Software Engineering Leader
Adam Carter
Technical lead and product-minded builder with a record of modernizing platforms, lowering operating cost, and guiding teams through high-stakes delivery.
Education
PhD, Computer Science
Washington State University
Thesis on the relationship between programming behavior, online social activity, and student learning outcomes.
BS with Honors, Computer Science
Central Washington University
Scientific Computing and Web Development concentration.
Certification
Certified Scrum Product Owner
Experience
2023 - Present
Columbia Bank
Web Development Manager · Technical Lead Manager
- Lead delivery for internal and public-facing web platforms spanning React Router, Next.js, and C# MVC stacks.
- Shipped a sensitive communications platform used in major M&A work, including the Pacific Premier Bank acquisition.
- Directed FinPac.com modernization from legacy deployment to CI/CD on Linode Kubernetes, cutting annual operating cost by $75K.
- Renegotiated ColumbiaBank.com vendor contracts, reducing recurring spend by another $50K per year.
2021 - 2023
Point Digital Finance
Tech Lead · Full Stack, Back-end Emphasis
- Served as Rails back-end lead on a unified HELOC and HEI application flow that reduced application time and increased conversions by 31%.
- Partnered with data engineering to retire an in-house ETL system and replace it with a Fivetran and dbt workflow that handled schema change more reliably.
- Led more than 70 technical interviews, helping shape hiring quality across full-stack roles.
2020 - 2021
Cloudscale.io
Senior Applications Innovation Engineer · Full Stack
- Built Azure Queue and Function based ETL pipelines that aggregated multi-source API data into Cosmos DB.
- Refactored a multi-thousand-line management dashboard into a leaner and more maintainable product surface.
2019 - 2021
Lost Coast Web Solutions
Founding Partner
- Co-founded an eCommerce consultancy for local businesses and grew the practice to a $2,500 monthly revenue peak.
- Owned project management, client relationships, and technical implementation.
2016 - 2021
Cal Poly Humboldt
Associate Professor, Computer Science
- Earned early tenure, secured $477K in NSF grants plus $25K in local grants, and taught across the full CS catalog.
- Published 18 conference and journal articles on human cognition and learning in computing education.
- Maintained standout teaching feedback, including a 5 out of 5 Rate My Professors rating and strong university evaluations.
2009 - 2016
Washington State University
Clinical Assistant Professor and Research Assistant
- Taught senior web development and the full introductory CS sequence while leading software projects in the Human-Centered Environments for Learning and Programming Lab.
- Supervised undergraduate research assistants and managed multiple lab software initiatives under Dr. Christopher Hundhausen.
Selected Publications
- IDE-Based Learning Analytics for Computing Education: A Process Model, Critical Review, and Research Agenda · 2019
- Blending Measures of Programming and Social Behavior into Predictive Models of Student Achievement in Early Computing Courses · 2017
- With a Little Help From My Friends: An Empirical Study of the Interplay of Students’ Social Activities, Programming Activities, and Course Success · 2016
- Full ACM Profile
Service
- President, Humboldt Hall Association · 2024 - 2026
- Vice President, Humboldt Hall Association · 2023 - 2024
- BPOE #652 Webmaster · 2017 - 2026
- Computer Science Club Advisor · 2017 - 2021
- ACM Transactions on Computing Education Reviewer · 2016 - 2021