- 👋 Hi, I'm @ephbaum
- I'm Eph Baum — just a human doing their best in the beautiful Pacific Northwest
- My current employer is Cars Commerce — see more experience
- 👀 I'm interested in:
- outside
- travel & adventure
- making things
- learning stuff
- history
- storytelling — in all its forms
- play
- and much, much more
- 📋 What I do:
- write code for money
- help other people write code (usually for money)
- tell stories (writing, photography, games, whatever works)
- hike & travel
- play video games
- and much, much more (too much, probably)
- 🌱 I'm (eternally) learning:
- new ways to take care of myself and others
- history, particularly of where I live
- new technologies and old
- literally whatever interests me in the moment
- 🤝 I'm always looking to collaborate on:
- anything related to the above
- anything that could make the world a better place for us all
- anything deeply enriching
- find me Bombing Around
- hite me at Outsider Solutions
- 📫 How to reach me:
Welcome to my GitHub Profile. If you're reading this, I'd love to know!
Serioously, let me know that you've actually read my README.md right here on GitHub.com 😅🤙
Also, if you're feeling at all generous, feel free to tip me or buy me a kombucha or something
I'm a Senior Software Engineer with decades of experience spanning startups and enterprise-scale platforms.
At Cars Commerce, I help power the Cars.com marketplace by maintaining and evolving core Elixir/Phoenix applications deployed on Kubernetes (EKS), leveraging Docker, PostgreSQL, GraphQL, and modern DevOps practices to ensure reliability and scalability.
I’ve led as both an engineer and a mentor, cultivating environments rooted in psychological safety, radical transparency, and servant leadership.
Whether solving complex distributed systems challenges, guiding platform modernization, or mentoring engineers, I blend technical rigor with human-centered leadership.
Senior Software Engineer
Apr 2022 – Present | Chicago, IL (Remote)
- Maintain and evolve Elixir/Phoenix services powering Cars.com’s core marketplace.
- Improve CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, and incident response for greater operational excellence.
- Provide technical oversight of the FUEL advertising platform as it sunsets into Marketplace Media.
- Mentor engineers and facilitate agile ceremonies to foster collaboration and growth.
Engineering Manager
Nov 2020 – Apr 2022 | Chicago, IL (Remote)
- Managed 6–9 engineers across multiple teams in Dealer Inspire’s CORE group.
- Oversaw delivery of legacy systems while driving modernization initiatives.
- Fostered a culture of growth and psychological safety through servant leadership.
Sr. Software Engineer
Sep 2017 – Nov 2020 | Naperville, IL (Remote)
- Built and maintained APIs supporting a large portfolio of sites and WordPress plugins.
- Modernized infrastructure, driving the shift from Vagrant to Docker.
- Collaborated with SysOps to improve security and performance.
- Tech: PHP, Laravel, JavaScript, TypeScript, MySQL, Redis, Docker, AWS.
Software Engineer – Full Stack / Mobile Team Lead
Mar 2013 – Apr 2016 | Eden Prairie, MN
- Led a team of 2–4 engineers building hybrid mobile apps (Cordova, Angular, Ionic).
- Awarded a global patent for mobile application UI technology.
- Designed and implemented APIs and backend services in PHP (Laravel), Node.js, MySQL/NoSQL.
- Championed modern practices, improving delivery speed and code quality.
Independent Consultant
Oct 1999 – Present | Various Clients
- Founded and operated Clocktower Computers and dogInFlight, delivering custom web, IT, and application solutions.
- Built APIs and web applications using PHP, Laravel, Node.js, React, Ruby on Rails, and Ionic.
- Migrated legacy systems to modern stacks with Docker and AWS.
- Delivered hybrid mobile apps and cross‑platform solutions (JavaScript, TypeScript, Angular, Ionic).
- Supported agencies and enterprises (e.g., The Lacek Group, Sigient, Chanl Health, Robert Half) with modernization projects.
- Mentored junior developers and introduced DevOps practices to improve delivery pipelines.
- Languages & Frameworks: Elixir, Phoenix, PHP, Laravel, React.js, Node.js, GraphQL
- DevOps & Infrastructure: Kubernetes (EKS), Docker, AWS, CI/CD, Monitoring
- Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis
- Leadership & Culture: Servant Leadership, Psychological Safety, Mentorship
- 2021 CARSYs Technology Functional Award – Software Engineering Excellence
- Business Value Award – Hackathon Ep. IX
- Creativity Award – Hackathon Ep. IV
- Top Internal Award – Hackathon Ep. VII
- Learning Tenet Award Nominee
Mobile Application Interactive User Interface for a Remote Computing Device Monitoring a Test Device
(Global patent awarded for hybrid mobile UI innovation) *