GSN Games

I've been an engineer and leader for over ten years with GSN, supporting explosive growth throughout as the company expands into one game space after another, and as such I've been involved in many different projects in several different roles. The role I keep coming back to within the organization is that of the software engineering team lead for the company's web-based gaming properties, worldwinner.com and gsn.com. I've driven the user-facing aspects of both sites for my entire tenure, using standards-based HTML and CSS, Javascript with jQuery, JSON, XML, and even a little Actionscript. I've worked on the back-end and middleware with Perl and PHP, and supported it all with data powered by mySQL and Informix relational databases, and MongoDB for a taste of NoSQL. A few notable projects that I've led include:

  • Bespoke social networking on-site for our sizable userbases;
  • Development of a framework and UI to interact with multiple virtual currencies;
  • Search engine optimizations, including informational architecture overhauls;
  • Facebook app development;
  • Data analytics integrations using both Google and bespoke analytics packages;
  • Site performance audits and overhauls;
  • Device-responsive site redesigns;
  • Metagaming and gamification implementations.

To keep projects flowing, I've been responsible daily for working with designers and product managers to provide a technical basis for fresh design work, and the same for epic project estimation and organization, and I've been equally comfortable working directly with disparate groups like marketing, technical operations, and customer service representatives. I've managed and mentored developers, senior, junior, and intern, I've been a scrum master, I've helped in setting up and maintaining new LAMP stacks, and I've even been a graphic designer and a video production assistant in a pinch. It's also worth noting that all of this successful work has largely taken place as the most distributed member of the team, a testament to my skills in remote work. When not living in the Boston area, I have continued my work for GSN Games from three other states and continue to do so today.

GSN Games
September 2008 - Present
Boston MA - Mandeville, LA
Senior Web Applications Engineer & Engineering Team Lead

Copyright

© 2000 — 2022 Joshua E. Alvies. All Rights Reserved. More Info