Cassidy James Blaede

Objective

To design, implement, and continuously improve excellent user experiences, especially using and related to open source software.

Experience

Twelve years of front-end web development, eight years of open source collaboration, and eight years of user experience design and architecture.

elementary, Inc. 2011–present

Co-founder, Chief Experience Officer (CXO)

Responsibilities:

• UX research & design
• Front-end web development of elementary.io
• Third-party developer outreach and evangelism
• Documenting, evolving, and maintaining detailed Human Interface Guidelines
• User & developer documentation
• Issue tracking & triaging
• Front-end desktop development in Vala and GTK+

Achievements:

• Conceptualized, launched, and maintained monthly editorial content at medium.com/elementaryos
• Designed, developed, and launched six apps on AppCenter to dogfood the development process
• Initiated and maintained comprehensive brand resources
• Coordinated a week-long design and development sprint for AppCenter
• Designed and implemented a web-based AppCenter browsing experinece

System76 2014–2018

UX Architect, Front-end Web Developer

Responsibilities:

• UX research, modeling, design, and testing
• Front-end web development of System76.com (2014–2017)
• Working directly with marketing team to turn concepts & designs into code
• Communicating with and translating between designers, engineers, stakeholders, and customers
• Photo manipulation & video compositing
• Front-end desktop development in Vala and GTK+
• Constant collaborative design and development using git and GitHub

Achievements:

• Researched, initiated, and documented an effort to offer HiDPI displays and improve the HiDPI experience on System76 products
• Coordinated efforts working with upstream open source projects
• Attended and documented GNOME UX Hackfest 2017, helping to design future improvements to GNOME Shell and GDM
• Designed several critical customer-facing interfaces (Product Configurator, OS Installer, USB Flasher, GPU Switching) and helped bring them to life in code
• Accepted as a member of the GNOME Foundation for work on GNOME and downstream projects
• Attended and documented GUADEC 2018, helping to represent System76 and Pop!_OS interests while building closer relationships with upstreams

Visual Logic Group 2012–2013

User Experience Intern

• UX research & user testing
• Designing time-tracking software with a team
• Icon design
• Front-end web development

University of Northern Iowa 2011–2012

Network Engineer Assistant (ITS Network Services)

• Configured and maintained switch firmware & configuration
• Managed Wi-Fi monitoring service
• Performed wireless site surveys
• Provisioned and configured wireless APs
• Handled RMA procedures
• Utilized various consoles for network and AP management
• Created and managed wireless heatmaps
• Tracked tasks and progress in a ticketing system

LCS 2010–2011

Technical Support Analyst

• Provided support to internal staff and external clients via help desk
• Assisted staff/clients with password resets, software installation, etc.
• Wrote and maintained documentation through Sharepoint
• Communicated technical concepts to facilitate understanding
• Rapidly learned and mastered varied internal systems and programs
• Tracked tasks and progress in a ticketing system

Webspec Design, LLC. 2007–2010

Web Developer

• Front-end web development of small client websites
• Training and supporting clients
• Installing, configuring, developing, and supporting custom Wordpress-based websites and plugins
• High-fidelity web design slicing & implementation

Education

University of Northern Iowa 2012–2014

Interactive Digital Studies

DMACC 2010–2012

Liberal Arts