Hello, My Name is Elisha Terada

I solve real-world problems with design, programming, and critical business thinking skills.

Specialties

Build Server-Side Rendered (SSR) web apps that scales with Next.js, React, Mobx, Express/Koa, JavaScript, and more.
Design and Develop Interactive UI / Data Visualization with optimal usability, accessibility, and responsiveness with D3.js, Greensock, Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, and more.
Solve complex problems associated with Datetime and Geolocation using tools such as Luxon, Moment.js, Mapbox GL JS, Google Maps JavaScript API, Leaflet.js, Turf.js, and more.

Complementary Skills

Design / Develop Native iOS Apps with Swift, Core ML, and more.
Train Machine Learning Models to build intelligent apps with Turi Create, Jupyter Notebook, Python, and more.
Build Back-End Microservices with Node, Express/Koa, Flask, Docker, MongoDB, and more.

Experiences

Co-Founder at Zapiary

Aug 2018 - Present

Zapiary learns how your team spends their time in meetings, then coaches each member on what they are doing well, and where they can improve.

As a Co-Founder, I'm responsible for Strategy, Front-End Engineering, Branding, and UI/UX Design of our services.
Front-End Developer Lead at Fresh Consulting

Jan 2010 - Jun 2018 (8 yrs 6 mos)
Fresh Consulting is an integrated consulting team of designers, developers, and engineers that builds fresh experiences people love.

As a Front-End Developer Lead, I led and developed Single-Page Web Apps (SPA) for clients including Fortune 250 company.
- Developed 5 enterprise SPAs and 100+ marketing/lead-gen websites
- Spoke at conferences, meet-ups, and code camps on topics including programming, creativity, and career development.
- Led a team of developers (30+) including technical training sessions, career development planning, performance reviews, and more.

Open Source

My open source projects are result of scratching my own itch, a bi-product of learning something new.

Turi Create Starter
A simple setup for Turi Create with Jupyter Notebook on macOS to build custom ML models.
D3.js Area Chart Example
A simple D3.js area chart example with tooltip written in ES6+ and using latest D3.js API.
Google Application Credential Buildpack for Heroku
Load Google Service Account JSON file at build time to workaround Heroku's ephemeral filesystem.

My Tastes

Books & Audiobooks
Learn from others, leverage their experience, and change how you live.
Design & Development Quotes
Keep a record of important lessons from legends in your field.
Developer Humors
Take a break, realize that your problems are not unique.

Hobbies

Photography of people, objects, and nature. Some of them are released as commercially-free stock photos via Unsplash.
Wedding videography with my wife, check out Terada Films for the portfolio.

My Story

I was born and raised in Japan until I moved to Seattle at the age of 12. After being exposed to a few programmers around the area, I got excited to learn how to write programs. I hacked a few programs in C, Visual Basic 6, CGI, Action Script, etc. But what got me excited the most were the JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. I was fascinated with the idea of being able to build something useful for anybody around the world without asking them to install anything on their computer.

Over the last 8 years, I've been building front-end website and web apps professionally. I played key roles in producing 100+ websites and 5 enterprise web apps for 60+ businesses including a Fortune 200 company. I work closely with stakeholders / users to understand their problems, listen to their feedback, and bring back solutions to the table.

Today, I continue to solve real-world problems with Front-End Engineering, UI / UX Design, Data Visualization, Machine Learning, Mobile App Development, and more.

What’s Your Story?

What problems are you trying to solve? Do you need someone who can solve real-world problems with design, programming, and critical business thinking?

If so, let’s have a conversation: