Jesse Contreras
Hi, I'm Jesse portrait Jesse Contreras
I'm a Full‑stack Engineer Open to work

Los Angeles, CA

Full‑stack engineer · Mentor · Runner · Chronic bullet pointer

View work Ask Jesse 2.0

Work Experience

Senior Software Engineer (Contract)

Rafters

Feb 2026 — Present

  • Modernized a legacy AWS production platform spanning React/Vite, Node.js/Express, PostgreSQL, CloudFront/S3, Elastic Beanstalk, Lambda, EventBridge, SQS, and EC2
  • Reconciled source-to-production drift and established GitHub as the canonical engineering baseline
  • Replaced manual releases with GitHub Actions and AWS OIDC, including versioned artifacts, drift checks, health and smoke gates, and deterministic rollback paths
  • Restored Shorts ingestion and traced the NFL schedule-to-PostgreSQL pipeline across Lambda, SQS, EventBridge, and EC2
Chezie logo

Founding Software Engineer

Chezie

Sep 2022 — Nov 2025

  • Led a team of engineers in architecting backend infrastructure with NestJS, MongoDB, and Nginx for high-availability deployments on DigitalOcean
  • Directed CI/CD strategy and guided the team to implement GitHub Actions pipelines, enabling zero-downtime releases and rapid iteration
  • Built internal GraphQL API powering multi-service routing logic
  • Built Zoom and Google Calendar API integrations, enhancing scheduling automation for over 100,000 users
  • Authored Chezie’s Security Handbook detailing proactive security posture, system architecture and integration scopes with rationale and implemented controls that enabled SOC 2 Type II and GDPR certification
  • Led cross-functional initiatives to optimize system reliability, reducing incident response times and improving overall system performance
Leaderful logo

Full Stack Developer

Leaderful

Jan 2018 — Apr 2021

  • Led development of a Slack bot adopted by 25+ organizations, boosting team response time and increased dissemination of L&D materials
  • Built full-stack MEAN applications for client users, streamlining core processes reducing manual effort.
  • Partnered with DEI stakeholders to define and execute technical strategies, scaling operations and improving outreach capacity.
  • Drove tech strategy with stakeholders; built & deployed company site (beleaderful.co)

Projects and Writings

One Night Only: A Date With AI Tools, Dashboard Data, and an MCP

One Night Only: A Date With AI Tools, Dashboard Data, and an MCP

A one-evening clinic analytics MVP that connected Square sandbox revenue, GoHighLevel CRM data, simulated network clinics, and a custom MCP diagnostic tool to verify the data pipeline instead of guessing from screenshots.

Jun 01, 2026 Engineering
Building a Grounded AI Recruiter Assistant with RAG and Semantic Caching

Building a Grounded AI Recruiter Assistant with RAG and Semantic Caching

I built a recruiter-facing AI assistant that answers from my own notes and project history, not generic model confidence. The system uses retrieval, grounding checks, semantic caching, route metadata, and reliability checks to stay useful without pretending it knows things it cannot support.

Mar 25, 2026 Engineering
What I Learned Building My Own Scheduler Instead of Paying for Calendly

What I Learned Building My Own Scheduler Instead of Paying for Calendly

Calendly’s free constraints pushed me to ship a small scheduling flow in my own stack. Here is what I built, what broke, and what ended up being worth owning.

Jan 16, 2026 Engineering
Why I Still Love Angular

Why I Still Love Angular

A reflection on why I keep coming back to Angular, even after spending most of my time building with React.

Sep 24, 2025 Engineering

About Me

I’m Jesse Contreras. I build robust back-ends and responsive front-ends with clean, test driven code with a focus on accessible user experiences. When I'm away from keyboard you’ll find me running, surfing, traveling, reading or inhaling espresso, activities that I really enjoy and keep me focused. On my spare time I volunteer, a habit my parents call “free work.” I’m happiest working on projects that broaden access to technology and make life easier on others. I also enjoy mentoring developers and collaborating with fast-moving teams. I built Jesse 2.0, an interactive chatbot, so recruiters can explore my background conversationally. If your organization needs an engineer who ships reliable software and fosters an inclusive culture, let’s connect!

Below is an interactive bubble chart that visualizes activity across my favorite subreddits based on the top posts of the day. Use the dropdown to switch between communities and explore what’s trending right now.

My Favorite Subreddits Visualized

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