David Nicholas

David Nicholas

1 (801) 309-8163/[email protected]/Salt Lake City, UT/github.com/dead-alchemy

Summary

Senior full stack developer with 10 years of experience building Angular, React, and Node applications, owning everything from database design and APIs to front end logic and CSS. Led a critical data integration during the Discover-to-Capital One merger, built applications used by thousands of employees, and has mentored 8+ developers.

Skills

Frontend

AngularReactNext.jsTypeScriptJavaScriptHTMLCSSMaterial UIBootstrapUI/UX and mockups

Backend & Data

Node.jsGoREST APIsSQLNoSQLETL pipelinesTableauSAS

DevOps & Tools

AWSDockerJenkinsBashGitCloudflare PagesNetlify

Practices

Agile/ScrumJest unit testingCode reviewMentoringAI-assisted development (Claude)

Experience

Senior Software Developer

Capital One (formerly Discover Financial Services, acquired 2025) — West Valley, UT · July 2016 – Present
  • Own applications end to end, from database queries and Node APIs to AWS infrastructure, Angular and React front ends, and CSS styling.
  • Led the hierarchy data integration during the Discover-to-Capital One merger, designing the SQL queries and ETL pipelines that combined two hierarchy systems and fed 7 downstream teams, including 4 critical reporting systems, affecting 3,000+ users.
  • Built the Angular front end for the hierarchy application, giving 1,000+ managers a single view of team structure, roles, and job expectations.
  • Developed a memo assistant tool used by 300+ customer service agents, standardizing call notes across teams and saving each agent 2–3 hours per week (600+ hours weekly overall).
  • Built an attendance tracking application for 1,000+ users that combines HR data with team leader input to track tardies and no call/no shows, including the Node APIs, front end, and Tableau reporting.
  • Created an AI-assisted shared component library (Calendar, Table, and other reusable components) adopted by 2 teams with 26 developers, cutting initial component delivery time by 33–50%.
  • Migrated 5 internal applications from ColdFusion to React, including memo taking, coaching, and performance management tools, improving speed, reducing defects, and shortening development time.
  • Helped lead the team's transition from React to Angular, mentoring developers on Angular patterns and problem solving.
  • Mentored 8+ developers, onboarded 5 new team members, and led code reviews and pull requests; wrote Jest tests to meet an 80% coverage standard.

Senior Sales Associate

Discover Financial Services — West Valley, UT · August 2013 – July 2016
  • Matched customers to personal loan programs through needs assessment, building a foundation in client communication.

Projects

  • Blogging platform (Next.js) — Blog that registers a "like" only after a reader scrolls through 90% of a post, rewarding real engagement over clicks.
  • DaysToHalloween.com (Cloudflare Pages) — Countdown site that switches to an interactive themed experience during Halloween.
  • Go Todo API (Go, Gin) — REST API for managing tasks, with request validation, CORS handling, security headers, and environment-based configuration. github.com/dead-alchemy/go-todo

Education

Bachelor of Science in Software Design and Development

Wilmington University