James Rodenkirch

Leader, Mentor, Engineer, Entrepreneur

Career Summary

James is a results-driven, articulate, and analytical technical leader with more than 20 years of experience in technical architecture and development. Since 2009, James has held leadership roles and has focused on building teams, growing leaders, implementing change, and technical management. James is able to bridge the gap between technology and business and excels at guiding teams through periods of transition towards success.

Outside of work James hones his sarcastic wit on unexpecting people and spends an exorbitant amount of time grooming his beard.

Work Experience

Current Owner / Developer

Active Binary LLC
2013 - Present

Through Active Binary I have worked with many clients to lead development efforts in various industries. At various times this has been my fulltime job, and at other times this has been an outlet for freelancing and continual learning.

SVP, Product

Dealer Inspire Inc
12/2018 - 05/2021

  • Created a Product Quality team that included functional and automation focused testing resources. Dispersing these resources amongst the development teams shortened the feedback loop for bugs and improved the quality of code releases.
  • Grew the Product Design team from a single shared resource to four dedicated designers on specific products.
  • Created a Product Management team that included eight Product Owners, an Agile Coach, and 3 SCRUM Masters.
  • Implemented multiple stages of Agile Transformation, moving the organization from Kanban to SCRUM to SAFe. These changes reduced distraction for the development teams, improved new feature output, and improved the business's ability to forecast releases.
  • Led multiple product teams through periods of code instability and delays to their current states of productivity, on-time delivery, and feature-rich functionality.

VP of Product Engineering

Dealer Inspire Inc
06/2015 - 12/2018
  • Implemented development best practices including code review, pull requests, team estimation, scheduling, and road map management.
  • Grew the product development team from 2 developers to over 40.
  • Led team reorganization efforts through massive company growth to stay proactive with future needs.
  • Introduced advancement paths for both technical and non-technical career goals through Lead Developer and Director of Engineering roles.
  • Identified, promoted, and mentored technical leaders as needed through various phases of team growth.

Technical Lead

Dewpoint Inc
5/2013 - 6/2015

The projects that James led at Red Cedar were transitioned to Dewpoint by the client. James transitioned to Dewpoint in order to continue the work and lead the development. The team was smaller and did not require HR management, but all other aspects of the role were the same.

Product Development Manager

Red Cedar Solutions Group
03/2009 - 12/2012
  • Led teams of developers on multiple projects dealing with offender risk assessment and case management as well as educational data analytics.
  • Setup and supported virtualized development environment, including automating project setup with native package installers (deb).
  • Implemented and oversaw development workflow and procedures.
  • implemented application architectures including frameworks, ORMs, SCM, server platform, and release deployment.
  • Worked with clients to determine requirements, project timelines, and cost estimates.
  • Mentored developers, facilitated professional development, and performed performance reviews.

Technologies used:

  • Linux
  • Windows Server
  • Apache
  • IIS
  • PHP
  • MySQL
  • MSSQL
  • Symfony2
  • Zend Framework
  • Doctrine
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • Ajax
  • CSS
  • LESS
  • HTML 5
  • XML
  • REST
  • SOAP
  • GIT
  • SVN

Programmer 3 / Team Lead

Rogers Software Development
03/2008 - 01/2009
  • Led team of developers on multiple projects
  • Recommended and implemented new ORM layer (Doctrine) to the main product
  • Acted as SVN lead. Merged multiple repositories and led efforts for branch restructuring and management
  • Coded and maintained server scripts for sending and receiving data from third parties via FTP
  • Led efforts to localize development and segregate development environments from production
  • Led efforts to centralize project work into companies project management system (Trac)

Technologies used:

  • Windows Server
  • Apache
  • PHP
  • MySQL
  • Zend Framework
  • Doctrine
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • CSS
  • HTML 4
  • SVN

Internet Services Developer

WS Packaging Group Inc
09/2007 - 03/2008
  • Maintained customer portal site in Mason/Perl
  • Developed intranet in Ruby on Rails
  • Supported server scripts written in Perl and Ruby
  • Developed applications with Perl, JavaScript, Ajax

Technologies used:

  • Linux
  • Apache
  • Perl
  • Ruby on Rails
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • Ajax

Internet Applications Developer

Independent Printing Company Inc
02/2007 - 08/2007
  • Integrated third party shopping cart with legacy ordering system using XML and XSLT
  • Maintained division e-commerce site in C# .Net
  • Support company fulfillment system written in Prolifics Panther
  • Provide end-user support and training for company's web-based applications

Technologies used:

  • Windows
  • .Net
  • C#
  • VB.NET
  • Oracle
  • XML
  • XSLT

Web Developer

Delta Dental of WI
06/2005 - 02/2007
  • Implemented multi-developer source code control system (SVN), code promote system and SOP's
  • Documented web usability and coding standards
  • Acted as technical lead and architect for a three-person web team
  • Developed and supported authenticated portals for multiple types of users
  • Designed and developed a custom templating framework and CMS
  • Interfaced the website with DB2 running on an IBM iSeries
  • Provided direction with emerging technologies and strategies to keep applications current
  • Assisted with server setup and performance adjustments

Technologies used:

  • Linux
  • Apache
  • PHP
  • MySQL
  • DB2
  • Zend Framework
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • CSS
  • HTML 4
  • SVN

Web Developer

EZ-Net Inc
04/2002 - 06/2005

Designed and developed websites for clients

Web Developer

GreenBayNet Inc
09/1999 - 04/2002

Designed and developed websites for clients

Skills

  • Architecture
  • Change Management
  • Forecasting
  • Management Through Systems
  • Maximizing Potential
  • People Management
  • Priority Management
  • Process Improvement
  • Project Management
  • Scheduling
  • Strategic Thinking
  • Team Building

Education

  • Lakeland University
    Major: Business Administration
    Emphasis: Management
    Minor: Computer Science
    2012 - 2018