Hey, I'm
Justin
I'm a software engineer.
Let's build something together!
Hi, I'm Justin
I'm an engineer.
Let's get to work!

Justin Schrader portrait Gettin' old...

Hello

I'm a builder

and a tinkerer

Early days The early days ... (~2007) I started my journey as a UI engineer way back in 2002, building websites on Geocities and Angelfire with as many GIFs as possible . I quickly learned that I could supplement my paintball habit by building websites for paintball stores, clubs, and teams in exchange for gear. A few years later, I went to design school at RIT, where I learned the fundamentals of engineering and design.

Want the rest of the story? Check out the work tab.

I like

other stuff too!

Family Family

When I'm not working, I'm usually spending time with my wife, Megan, our two daughters: Eloise (8) and JoJo (7), and our yellow lab: Lucy (11). We've been living in Portland, OR for the past ~12 years and love everything the pacific northwest has to offer. We're originally from upstate New York. Go Bills! If you want to see more of us, check out my Instagram.

Ride.

Slide.

Ride The Hurricane 2025 Ride The Hurricane 2025 Over the past few years I've really taken a liking to road cycling. It's so rewarding to get out and explore new places using leg power, and to see progress in my fitness over time. Top of Mt. Bachelor Top of Mt. Bachelor When it's warm, you can find me on Strava. When it's cold or rainy, you can find me riding virtually indoors on Zwift.

I also love snowboarding, and the PNW is such a special place to do it. My favorite mountain is Mt. Bachelor near Bend, OR. We've also recently enrolled out kids in ski lessons and can't wait to shred with them!

Kicking back

at home

Game Boy Metal GB I built In my downtime, I love playing retro video games . I have a lot of favorites, but if I had to pick 3 they'd be: SSX3 , Silent Hill 2 , and Mario Kart 64 . My favorite console is the PS2 . If you're interested in what I'm playing right now, check out my GG profile. I also refurbish, repair, and mod retro gaming consoles in my basement workshop!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Watchin' Horror flicks I also love watching and reviewing horror movies. Like video games, I have a lot of favorites, but if I had to pick 3 they'd be The Thing , The Substance , and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre . If you're into horror movies, follow me on Letterboxd, I'll follow ya back!

Last, but not least, I enjoy reading horror novels, and collecting 1st edition Stephen King books ! Follow me on Goodreads.

Still reading this?

If this all feels like a good culture fit, check out my work tab.

Justin Schrader portrait That's me!

Let's Go

Create for

real people

I've been designing and building for the web for over 2 decades. I live at the intersection of engineering, product, and design — I care just as much about how something looks and feels as how it's built.

  1. Highlight

    Staff Software Engineer

    Building better products for people and the planet! We provide a comprehensive product testing and research platform that helps companies launch new products with confidence.

    • Built our design system component library, consolidating UI patterns across 4 products and eliminating thousands of instances of duplicate code and visual inconsistencies.
    • Led adoption of agentic engineering across a 20-person engineering org through talks, documentation, and continuous learning.
    • Improved development velocity by increasing build speed by ~35%.
    • Established a recurring cross-functional sync between UI engineers and design to improve alignment, strategy, and best practices .

  2. New Relic

    Senior Software Engineer

    During my 6 years as a Senior Software Engineer at New Relic, I helped users understand petabytes of system transaction data through Distributed Tracing. I enabled them to resolve errors, improve latency, and monitor their complex architectures.

    • Improved test coverage, reliability, performance, and maintainability
    • Provided mentorship for colleagues to facilitate their skill development
    • Substantially reduced bundle size through dependency management and simplification
    • Contributed valuable enhancements to the org-wide shared component library
    • Played a key role in establishing UI coding standards and working agreements

  3. Koan

    Senior Software Engineer

    I joined Koan (later acquired by Quantive) as a Founding Senior Frontend Engineer and helped take them 0 to 1 by launching their initial React application. Our goal was to help companies build high-performing teams by providing a platform for transparent, continuous feedback. We later expanded our functionality to include team and org alignment via OKR tracking and reporting.

    • Founding React engineer at fast-paced seed stage startup
    • Helped implement essential CI/CD build tooling and error monitoring

  4. Pathbrite / Cengage

    Lead UI Engineer

    Lead UI engineering for a small (~25 person) education technology startup from early in its lifecycle, through eventual acquisition by Cengage Learning . Pathbrite offered a comprehensive portfolio, grading, and assessment platform (LMS) for students, teachers, and employers.

    • Collaborated closely with design and sales to improve product offerings
    • Contributed to the growth of engineers through planning, process, and mentorship
    • Greatly improved reliability, performance, and consistency of the application

  5. Luxurious Animals

    Senior Design Engineer

    Designed, animated, and developed advertising solutions for renowned brands such as HBO, Morgan Stanley, and Porsche . Delivered diverse projects under stringent deadlines ranging from websites, games, and applications to interactive web ads and commercials.

  6. Big Spaceship

    Design & Engineering Summer Internship

    Summer internship at the end of my junior year at RIT. Learned process and technique from some of the best minds in advertising. Worked on pieces of a promotional website and interactive work for Universal Pictures .

  7. Blue Pixel Studios

    Design & Engineering Contractor

    My first foray into "professional" work. Designed and built several websites for local businesses in my hometown of Binghamton, NY.

Skills

  1. Frontend
  2. UI/UX
  3. Visual Design
  4. System Architecture
  5. Component Libraries
  6. Startups
  7. Performance Optimization
  8. Technical Leadership
  9. Collaboration
  10. Compatibility
  11. Accessibility
  12. Test Coverage
  13. State Management

Tech

  1. React
  2. Typescript
  3. Javascript
  4. Cursor
  5. Node
  6. Redux
  7. RTK
  8. Next.js
  9. HTML
  10. SASS
  11. CSS
  12. Figma
  13. Jest
  14. Vite
  15. Tailwind
  16. Mantine
  17. Storybook
  18. Playwright
  19. Vitest
  20. C#
  21. Kotlin
Lux Animals Lux Animals Pathbrite Pathbrite Koan Koan New Relic New Relic

I've worked across the full spectrum — from scrappy five-person startups to data-driven enterprises with thousands of employees. No matter the environment, I bring a deep commitment to crafting delightful user works grounded in empathy, utility, and performance.