
Though it has been a long journey, I have completed a career overhaul to become a software developer focused on building Ethereum smart contracts. Beginning as an architecture student, after two years in a three year program at Columbia University GSAPP, in 2015 I discovered Ethereum and realized I was meant to be a developer and, eventually, an entrepreneur. My first foray into the blockchain space was a whitepaper describing how Ethereum could be used to reinvent the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, returning its focus to driving engagement in local food economies. The concept, which I called FarmShare, was very well received in the fledgling industry, but after the infamous DAO attack in 2016 I realized it was too soon for such a project to be successful, and I didn't have the necessary skills to build it. I spent the summer of '16 working with the FOAM team, building their initial MVP app with the CTO as a mentor, before returning to Columbia to complete my degree. After graduating I started an internship with ConsenSys, which led to a full-time role, albeit as a brand designer. I did not enjoy the role, and I wanted to become a developer, so I was not too disappointed when the market crashed and my team was laid off in 2018, giving me the opportunity to reinvent myself. The following year I worked in retail while preparing myself to go back to school for a CS degree, which I began in 2020 at IIT. Though at first I was unsure about the blockchain industry, by 2021 I knew I had unfinished business in Web3. I found an opportunity to work on blockchain security research with Prof. Yue Duan at IIT, and began a study on upgradeable smart contracts which would eventually be accepted for publication at USENIX Security '23. After submitting that I began another upgradeability-related project, this time a differential fuzzing tool for smart contracts. This caught the attention of security auditing firm Trail of Bits, who hired me as a spring associate to continue the project. The resulting tool can be found at https://github.com/crytic/diffusc. Throughout my journey I have had success in several Web3 hackathons, starting with Consensus '17 where I was on the grand-prize winning team BlockBox. In '22 I was the lead smart contract dev on the FarmKudos team at ETHDenver, which made it to the final round. At ETHWaterloo '23 I was the lead full-stack dev for the Habitat team, winning $2k in sponsor prizes. I have also completed the Ethernaut and DamnVulnerableDeFi security CTFs. Now I'm looking for opportunities to continue my new career in Web3!
dkoda.com
iit.edu
consensys.io
buddig.com
trailofbits.com
fedex.com
illinois.edu
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Sr. Smart Contract Engineer
DKODA Labs
• www.linkedin.com/company/dkoda
Aug 2024 - Present
New York, New York, United States
Smart Contract Developer
Increment Finance
Aug 2023 - Aug 2024
Associate Researcher
Trail of Bits
• www.linkedin.com/company/trail-of-bits
Feb 2023 - Jul 2023
Graduate Research Assistant
Illinois Institute of Technology
• www.linkedin.com/company/illinois-tech
May 2022 - May 2023
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Teaching Assistant
Illinois Institute of Technology
• www.linkedin.com/company/illinois-tech
Jan 2022 - May 2022
Chicago, Illinois, United States
IT Consultant
JetsonTEK
• www.linkedin.com/company/jetsontek
Sep 2021 - May 2022
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Prototype Developer
FOAM Inc
• www.linkedin.com/company/foam-corp
Jul 2016 - Jan 2017
New York, New York
Output Shop Technician
Columbia University GSAPP Output Shop
Jan 2014 - May 2015
Architectural Intern
The Living
May 2014 - Aug 2014
Brooklyn, NY
Teaching Assistant
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Jun 2013 - Jul 2013