Will Slotterback

Software Engineer

View Résumé

Hey, I'm Will!

I am a senior software engineer with a decade of experience writing Javascript and Python. Currently, I am the project lead for the rich text editor used within Zendesk's Support Product. I'm particularly interested in user-interfaces which mesh great, human-centered, design with robust code under the hood.

I am always interested in new opportunities, so feel free to drop me a line using the email address provided at the bottom of the page.

Education

2014 - 2019

Northeastern University

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Entrepreneurship

Skills

Primary Languages

Javascript

HTML + CSS

Python

Additional Technologies

  • React
  • Redux
  • jQuery
  • Ruby
  • Rails
  • SQL

Work Experience

2022 - Present

Zendesk

Senior Software Engineer

  • After managing a team for nine months, I chose to return to an individual contributor role after being a team lead in order to continue developing my technical expertise.
  • Project lead on the editor in Zendesk Support, which is written in React.js, using the CKEditor5 framework.
  • Working to improve the reliability and observability of the reading and writing experience within Zendesk Support using StatsD, Datadog, and Sentry.
2022

Zendesk

Team Lead

  • Led a team of six, responsible for the reading and writing experience within Zendesk Support.
  • Coordinated current projects in accordance with business priorities, strategized with employees on how to reach their career goals, and advocated for the team's work within the company.
2021

Zendesk

Senior Software Engineer

  • Led migration of Zendesk's Rich Text Editor to CKEditor5.
  • Responsible for bug fixes, testing, and overall product quality of Zendesk's rich text editor within the Support product.
  • As tech lead, created and communicated the overall technical direction of the team. Responsible for investigating and architecting new solutions, estimating the work of new projects, and mentoring junior engineers.
2019 - 2021

Zendesk

Software Engineer

  • Helped migrate Zendesk's rich text editor to Slate.js
  • Contributed bug fixes and new features in React.js to Zendesk's Support Product.
  • Wrote unit tests using Jest and Enzyme for new and existing React components.
2019

Northeastern Computer Science Department

Teaching Assistant for DS2000: Programming with Data

  • Worked as a teaching assistant for Northeastern's introductory data science course, teaching new computer science students data collection and analysis skills using Python.
2018

Zendesk

Copenhagen, DK

Software Engineer Intern

2017

Zendesk

San Francisco, CA

Software Engineer Intern

2016

Northeastern Computer Science Department

Fellow for Overview 1

  • Led a class which introduced 20 incoming freshman to the CCIS department and all of its resources.
2016

Opterra Energy Services

Computer Science Co-op

2015

Northeastern Computer Science Department

Teaching Assistant for Fundamentals of Computer Science 2 (Intro to Java)

Projects

Macros Keyboard Shortcut

As the project lead for Zendesk Support's editor, I designed and implemented a new feature to provide easy access to Zendesk's macros. This feature is now used more than one hundred and fifty thousand times per day, and usage is continuing to grow organically.

Read the Announcement

Answer Bot for Agents

At Zendesk's Copenhagen office I was tasked with integrating Answer Bot, Zendesk's proprietary machine learning product into our existing help center search app. This feature is now in GA.

Meet Answer Bot

ScholarJet

During the fall semester of 2017 I worked as a developer for Scout, Northeastern's student-run design studio. I was assigned to a group of three designers and together we completely revamped ScholarJet's online scholarship platform.

See the results

Macro Preview

Macro Preview was my main project at Zendesk. I managed the feature from start to finish, collaborating with product management, designers, and engineers along the way. Macro Preview is now available for all Zendesk customers.

Check it out

X-Max

X-max is a game controller specifically designed to be usable by someone with cerebral palsy. I worked on this project as part of a team at Northeastern University for the enabling engineering club.

Official Project Page