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Addison Polcyn

Software Engineer

Bay Area, CA

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About Me

I am a Software Engineer and a recent graduate from Purdue’s Computer Science program where I developed a broad range in skills designing and developing software applications. I am actively looking to find a full-time Software Developing/Engineering position at a Software Company. I have the skills, values, and desire to contribute from Day One.

Programming wasn’t always easy for me. In fact, I received a C+ in the first CS course I ever took. But something about that class felt different than all the other ones. Unlike other courses, programming demanded a deeper understanding of the topics at hand, and those topics and theories really stuck with me unlike the memorization and “plug and chug” that I had previously experienced. Programming gave me a sense of purpose that other subjects were unable to. That is why I decided to switch to a degree in Computer Science during the late semester in my Sophomore year. It was a hard decision to make, as I had to work incredibly hard to still graduate in four years.

When I set out to become a first-rate programmer, I knew it would be difficult, but at the time, I didn’t understand the kind of commitment and work ethic such an endeavor required. After long nights fueled with caffeine and numerous impending deadlines, I can’t say that I have achieved my goal yet; but what I can say is that I have the utter and total confidence that I can.

During that time, I not only learned how to program, but I learned how much grit and tenacity I had and how far I could go to achieve my goal. I learned what it took to get the job done. I am very proud of where I am today, and even though I would have done things a little differently if I had the chance (such as begin my freshman year majoring in Computer Science), the lessons I learned were invaluable.

Perhaps my stubbornness is one of my greatest weaknesses, but without a doubt it is also my greatest strength. I will not rest until each bug is solved and I will not be satisfied until I have followed through with everything until the very end. No matter what obstacle I am presented, I will always land back on my feet.

I am inspired by what I’ve accomplished so far and aspire to put my passion for programming work in the next chapter; working for a company that is always making greater even better.

Experience

Purdue University - iSpiEFP

Software Developer for Department of Chemistry

Full Stack Developer for iSpiEFP, a tool for modeling bio-molecular systems with the Effective Fragment Potential (EFP) method.

Project

Referral

Purdue University - Survey Analytics

Software Developer for Department of Economics

Automation of Survey Research with custom tools and data analysis for Purdue Agricultural Economics Department.

Project

Referral

Code for fun

Teaching Assistant

Led youth level courses in Web Design, Game Design in Python, Python with Minecraft, and Coding in Scratch.

Chatfly

Sales Representative Intern

Increased the sales of Chatfly by marketing the mobile application to small local businesses. Improved User Experience by actively observing users and incorporating feedback on how to more seamlessly improve application design.

Education

Purdue University

Aug 2015 - May 2019

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science

Projects

iSpiEFP Application

Java, Python, MySQL, JavaFX, SceneBuilder, JSON, Jmol, AWS, Git

iSpiEFP is a tool for visualizing and describing molecular systems with the EFP method. This application provides a job-workflow manager which binds different technologies into one single application that allows chemists to point and click while utilizing high performance computing.

  • Worked with GUI Design, Database Design, Server-Client File Transfer, Molecule Visualization, Cluster Job Submission, SSH Authentication
  • Lead Development of Features by seeking feedback from field experts and interviewing new users
  • Participating in weekly team meetings by providing input and ideas for the future of iSpiEFP

View Project

Transitivity in Survey Choice Economics

Python, Excel, Git

Automated a method to solve transitivity problems for the testing of a new survey model for curating customer choices. Researcher's at Purdue were interested in testing whether a new model led survey takers to make lest contradicting decisions. After developing, and applying my algorithm written in Python using directed graphs, researchers were able to efficiently and accurately see how much survey takers were making contradicting choices. This eliminated human error from the testing process and validated a thesis in economics choice theory.

View Project

MiniJava Compiler

C/C++, Flex & Bison, ARM Assembly

Defined, parsed, and lexically analyzed MiniJava Grammar, a subset of the Java Language by Oracle. Parsed data using Flex & Bison; prior to Abstract Syntax Tree construction and Type Checking. After performing Type checking, the language was then compiled into ARM Assembly, or Interpreted on the fly using C++ depending on project branch.

View Project

Breast Cancer Diagnostics

Python, Scikit-learn, NumPy, Git (Team Project)

Classified Malignant or Benign tumors for 569 patients from Wisconsin, using Support Vector Machines, and testing with 2-Fold Cross Validation. After accessing the data on Kaggle, provided by UC Irvine, I dealt with parsing the data, testing various machine methods, and plotting data.

View Project

Dinner Recommendation System

Vector Space Similarity, Python, SciPy

Created a program which given a set of food ingredients, selects a dish for a user and predict a rating they would give. Engineered a model using collaborative filtering based on similar users with cosine similarity.

TerminalHacker Web Game

AWS, Apache, Python, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS

A Tricky Web Game inspired by Fallout 4. Running on AWS, served by Apache, and built with Python, JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS. Players can compete arcade style with a global leaderboard.

View Project

Minecraft ATM

Minecraft, Computercraft, Tekkit, Lua

Envisioned and developed an ATM in Minecraft which dispensed Emeralds on a user’s request from the local bank vault to local citizens of our town. Built the ATM by leveraging Tekkit, a Minecraft mod for using the computer. Programmed the actual ATM in Lua, and communicated to the local Emerald Bank via pipeline, and Redstone wiring which provided users with a nice interface involving pistons.

Unix Shell Implementation

C/C++, Lex & Yacc

Built a complete Unix shell implementation including subshells, pipes, file redirection, signal handling (ctr-l c, zombie elimination), runtime configuration file, built-in commands (cd, exit, source, etc.), wild cards, tilde and environment variable expansion.

Skills

Recommendations

"Addison is a positive and truly capable IT professional. I worked with him closely as the technical lead/coordinator on a team of computer science techs, working on a project with a mission to ‘automate the virtual workbench.’ The project was the development of a front-end interface and back-end support capable of serving as a workflow manager for processing and visualizing chemically relevant topological data input (multiple 3rd party file formats), data transformation (molecular system fragmentation and interfacing with 3rd party library APIs), and data storage (cloud-based server and SQL database). During our time on the project, Addison demonstrated himself beyond proficient as a software developer when dealing with our large and not-well documented legacy code base written in a combination of Java, C, MySQL and python. iSpiEFP has a substantial code base and has gone through at least 4 iterations. Addison was the spearhead for many of them and as such is the main code contributor. Aside from being an exceptional IT lead on our team, Addison was a blast to work with! His demeanor was always positive – even when it seemed our obstacles were impossible to overcome (but we overcame them!) and as such served as a valuable team-player. I am STRONGLY recommending Addison to ANY organization who is considering him for a position. If more information is needed, please feel free to message me directly and I will be happy to further expand upon my recommendation."

- Yen Bui

Senior Scientist at Merck

June 4, 2019, Yen managed Addison directly at iSpiEFP


"It is rare to see such a self-sufficient programmer like Addison with an aptitude to recognize specific requirements of a scientific software development in a drastically different field such as computational chemistry. Addison joined my research group during a transitional period when previous developers were leaving, while the legacy code was of scarce documentation. After studying the code base, Addison was able to restructure the code and contribute new features following the discussions with chemistry students. Not only did he end up touching about every part of our code base, backend and frontend, but he also led the project to its first working internal release. Additionally, he secured the project by moving it to version control and created numerous forms of documentation along the way. By advertising the project among fellow students, he ensured a smooth transition to the next generation of the developers when he decided to part with the project. He is an amazing person and programmer! I am looking forward to hearing what he does next!"

- Lyudmila Slipchenko

Professor at Purdue University

June 6, 2019, Lyudmila managed Addison directly at iSpiEFP


"I was very happy to have Addison join my team to help tackle a series of multidisciplinary projects. I have been impressed with Addison's willingness to engage on a very diverse set of projects, including some which were still in the process of being developed and/or fine tuned. Research evolves as the project progresses, often necessitating a different approach or opening up new avenues for exploration. Building algorithms for exploratory projects requires creativity, the ability to self-direct, and willingness to collaborate and understand the "big picture" of the project. Addison had a very positive attitude throughout the time that I worked with him, including when being asked to tweak, edit, update, and change his algorithm. Addison made very significant contributions in my group by developing algorithms to streamline research processes. What started as a paid programming job has since evolved into Addison co-authoring a manuscript which is now being submitted for peer-review towards eventual publication. I would happily hire Addison again; in addition to being an extremely valuable in developing algorithms, he is a pleasant collaborator with a willing and positive attitude."

- Nicole Widmar

Professor, Associate Head and Graduate Program Chair at Purdue University

June 13, 2019, Nicole managed Addison indirectly at Survey Analytics


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