About Me
My name is Joseph Calise and I am an aspiring Software Engineer. For the most part I am self-taught developer driven by curiosity and amazement of what can be accomplished by someone with an idea, a computer and the skill to code. In my personal life, I enjoy being outdoors, watching T.V and spending time with my wife and friends. I served in the United States Coast Guard from 2016 to 2020 and ended my enlistment as a Boatswain’s Mate Second Class.
Generally, Boatswain’s Mates will go on to be boat captains, cops or merchant mariners. But at the end of my enlistment, I knew none of those were for me. I knew I wanted to be in technology, but I didn’t know in what capacity. My start in technology was in IT with GreenCoast Hydroponics. While working there I was able to obtain my CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ within less than a year of each other. From there I worked with our development team and knew that was the path for me. Since my departure from GreenCoast I have made strides to accomplishing my goals and becoming a Software Engineer. In this time, I have taught myself HTML, CSS and JavaScript, as well as, being on track to graduate in 2024 with a BS in Computer Science from Chapman University in Orange, CA. I look forward to continuing to pursue my passion in this field and hope to grow into a seasoned Software Engineer.
Since beginning my journey into coding and software engineering, it is incomprehensible to put into words what you can do with code. Since brushing the surface, there is nothing professionally I would rather be doing than this. It is no secret that software engineering continues to be the future, but it is mind boggling to know that with the right knowledge and creativity, you can quite literally change the world all beginning with code.
Work Experience
USAA
Software Engineer Intern
May 2024 - August 2024
Software Engineer
As a Software Engineer within Digital Experience and Enablement, I worked on the Member Home team, which manages the member home page for web and a suite of APIs responsible for delivering member data to that page. These APIs handle over 500 million requests a day, aggregating and transforming data received from all lines of business to enhance the member home experience. Over the course of the internship, I quickly integrated with the team and actively contributed to the AGILE environment by picking up and completing stories within my first week.
Managed Projects:
Multi-Product Search Feature: Addition of a multi-product search feature for internal troubleshooting of test members and different product types. The need for this feature came when a bug was introduced for members with specific product combinations. This project included extensive front-end and back-end development efforts. On the back-end, it involved creating the capability for the server to dynamically construct and execute variable-length database queries to handle diverse product combinations efficiently. Additionally, it required enhancements to the front-end to ensure that various results sets could be accurately displayed and interacted with. These improvements collectively enabled a more robust and flexible tool for internal troubleshooting and testing of different product configurations.
Query Optimization: After implementing the multi-product search feature, query times became an issue. Initially, single-product queries took 5-6 seconds, while multi-product queries ranged from 10-15 seconds, depending on the number of products. To address this, I analyzed the root cause, reviewed database documentation, and collaborated with the database team to develop an index. This optimization led to an impressive 85% reduction in query times, decreasing single-product searches to under 1 second and multi-product searches to 1-1.5 seconds.
React Redesign: With 3 weeks left in the internship, I began working on redesigning the internal application in ReactJS, a framework I had never worked with prior to this experience. This project involved a complete redesign of the homepage and minor updates to the features across the remaining 5 tabs. The redesign focused on enhancing user experience and improving overall application performance. I collaborated closely with team members to ensure the new design met both functional and aesthetic requirements, and leveraged ReactJS features to implement a more dynamic and responsive interface.
Projects
- C++
- JavaScript
- Python
- Java
- SQL
- Terminal
- Academic
Wordle
Wordle is a popular online game where you have 6 guesses to guess all the letters of a 5 letter word. One thing I implimented in my clone is a leaderboard and ranking system. The game is live and playable HERE.
BlackJack
BlackJack, a traditional card game where a player will bet against the dealer. Two cards will be dealt to both players and the player can hit or hold. Once all players hold, the closest to 21 wins.
Mario Simulator
The world that consists of a fixed number of levels. Mario must navigate the levels, encountering enemies and power ups, and collecting coins, before engaging a boss to move onto the next level.
SQLite Student Database
A database terminal application via SQLite that emmulates a schools database system. This app allows you to search student, add students, delete students, and filter by conditions. Handles errors and invalid inputs accordingly.
MySQL Sales System
Python terminal app for inventory management using a GCP MySQL database. Tracks inventory, sales and customers while handling inventory levels before/after new orders. Utilizes created stored procedures inventory adjustment.
NFA to DFA Converter
Given an input file of the logic of a nondeterministic finite automaton, using state conversions and logic the program will provide the corresponding logic of a deterministic finite automaton as an output file.
Graph MST
A program that is capable of identifying a minimum spanning tree of an undirected, weighted graph using Kruskal’s algorithm. Returns an adjacency matrix and the MST of the provided graph.
Lets Connect!
