About Max
I’m a software engineer based in Northwest Indiana. I help businesses when important software stops working, systems stop talking to each other, or useful software needs a new owner.
Software engineer since 2018 · Former PayPal engineer · Purdue Computer Science
I earned my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Purdue University. Since then, my work has included payment software, cloud deployments, medical-device integrations and building my own product.
I like problems that don’t fit neatly into one box: an application waiting on a database, a changed API, or a background job that stopped without anyone noticing.
Why that background translates to rescue work
Payment work taught me how small integration mistakes can interrupt a revenue-critical workflow.
Cloud environments and CI/CD taught me to follow code beyond the repository into how it actually reaches production.
Medical-device and backend integrations taught me to troubleshoot across components owned by different teams.
Building Chess Fish end to end gave me responsibility for the application, backend, subscriptions, native analysis and operations around a live product.
Android Engineer · October 2021–March 2024
I developed Kotlin code and unit tests for the PayPal and Braintree Android SDKs, connected SDK features to backend services through GraphQL, and joined a Node.js backend team for several sprints.
I led an epic with two engineers to integrate crypto payments into the PayPal Android SDK.
Software Engineer · November 2018–July 2020
I set up and maintained CI/CD pipelines in AWS, Azure and Codemagic, and created AWS CloudFormation models to set up identical cloud environments.
I also designed and implemented an iOS Bluetooth library for integration with medical devices.
Founder / Software Engineer · Independent product
I own the product across the browser experience, application services, data, accounts, subscriptions, live analysis, shared rooms and private operations tools. I also extended the open-source Stockfish 18 engine for the analysis workflow Chess Fish needs.
It is a useful example of how I work across a real product: start with what a person needs to understand, then make the systems underneath support that experience reliably.
For a failure, I start with what worked before and what isn’t working now. For a project, I want to understand the process you are trying to improve.
I’ll ask enough questions to see whether I can help. If the work belongs with your IT provider, software vendor or another specialist, I’ll tell you.
Before billable work begins, we discuss the scope and cost. You don’t need to arrive with a technical diagnosis.
Working on behalf of a client? See how I work with IT firms and agencies →
Text me the short version. You do not need to prepare a technical brief first.
