Hi, I'm Risa. I am a professional flailer: I flail my arms wildly about and hope that what I've done works. And it does, usually. Eventually.

I heart SF

I'm currently a San Francisco-based independent consultant, focusing on Rails apps. I've got an ever-growing interest in performance optimizations; it's challenging and so very rewarding.

My specialties include writing tests (RSpec and Capybara heart!) as well as troubleshooting production code. Of course, I also write features. I've spent a bit of time as a DevOps Engineer where I've provisioned over 30+ servers. I've taught myself Ansible and systems administration to maintain, water, and make my little "server garden" happy. I've also written formal documentation for HIPAA regulation and have taken an MIT ProfessionalX course on cybersecurity.

All that aside, as much as my title may be that of an engineer, I think like a scientist. I absolutely love examples and coming up with my own hypotheses and testing it out; in fact that's how I learn. I also have a penchant for detecting patterns, which really helps with troubleshooting issues.

Nerd First

Here, have a fun lil adventure: can you guess my Myers Brigg? It's on this page somewhere. My Searls-Brigg type indicator says I'm SALTy, which is pretty accurate.

Ultimately I'm a nerd, and I fully embrace this fact. My hobbies, in no particular order: learning, internet memes, puns, cats, gifs, curvy mountain roads, MINI Coopers, adventures, traveling (solo or with others), games, and San Francisco. I love life, and I live by the motto: 'tanoshiku ikiru' (Japanese, rough translation of "Live life enjoyably")

Forever PoGo

I am a fan of Pokemon Go and still play it. I'm reppin' Team Banana (Instinct) as that fits my personality best, and I love the memes poking fun of Instinct. Even when I take over a gym... I can probably talk your ear off about the game, its nuances, and how it kind of made the world a lil bit better for a short while. It has brought joy to my life for sure. Nowadays I use the game as a way to explore places I haven't been; the pokestops are a perfect way to learn lil bits about the city.

Presentations

I like giving talks! Want to see a couple of them?

My first tech talk (40m): How to Test for User Happiness
My first conference lightning talk (5m, first one): Asset Pipeline Tips and Tricks

I've also given talks on the following subjects: * Rails and the warped asset pipeline * Load Testing (on a real world app) * Postgres basics (and a workshop) * Rake tasks vs migrations

The more professional about me:

Risa spent the majority of her career in Fortune 500 companies, notably in the pharmaceutical and defense industries on the East Coast before moving to San Francisco to pursue a career in the tech industry. She's an avid supporter of pair programming, a Ruby on Rails enthusiast, and a Postgres fan. She loves to give presentations and enjoys elevating people's game, mostly women in STEM fields. Risa is also a speaker for Women Who Code, a community ambassador for Fog City Ruby, and a member of Lesbians Who Tech. She drives an awesome electric blue MINI Cooper S named Sebastian Gertrude (Sebby, for short).

You can connect with her on LinkedIn or any of the other methods below.