Ruben Martinez Jr.

Hi! I'm Ruben. I'm a designer, developer, and artist passionate about building cool stuff. I currently work at Slack, in New York City, where I work on the frontend team creating insightful data visualizations for our enterprise customers. Previously, I worked on the OkCupid web and iOS teams, helping come up with new and interesting ways for people to get to know each other online. I got the opportunity to work on several major projects, including reworking the web experience into a Single Page App, and rewriting OkCupid's instant messenger using React. Prior to that, I designed and built the Progressive Web App frontend for WELL Health Inc, a Techstars-funded startup dedicated to improving the patient healthcare experience. I oversaw the rollout of WELL from zero users to several hundred thousand MAU that were being seen in mid-2018. When I'm not working, I love to make art, apps, and sometimes, even furniture. I graduated from Bowdoin College in 2015 with a degree in Computer Science and Visual Arts. That summer, I was selected to attend WWDC as a Student Scholar. I also helped write a book on building Swift apps for WatchOS. For more information about me, feel free to reach out to me via any of the links listed in the sidebar.

Slack, New York, New York — Senior Software Engineer

April 2020 - Present

I work on the frontend team creating insightful data visualizations for our enterprise customers.

OkCupid, New York, New York — Senior Software Engineer

June 2018 - April 2020

I worked on the web and iOS teams at OkCupid, helping come up with new and interesting ways for people to get to know each other online. I got the opportunity to work on several major projects, including reworking the web experience into a Single Page App, and rewriting OkCupid's instant messenger using React.

Well Health Inc, San Francisco, CA — Lead Frontend Eng

September 2015 - June 2018

Designed and built a HIPAA-compliant encrypted messaging web app with real-time push notifications & offline support, that allows hospitals and clinics to communicate securely and reliably with their patients.

All-Star Code, New York, NY — Lead Instructor

June 2015 - August 2016

Introduced a class of 20 high school students to web & mobile app development, robotics and physical computing, while teaching them to use languages like Python, JS, and C.

Apress Media, Brunswick, ME — Writer

February 2015 - June 2015

Co-authored a book on teaching Swift development of Apple Watch apps using WatchKit 1.0.

Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME — B.A.

August 2011 - May 2015

Computer Science major with a Visual Arts minor.

University of Texas Brownsville, Brownsville, TX — A.S.

August 2009 - May 2011

Majored in Biology and Chemistry.

Recal — React Component

Built a ~6kb reusable React/Preact Calendar component using CSS Grid. Reached #12 on the global trending repositories on GitHub.

Piggy — Mac App

Developed a Mac menu bar app for viewing up-to-date cryptocurrency prices and Coinbase wallet data.

Muzee — iOS App

Created an iOS app for capturing photos of paintings, correcting skewed perspectives, and viewing them in AR.

Avivore — Chrome Extension

Built an extension that uses Google’s Perspective API to auto-hide "toxic" tweets on Twitter.com in real time.

Recloud — NPM Package

Created a React mixin for memoizing results from API calls given prop or state dependencies.

Archive — Chrome Extension

Developed an extension that allows you to archive websites to the Wayback Machine with just a click.

Flat.Style — JavaScript PWA

Created an offline-ready web app for generating icons with shadow effects given any image using the HTML Canvas API.

GroupCodes — JavaScript SPA

Built a real-time collaborative web-based code editor aimed at students working together on projects.

Infinitweet — Chrome Extension, iOS & Android apps

Created a social media tool for sending “infinitely” long tweets, by converting text into images optimized for Twitter. 3.6k downloads.

DUCK! — iOS app

TouchID/FaceID-secured photo locker, with a responsive layout for iPhone & iPad compatibility. 3.4k downloads.

LittleData — Chrome app

Designed a JavaScript app that used WebAudio API and WebRTC to attempt to translate visual input into a unique, identifiable sound.

Bowdoin Dining — JavaScript SPA, iOS & Android apps

Developed a suite of apps for Bowdoin College Dining used by over 5.6k students and faculty.

WBOR Radio — Chrome Extension, iOS & Android apps

Developed apps to allow anyone to stream WBOR Radio, the Bowdoin College student radio station, from their phone or laptop. 3.8k downloads.

Examples of apps and promotional materials I've designed.