- 👋 Hi, I’m @ephbaum
- I'm Eph Baum now, just a human doing their best in the beautiful Pacific Northwest
- My current employer is Cars Commerce - see more experience
- 👀 I’m interested in:
- outside
- travel & adventure
- making things
- learning stuff
- history
- play
- and much, much more
- 📋 What I do:
- write code for money
- help other people write code (usually for money)
- play video games
- hike
- travel
- write
- photography
- and much, much more (too much, probably)
- 🌱 I’m (eternally) learning:
- new ways to take care of myself and others
- history, particularly of where I live
- new technologies
- old technologies
- literally whatever happens to interest me in the moment
- 🤝 I’m looking to collaborate on
- anything related to the above
- anything that could ultimately make the world a better place for us all
- anything deeply enriching
- find me Bombing Around
- 📫 How to reach me
Welcome to my GitHub Profile. If you're reading this, I'd love to know!
Serioously, let me know that you've actually read my README.md right here on GitHub.com 😅🤙
Also, if you're feeling at all generous, feel free to tip me or buy me a kombucha or something
I'm a Senior Software Engineer with decades of experience spanning startups and enterprise-scale platforms.
At Cars Commerce, I help power the Cars.com marketplace by maintaining and evolving core Elixir/Phoenix applications deployed on Kubernetes (EKS), leveraging Docker, PostgreSQL, GraphQL, and modern DevOps practices to ensure reliability and scalability.
I’ve led as both an engineer and a mentor, cultivating environments rooted in psychological safety, radical transparency, and servant leadership.
Whether solving complex distributed systems challenges, guiding platform modernization, or mentoring engineers, I blend technical rigor with human-centered leadership.
Senior Software Engineer
Apr 2022 – Present | Chicago, IL (Remote)
- Maintain and evolve Elixir/Phoenix services powering Cars.com’s core marketplace.
- Improve CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and incident response for greater operational excellence.
- Provide technical oversight of the FUEL advertising platform as it sunsets into Marketplace Media.
- Mentor engineers and facilitate agile ceremonies to foster collaboration and growth.
Engineering Manager
Nov 2020 – Apr 2022 | Chicago, IL (Remote)
- Managed 6–9 engineers across multiple teams in Dealer Inspire’s CORE group.
- Oversaw delivery of legacy systems while driving modernization initiatives.
- Fostered a culture of growth and psychological safety through servant leadership.
Sr. Software Engineer
Sep 2017 – Nov 2020 | Naperville, IL (Remote)
- Built and maintained APIs supporting a large portfolio of sites and WordPress plugins.
- Modernized infrastructure, driving the shift from Vagrant to Docker.
- Collaborated with SysOps to improve security and performance.
- Tech: PHP, Laravel, JavaScript, TypeScript, MySQL, Redis, Docker, AWS.
Software Engineer – Full Stack / Mobile Team Lead
Mar 2013 – Apr 2016 | Eden Prairie, MN
- Led a team of 2–4 engineers building hybrid mobile apps (Cordova, Angular, Ionic).
- Awarded a global patent for mobile application UI technology.
- Designed and implemented APIs and backend services in PHP (Laravel), Node.js, MySQL/NoSQL.
- Championed modern practices, improving delivery speed and code quality.
Independent Consultant
Oct 1999 – Present | Various Clients
- Founded and operated Clocktower Computers and dogInFlight, delivering custom web, IT, and application solutions.
- Built APIs and web applications using PHP, Laravel, Node.js, React, Ruby on Rails, and Ionic.
- Migrated legacy systems to modern stacks with Docker and AWS.
- Delivered hybrid mobile apps and cross‑platform solutions (JavaScript, TypeScript, Angular, Ionic).
- Supported agencies and enterprises (e.g., The Lacek Group, Sigient, Chanl Health, Robert Half) with modernization projects.
- Mentored junior developers and introduced DevOps practices to improve delivery pipelines.
- Languages & Frameworks: Elixir, Phoenix, PHP, Laravel, React.js, Node.js, GraphQL
- DevOps & Infrastructure: Kubernetes (EKS), Docker, AWS, CI/CD, Monitoring
- Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis
- Leadership & Culture: Servant Leadership, Psychological Safety, Mentorship
- 2021 CARSYs Technology Functional Award – Software Engineering Excellence
- Business Value Award – Hackathon Ep. IX
- Creativity Award – Hackathon Ep. IV
- Top Internal Award – Hackathon Ep. VII
- Learning Tenet Award Nominee
Mobile Application Interactive User Interface for a Remote Computing Device Monitoring a Test Device
(Global patent awarded for hybrid mobile UI innovation) *