Irene Zhou, software engineer.
Formerly at Slack.
Work Experience
Slack
Senior Software Engineer
Jul 2014 - Aug 2019
Early member of the front-end engineering team. I developed many user-facing interfaces, including early iterations of the image gallery, user creation, and team creation flows. I joined the nascent growth team, working with data analysts on experiments to increase signup and conversions. I was team lead on our code base refactor into React and XHP. I was a proponent of fixing tech debt and drove the refactor of our PHP billing items and invoice framework, collaborating closely with accounting and customer experience.
Monument
Cofounder/ Proprietor
Sep 2014 - Present
Monument is a 24-unit live/work space in SF that connects and supports creative people across different fields. We provide affordable housing to a range of residents, from students, artists and performers, to engineers and CEOS. We run 400+ person events at sliding-scale for artists and nonprofits, supported by a growing volunteer community.
I curate and manage the residencies. I built the infrastructure for events, and often run them too.
Assisted a drag performance by viral queen Florida Man.
Hosted a live podcast recording for Ezra Klein.
Hosted a dark circus/storytelling show by WitchTech.
Slack
Early member of the front-end engineering team. I developed many user-facing interfaces, including early iterations of the image gallery, user creation, and team creation flows. I joined the nascent growth team, working with data analysts on experiments to increase signup and conversions. I was team lead on our code base refactor into React and XHP. I was a proponent of fixing tech debt and drove the refactor of our PHP billing items and invoice framework, collaborating closely with accounting and customer experience.
Monument
Monument is a 24-unit live/work space in SF that connects and supports creative people across different fields. We provide affordable housing to a range of residents, from students, artists and performers, to engineers and CEOS. We run 400+ person events at sliding-scale for artists and nonprofits, supported by a growing volunteer community.
I curate and manage the residencies. I built the infrastructure for events, and often run them too.
Projects
Lucas Foglia Photography Website
Sep - Nov 2021
Designed and built a fine arts photography website, using Eleventy, Sanity, and Netlify. Fully responsive, SEO and mobile friendly, quick to load. Customized CMS for the user to easily update content. Includes dark mode and gallery mode.
Asteroids Damacy
Jan - Feb 2014
A mashup between Asteroids and Katamari Damacy, written in JS and HTML5. Uses the separating axis theorem for precise collision detection with a concave polygon. Asteroids fragment along the bullet’s path when shot, ship shatters upon death.
Squared
Feb - Sep 2014
Helped with fabrication and software for two 50’ steel tree sculptures with 800+ individually addressable LED cubes. Contributed animations in Java and Processing. On-site builder, mapper, and coder for its debut at Coachella. Design and fabrication headed by Charles Gadeken.
DeepThought
Nov 2013
Clone of Workflowy, a hierarchical list creator to organize one’s thoughts. Uses Backbone and Marionette in the front end, and Ruby on Rails in the back end. The view is generated by recursively creating lists of forms. Keyboard shortcuts allow for quick navigation and rearrangement of each list. Parent and children relationships between entries update immediately upon creation or movement.
Designed and built a fine arts photography website, using Eleventy, Sanity, and Netlify. Fully responsive, SEO and mobile friendly, quick to load. Customized CMS for the user to easily update content. Includes dark mode and gallery mode.
A mashup between Asteroids and Katamari Damacy, written in JS and HTML5. Uses the separating axis theorem for precise collision detection with a concave polygon. Asteroids fragment along the bullet’s path when shot, ship shatters upon death.
Helped with fabrication and software for two 50’ steel tree sculptures with 800+ individually addressable LED cubes. Contributed animations in Java and Processing. On-site builder, mapper, and coder for its debut at Coachella. Design and fabrication headed by Charles Gadeken.
Clone of Workflowy, a hierarchical list creator to organize one’s thoughts. Uses Backbone and Marionette in the front end, and Ruby on Rails in the back end. The view is generated by recursively creating lists of forms. Keyboard shortcuts allow for quick navigation and rearrangement of each list. Parent and children relationships between entries update immediately upon creation or movement.