It's nice to meet you! 👋

Scroll down to learn a bit more about me.

Recent Work

Click any project to view the code on GitHub.

BLANK Humanity

I collaborated with my co-owners to design and build a cloud-hosted social platform. We scaled to efficiently store, process, and serve 400,000+ photos and texts, generating 1,600 sales and $220,000 revenue. I was in charge of machine learning and testing, and used unit and integration tests to ensure 99% accuracy of our machine learning model and reliable deployment as new data was added. I managed 4-5 simultaneous projects using Agile, and communicated technical results to a community of 2,800 users.

Dev Launchers

I founded an open-source project through the non-profit Dev Launchers, building a team of over 60 cross-disciplinary contributors across 8 countries. I operated as Lead Developer, managing 100+ tasks through Git, and producing 602 commits across 3 repositories. I built a testing and review framework to handle many contributions, achieving 100% reliability. I mentored 19 beginner coders in algorithm design, data structures, and clean code principles, leading to 6 trainees getting their first paid job in the industry.

Quill To-Do & Calendar

I applied test-driven development and Agile to build a to-do list web app with a team of developers, creating 4 iterations based on user feedback and stories. I wrote over 60 unit, integration, and functional tests for our model-view-controller architecture with a SQLite relational database backend, achieving 100% code coverage and reliable updates with CI/CD. I managed our kanban board and enforced Git standards and usage, which cut meeting times in half and facilitated 384 commits.

SealNet

I created software to identify 400 seals across migration sites without the use of harmful tagging. I planned objectives and resource needs with 3 environmental researchers, then surveyed publications for approaches and built a pipeline to process 2,000+ 4k photos. I made and optimized an AWS EC2 and S3 pipeline using C and Python, reducing data loading and training times by 75%, which led to eventual publication covered by 4 news outlets and Smithsonian.

Code-translation for Accessibility

I created an accesibility program to turn user voice commands into code interpretable by Starcraft 2, which let users control the game without motor function. I built a speech-to-code dataset using measurable research approaches, generating over 100 datapoints. I explored and tested various models, resulting in a 112% accuracy increase over my baseline with 90% less code.

Internet Service Provider Policy Summarization

I expanded on past works in computer networks along with my team by scraping Internet Service Provider policy statements and training a Natural Language Processing model to summarize and rate companies. We assembled a dataset of 832 datapoints, helping consumers make informed buying decisions for more than 68 companies.

Who is James Daus?

Engineer

I built a cloud-hosted platform that generated $220,000 in revenue and wrote code to process thousands of high resolution photos for environmental researchers.

Leader

I’ve led 70 developers, designers, and UX researchers across 4 continents to deliver open-source software. I’ve made roadmaps and held meetings to accomplish 1,000+ Git commits across my projects.

Communicator

I strive to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical audiences, which I’ve done for a community of 2,800 members. I'm a storyteller, and you might spot me in the evenings doing silly voices for wizards. (Dungeons & Dragons anyone?)

Detail-Oriented

I’ve written hundreds of unit and integration tests, and have built several GitHub CI/CD pipelines. I’ve detected errors and bugfixed everywhere from data collection to app deployment.

Learner

I take online courses for fun and apply what I'm learning by building prototypes, like combining machine learning and game development into an AI-powered web app.

Volunteer

I love paying it forward through teaching, and have mentored 19 beginner coders in algorithms and data structures, leading to 6 getting their first paid coding jobs.

Skills

Proficient

  • Python
  • C#(.NET)
  • Algorithms
  • Data Structures
  • CI/CD (Git)
  • RESTful APIs
  • HTML/CSS
  • Unix
  • Agile
  • Computer Vision
  • Machine Learning

Experienced

  • Ruby
  • Relational Database (SQLite)
  • Cloud Computing (AWS, Azure)
  • C
  • Java
  • Cloud Computing (AWS, Azure)
  • Cybersecurity
  • Natural Language Processing

Awards

  • Summa Cum Laude & High Honors
  • The Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Computer Science Community
  • The Edward P. Felt '81 Memorial Prize Fund in Computer Science
  • The Laura Sanchis Award for Excellence in Research
  • Dean's Award for Academic Excellence with Distinction
  • Thought Into Action Shark Tank Pitch Finalist

Leadership

Open-Source Leader

At the non-profit Dev Launchers I volunteered as a coding mentor, and after several months became a project lead, designing and leading an open-source project for students to gain experience on.

Computer Science Discord

I co-created the official Discord server for my Computer Science Department during the pandemic, integrating classes to facilitate collaborative learning and community growth for over 250 students and Professors.

Cybersecurity Teaching Assisstant

I taught 26 students to write secure code and respect privacy ethics, and organized optional study sessions used by 100% of students.

Community Foundation of Northern Virginia

I volunteered to analyze and discuss applicants with fund advisors to decide how to allocate $20,000 annually for children’s health initiatives.