david
I write. Sometimes with code, sometimes with words. About me »

Hi!

I’m David. I write code and words. I’m passionate about accessibility and disability.

If you found this website inaccessible, I would definitely appreciate an email at david.a.peter [at] gmail.com. However, no pressure to educate me.

Published writing

Fanfiction for Pets
Kickstarter
Delivered December 31, 2017
Building Accessibility Culture
Model View Culture, Issue 38
June 22, 2016
The Hearing Monoculture Rejects Those Who Can't Hear
Model View Culture, Issue 17
February 24, 2015

Speaking

Deafness in the Tech World
AlterConf NYC
October 4, 2014

Coding

I specialize in JavaScript, particularly for the frontend. I am experienced in Ruby on Rails.

Kickstarter: March 2014 – November 2017

Brooklyn, NY

  • Joined as the third frontend engineer. We still used jQuery soup then. The team later expanded to be about 10 frontend engineers.
  • Did a lot of Ruby on Rails. In the beginning, we wore many hats.
  • Introduced accessibility as a product value. Helped educate coworkers and set up processes for accessibility.
  • Implemented subtitles and captions for all videos, including a tool to help users generate their own.
  • Helped architect the new frontend codebase in Webpack, ES6, React, Redux, and GraphQL. This included education and architecture ideation, implementation, and processes.
  • Became team lead for the biggest feature team. Worked on a significant React/Redux project that involved GraphQL. Led 4 engineers. We rewrote one of the core, critical flows at Kickstarter: Project Build.
  • Can regale you with tales of trade-offs. Programming design, selecting technologies, agreeing on best practices, communicating changes to other people.

Apple (Intern): June 2013 – August 2013

Cupertino, CA

  • Did data analysis.
  • Introduced automated testing to my team’s stack.
  • Realized this company was not for me.

1000memories: May 2011 – May 2012

San Francisco, CA

  • About 10 people worked for this startup.
  • Worked as an intern for 3 months, then took a break in college to work full-time for the remaining 9 months.
  • The client was written in JavaScript, and, later, CoffeeScript.
  • Wrote a dynamic photo uploader and photo importer. The importer integrated with the Instagram and Facebook APIs. Within 2 weeks of release, imported photos amounted to over 25% of all total photos on the site.
  • Helped write the core 1000memories API, written in Sinatra (Ruby).
  • Had a patch to Ruby on Rails accepted.

Education

I graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).