Tristan Cravello's project work

👋 Hi, I’m Tristan. I didn’t start my career in software engineering. I spent three years teaching middle school social studies, where I learned how to communicate clearly, lead a room, break down complicated ideas, and help people work through challenges. Eventually, I realized I wanted to apply that same problem-solving mindset to technology. So I started building. Today, I’m a software engineer focused on full-stack development, backend systems, cloud infrastructure, AI engineering, and distributed systems. I work with technologies including TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, React, Next.js, Spring Boot, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS. What I enjoy most is going beyond “make the app work.” I like asking what happens when a system has to scale, when dependencies fail, when an AI agent makes the wrong decision, or when a deployment needs to recover safely. That curiosity has led me to build projects involving cloud-native APIs, CI/CD pipelines, RAG evaluation, AI-assisted debugging and repair, event-driven systems, geospatial search, transactional outbox patterns, idempotency, Redis partitioning, observability, and system design. NextWork has become a big part of how I learn. Instead of only reading about a concept, I build something around it, test it, break it, reflect on what happened, and then move on to the next challenge. I’m also a Build Master with NextWork, where I help design and lead Build & Brew sessions focused on portfolio-ready software engineering and AI projects. I enjoy creating challenges that make people think like engineers instead of simply following instructions, and helping other builders work through the moments where things do not go according to plan. My background in education still shows up in the way I approach engineering. I like making complex ideas understandable, documenting what I learn, collaborating with others, and creating environments where people can experiment without being afraid to get something wrong. Outside of tech, I’m a competitive runner. Running has taught me a lot about patience, consistency, recovery, and long-term progress. Software engineering feels similar in many ways: improvement comes from showing up, learning from bad days, and continuing to build. I’m still learning, still experimenting, and still finding new areas of engineering that I want to understand more deeply. If you’re a developer, builder, engineering leader, recruiter, or someone else learning in public, I’d be glad to connect. 🤝 💻 GitHub: https://github.com/triscravello 🌐 Portfolio: https://triscravello.github.io/tristan-portfolio-site/ 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristan-cravello-3b6500146/