Bret Comnes

Professional Software Engineer experienced in Full-Stack Product Development, Infra/Ops/Platform Engineering and Cloud Archetecture. Specialized in Open Source Tooling in Javascript/Typescript and Go.

• portfolio: bret.io
• email: bcomnes@gmail.com
• location: 🌎 US Remote (Arcata CA)
• github: github.com/bcomnes
• npm: npmjs.com/~bret
• linkedin: linkedin.com/in/bcomnes

Socket Inc Senior Software Engineer • 2021 - Present

• Developed Socket.dev’s security scanner GitHub App, a primary driver of platform adoption and a contrubuting factor in a $20M Series A raise. (Typescript, React, Next.js)
• Introduced service observability practices. (Datadog, Structured logging, service metrics)
• Rapid gathering if business intelligence, developed data pipelines and analysis. (PostgreSQL, Retool)

Socket Supply Software Engineer • 2023 - 2024

• IC to the ssc runtime, a webview-based application platform targeting macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and Xbox. (C++, TypeScript, Objective-C)

Littlstar + Rad.live

Principal Engineer • 2021

• Design and implment NFT minting and auction platform in ~10 weeks. (Next.js/GraphQL)
• See Littlstar portfilio for more info.

Senior Software Engineer • 2019 - 2021

• Developed full IAC provisioning and depoyment pipelines with Terraform and Github Actions targeting AWS.
• Develop Little Core Labs peer to peer content delivery system.
• Implement a rebrand of Littlstar to Rad.live.
• Design and reboot product website using next.js and swr.
• Designed and implemented an organizational microservice pattern.
• Develop organizational JWT authorization microservice strategy.

Hyperdivision Software Engineer • 2019 🇩🇰

• Leading developer on Heimdall, a cryptographically secure, p2p ledger and proposal system used to securely manage cryptographic assets used for cryptocurrency exchange asset management and other financial technologies. (Electron, Node.js, JavaScript)
• Develop security-critical native and webassembly Node.js cryptography bindings. (prebuildify, libsodium, wat2js)

Netlify

Platform Engineering • 2018 - 2019

• Joined Netlify’s DevOps focused platform team.
• Maintain and develop Netlify’s CI build environment, built with Docker, Go, Jenkins and Kubernetes.
• Launch Netlify’s selectable build-image infrastructure and interface.
• Develop and maintain Netlify’s Open-api Go client, and architect and rewrite the Javascript client.
• 24h on-call duties
• Monitor and maintain the health of Netlify’s multi-cloud infrastructure using Humio and Datadog.
• Scale and deploy infrastructure with GitOps via Ansible, bash and Terraform.
• See Netlify portfolio for more examples.

Product Engineering • 2017 - 2018

• Plan, design, implement, test and iterate on new features for Netlify’s React based webapp.
• Support, maintain, test and release Netlify’s open source JS and Go libraries.
• Architect and build Netlify’s next generation, extensible CLI.
• See Netlify portfolio for more examples.

ZHealth Software Engineer • 2016 - 2017

• Developed structured documentation EtchCV suite for Cardiac Surgeons and Hospitals.
• API and microservice design + implementation.
• Cross Platform Desktop software using Electron, HTML, CSS and SVG powered by React + Redux.
• Implemented continuous Electron App delivery using TravisCI, Appveyor and S3/AWS.

Jaguar Land Rover OS & Application Engineering • 2015 - 2016

• Mobile app, infotainment and OS development using JS + Node.js, HTML and CSS.
• Targed in-vehicle embeded systems fully utlizing the onboard can bus.
• Architected a single sign-on service and documentation server for internal documents and project planning using Express.js.

Portland State University

Office of Information Technology ARC HPC Operations & Python Development • 2013 - 2015

• Web applications and systems programming with Python and Django.
• Developed custom database monitoring tools that tracked MySQL and Postgres usage metrics
• Responsible for building, automating and monitoring PSU’s research servers and HPC Linux Clusters and colocation.
• Initiated efforts to automate cluster deployment and management using Ansible.
• Trained and introduced new users to ARC’s resources and shared unix computing environments.

PSU Physics Department Lab Instructor & TA+RA • 2012 - 2014

• Wrote custom control software and a web application that enabled remote viewing and operation of a Scanning Electron Microscope over the Internet using React, Web Sockets and WebRTC.
• Instructed PSU’s General Physics Labs and assisted in the upper division Experimental Physics Labs.
• Developed two novel labs on the use of micro-controllers and FPGAs covering basic concepts to advanced topics like PID control theory.
• Teaching introductory electronics and debugging skills to students.

Wiley Textbook Development Consultant • 2012

• Developed interactive figures and demos for an interactive Calculus textbook published by Wiley Publishing.

HSU Gravitational Research Laboratory Research Assistant • 2009 - 2011

• Designed and machined custom experimental instruments and developed the lab’s data collection, automation and analysis software to study the gravitational inverse-square law at sub-millimeter distance scales.

National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center Arecibo Guest Researcher • 2009

• Trained and operated the worlds largest radio telescope and analyzed the collected data searching for previously undiscovered galaxies.

Education

• Humboldt State University B.S. Physics 2011
• Portland State University M.S. Applied Physics 2015 (Completed coursework, No diploma)

Media

• Socket Supply Co. - Improved File Resolution 2023-10-16
• Socket Supply Co. - Frontend Testing with Socket 2023-09-14
• Socket - Github App Improvements 2022-07-26
• JS Party – Episode #227: JS logging & error handling 2022-05-27
• JS Party – Episode #219: Making moves on supply chain security 2022-03-24
• Netlify Blog: A more flexible build architecture with updated Linux 2019-03-14
• Netlify Blog: Fearless deploys for your lingering processes 2018-11-28
• Netlify Blog: Netlify CLI 2.0 now in Beta 🎉 2018-09-10
• Netlify Blog: Buy and secure a custom domain through Netlify 2018-06-19
• Netlify Blog: Netlify now shows your deploy status on its favicon 2018-05-22
• Netlify Blog: Introducing Site Dashboards 2017-08-22
• Netlify Blog: Introducing Audit Log 2017-07-27

Community

• Datcast Podcast (2018 - 2019)
• PDX Node Organizer Meetup (2015 - 2017)
• Node School Organizer & Mentor (2016)
• Code for Portland Organizer & Mentor • Open Civic Data Initiative (2014 - 2015)
• WebRTC Camp Speaker (2013)
• Indieweb Camp Organizer & Mentor (2012 - 2014)