Willem Helf

Willem Helf

Full-stack developer in NYC

About

I am a software engineer with experience in both front- and backend development and a background in design. My skills lend me a thorough understanding of the process of building and maintaining a website, and I am always eager to learn new skills and improve on what I know.

Side Projects

2023

I regularly update my personal website as I learn and experiment with new types of code. My site currently features a simple drawing tool implemented with p5.js.

Work Experience

2021 — 2023
New York, New York

● Implemented wide range of bug fixes on site frontend using JavaScript, HTML, XML, and CSS
● Built custom GraphQL APIs with Kotlin Spring Boot, increasing API speeds by 15%
● Architected GraphQL queries for API data mapping, reducing data over-fetching by 20%
● Utilized Kotlin server-driven UI to build scalable user interfaces, decreasing need for new app deployments
● Monitored email content notification system, reducing critical errors at peak usage by up to 40%
● Wrote comprehensive unit tests using JUnit, streamlining development process and reducing errors by 30%

2019 — 2021
New York, New York

● Architected, built, and optimized responsive websites in collaboration with art directors and clients, driving user engagement by up to 20%
● Built UX and UI frameworks for application interfaces using Figma, decreasing need for iterations on site visuals
● Utilized REST APIs to render data and visuals on applications, decreasing load speeds by up to 25%
● Merged code and tracked collaborative changes throughout development processes using Git and Github

Education

2012 — 2015
London, UK

At Central Saint Martins, I spent three years learning print, digital, experiential, and spatial design techniques, as well as typography, printmaking, and various digital editing tools.

2011 — 2012
London, UK

At London College of Communication, I completed a yearlong course during which I learned about various approaches to art and design.

Certifications

2017

I completed the Software Engineering program at Flatiron School in 2017, learning Ruby, Javascript, Ruby on Rails, and ReactJS.