About

Hello, I'm Elijah!

Most folks just call me Eli and I'm an experienced software engineer and entrepreneur. I've been working in the tech industry for 15+ years and I have a passion for building great products and teams. I've been lucky enough to have co-founded a few startups and community groups, and I'm currently looking to transition into a Developer Relations role.

Outside of work, I enjoy tinkering around with various software and hardware tools and technologies. I'm really excited about the intersection of technology and self-expression, and I love working on projects that combine my creative impulses with my technical skills.

Community building

MLTogetherLA | Founder / Facilitator

2018 - 2020

MLTogetherLA was a community of machine learning practitioners and enthusiasts based in Los Angeles that I founded and facilitated in 2018. We hosted monthly workshops and presentations on a variety of machine learning topics, and we were able to build a strong community of people from different backgrounds and skill levels interested in Machine Learning and AI. I would frequently present at the workshops, as well as source speakers from industry to help explain foundational concepts in ML/AI. In addition to the monthly workshops, we also hosted a weekly "study group" where members could come together to collaborate and learn from each other.

Hardware Hacking Hangout | Founder / Facilitator

2016 - 2020

Hardware Hacking Hangout was a community of hardware enthusiasts of all skill levels that I founded and led in 2016. We hosted over 100 meetups and workshops, most of which I developed or facilitated. I secured corporate sponsorship from several partners, and helped our partners reach our community members through sponsored workshops and hackathons. Members came from a variety of backgrounds, with some as young as 12 and others as young as 75. We had a strong focus on community building and peer mentorship. I'm incredibly proud of the community I helped to grow in Los Angeles.

Previous Work Experience

Bonfire AI | Engineering Lead

Aug 2023 - Jan 2024

Developed, verified, and maintained several LLM-powered AI pipelines using OpenAI’s models to produce custom research reports for clients in a variety of industries.

Continued development of Bonfire’s full-stack platform based on Next.js and hosted on Vercel. Maintained and updated CD pipelines for seamless application deployments.

Drift Bio | VP of Engineering / Co-founder

Aug 2020 - Jul 2022

Responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining cloud-based, genomics data processing pipelines using data from Next-Generation Sequencing. Other duties included managing a team of software developers charged with developing these data processing pipelines, interfacing with Machine Learning/AI teams for exploring and implementing new data science based genome assembly, transcription, antibiotic resistance identification, metagenomics, and other emerging bioinformatics algorithms.

GameBench | Principal Engineer

Oct 2019 - Aug 2020

As Principal Engineer at GameBench, I was responsible for working with our US-based game studio clients in understanding their needs for automated performance monitoring and testing for their mobile games, including the development of an embedded performance monitoring SDK for monitoring real-world performance. Additionally, I helped design and implement a robust testing methodology for evaluating the performance of multiple cloud-gaming platforms over the emerging 5G networks that were present in the US, culminating in the publishing of the industries first comprehensive report on the topic.

Padx.com | CTO / Co-founder

Oct 2017 - Oct 2019

As CTO of Padx, I helped to develop a revolutionary platform for buying and selling real estate - empowering consumers to take control of the real estate transaction process to save time and money. As a technical founder, most of my energy was spent on developing the full stack application using Agile methodologies.

During my time at Padx, we designed, developed and deployed a full-stack web application, and mobile apps for iOS and Android to allow our customers to search for and purchase real estate. As CTO, I was responsible for the product architecture, talent recruitment and management, and product management. In addition, since we were an early stage startup, it was critical that all of our engineering work conformed to best practices in DevOps to ensure that the product could easily scale with increased customer usage and engineering team expansion.

PEERS Foundation | Director of Product Development

Jul 2009 - Oct 2017

As Director of Product Development for the PEERS Foundation, I've lead the charge on producing engaging High-Tech interventions focused on youth health and safety for a nationwide 501(c)3 organization. Events and experiences I've developed and launched have had millions of impressions and attracted numerous corporate partners such as AT&T, State Farm Insurance, Toyota, and GM.

The VR-based texting and driving simulator experience that I developed was partnered with a number of corporate clients, and was experienced by hundreds of thousands of teens and young-adults at high-profile events including national Auto Shows, multiple concert tours, and numerous high-profile sporting events. I was responsible for managing development of the core VR technology, the supporting social-media sharing technology and our client-based impact surveys, as well as the maintenance and training of multiple teams of client ambassadors touring across the United States at hundreds of events per year.

As Director of Product Development for the PEERS Foundation, I've lead the charge on producing engaging High-Tech interventions focused on youth health and safety for a nationwide 501(c)3 organization. Events and experiences I've developed and launched have had millions of impressions and attracted numerous corporate partners such as AT&T, State Farm Insurance, Toyota, and GM. The VR-based texting and driving simulator experience that I developed was partnered with a number of corporate clients, and was experienced by hundreds of thousands of teens and young-adults at high-profile events including national Auto Shows, multiple concert tours, and numerous high-profile sporting events. I was responsible for managing development of the core VR technology, the supporting social-media sharing technology and our client-based impact surveys, as well as the maintenance and training of multiple teams of client ambassadors touring across the United States at hundreds of events per year.