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Great Blue Heron

Trans: Latin prefix implying “across” or “Beyond”, often used in gender nonconforming situations Scend: Archaic word describing a strong “surge” or “wave”, originating with 15th century english sailors Survival: 15th century english compound word describing an existence only worth transcending

Jess Sullivan

About

Typing animation of skills and technologies
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Full stack engineer, musician, and birdwatcher based in Lewiston, ME.

I spent about a year completely offline — no LinkedIn, no blog, no social media. Late 2023 through the end of 2024. An intentional disconnect. I'm back to building in the open.

I build infrastructure tooling, contribute to compilers and languages, hack on hardware, and maintain a lot of FOSS.

xoxd.aiComing Soon: tinyland.dev

Tech & FOSS

ChapelRocky LinuxApache SolrSkeleton UISearXNGKeePassXCFutharkxCaddyfft.jslibdnsqutebrowserpytestsvelte-superformsKlipper

Sponsoring

The-Compiler / Freya BruhinXe Iaso / TequaroHQSkeleton Labspurpl3F0xEFFErin in the MorningThe Onion

Recent Posts

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GitHub Activity

GitHub Stats Top Languages
Contribution Snake
GitHub Streak Activity Graph

Repository Similarity Graph

Repository Similarity Graph

Jaccard similarity of repository language distributions

Experience

Systems Analyst (DevSecOps) — Bates College

2024–Present

  • Legacy modernization, bespoke Ansible extensions, roles & plugins
  • Apache Solr, ACME cert management, SAML integrations
  • GitLab AutoDevOps, RKE2 + Rancher, promoter of IaC practices
  • Orchestration, packaging & tooling work (Haskell + Python, QuickCheck, Cabal, FPM)

CV/ML Software Engineer — Macaulay Library

2018–2022

  • Developed & launched Merlin Sound ID & The Machine Learning Blog
  • Fine-grained ML annotation tools for audio classification
  • Internal classification & model evaluation web APIs
  • Python (TensorFlow, NumPy, Pandas), Flask, TypeScript, Docker, WASM

Fabrication Lab Manager — Cornell CALS

2021–2022

  • Rapid fabrication curricula for Landscape Architecture students & faculty
  • OpenSCAD, Fusion 360, C++ tiler development

Ventures

Tinyland.dev, Inc

2024–Present — Funded, stealthmode. Tinyland is big, more to come very soon.

xoxd.ai

2024–Present — Massively parallel, provable, ownable agent infrastructure. 130+ agents, 5 custom models, Chapel + Go + K8s.

Columbari.us LLC

2017–2021 — Independent Gov. contractor in GIS & ML.

Moonlight Coworking LLC

2024 — Shelved rapidfab / HPC hackerspace initiative in NY.

Kitten Spit Labs

2022–Present — Ultrasonic phantom network gel synthesis. Currently on mfg. pause.

Clients

National Park ServiceFoundation for Healthy CommunitiesGPREDNorthern Border Regional CommissionPlymouth State UniversityMassage IthacaTetrahedronRosselSTNWL

FOSS

Original Projects

Languages & Compilers

Infrastructure & DevOps

Hardware & Maker

Web & Apps

ML & Data

Contributor & Maintainer

Community

  • RESF Community Member — Rocky Enterprise Linux Foundation
  • First Fellow — D&M Makerspace, Plymouth State University (2017–2020)
  • Taught Advanced GIS Programming & Intro to Electromechanics at PSU
  • Membership Chair & 3D Printing Captain — Ithaca Generator (2020–2022)
  • COVID-19 PPE manufacturing coordination across New England makerspaces

Beyond Code

Photography

Cut my teeth professionally with world-renowned aerial photographer Alex MacLean and Mike Nyman Wedding Photography before going into business as J.S. Event Photography. Wrote and taught the youth photography curriculum at Joppa Flats and Drumlin Farm Mass Audubon Wildlife Sanctuaries — programs still going strong. Work featured at Celebrate Newton, Newton Public Library, Pease Public Library, Newtonville Cinema, Newton Camera Club, Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary, and in the Newton Tab. Did my own printing on a heavily modified inkjet printer. Completely burnt out from photography by end of 2017, sold all my gear by the end of college.

Music

20+ years of guitar — currently play a custom 9-string electric made for me in NH and a 12-string acoustic. 25+ years of piano/organ — primarily on a rotary Yamaha organ these days.

"If there were no computers I'd probably be a baker, a minstrel or a bard."

Hospitality

Evening bartender & event organizer at Modern Alchemy Game Bar in Ithaca — organized monthly Goth Nights, art shows & private events. Bartender at The Downstairs Listening Room & Tavern and The Watershed in New York. Casual bagel baker at Tandem Bagel Co in Northampton, MA (Spring 2024).

Learning = internet * (time + standards * Ambition) / Difficulty

Links