TartChocolate MilkCrème BrûléeCarbonaraAmatricianaMatsutake Mushroom
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UI Design MistakesDeisgn Over UXOverlong DocumentationsSpaghetti CodeDishwashingDrivingCoffeeBroccoliInsectsPolitics