Aaron Hedges, API Product Manager and Web Developer
| (608) 318-3274 | Grand Rapids, Michigan, US
SUMMARY
I am a product manager and web developer with over a decade of experience with web APIs and developer experience
SKILLS
REST & GraphQL API design (Expert)
Developer experience (Advanced)
Public and internal API strategy (Advanced)
API product lifecycle (Advanced)
Roadmap creation (Advanced)
Various programming languages (Intermediate)
EXPERIENCE
API Engineer 2020-10 — Present

Engineer with a focus on API and Reference documentation

  • Designed core framework functionality and endpoints for the new ReadMe API
  • Led a migration effort from Angular to React for ReadMe's documentation editor page
  • Applied my Open API Specification and JSON Schema experience to a series of react-based user facing features
Senior Product Manager, API 2018-10 — 2020-10

Managed the quarterly roadmap and high level processes of the API Services team and most projects that touched the internal GraphQL API

  • Managed two other product managers
  • Planned and executed a year-long, cross-team initiative to migrate from a legacy API to a new API
  • Planned and executed a year-long migration effort of assets for hundreds of local markets, supporting the larger merger of Gannett and GateHouse
  • Evangelized and built an improved developer experience for our consumers, including documentation, design guidelines and more
  • Assisted other product managers in defining and accomplishing their API needs
API Product Manager 2015-10 — 2018-10

Developed strategy & tactics for the API and Developer portal, along with managing the priorities and sprints of the API engineering team

  • Lead API designer
  • Transitioned the company to a design-first API process
  • Transitioned the company to a distributed API development process
  • Evangelized the benefits of API first development and helped ensure the first projects moved smoothly and successfully
  • Built developer surveys and testing plans for gathering developer feedback on our products
  • Selected our core KPIs and continued to improve them over time
  • Led the redesign of the developer portal including strategy, buy in, requirements gathering, specification, user experience and more
Lead API Engineer 2015-02 — 2015-10

Engineering and strategy for Vimeo's developer portal and API

  • Responded to escalated support cases from external developers and partners
  • Managed two additional engineers and helped them grow personally and professionally
  • Managed technical writing projects
Senior API Engineer 2014-02 — 2015-02

Engineering and strategy for Vimeo's developer portal and API

  • Worked as the only full time developer on the new API, following REST best practices
  • Authored the new public Node.js library
  • Co-authored the new public PHP library
  • Responded to escalated support cases from external developers and partners
Application Developer 2011-09 — 2014-02

Full-stack engineering for various Vimeo features

  • Helped rewrite the framework for the old API a testing suite and a node.js library
  • Wrote the intitial spec and most of the back-end work for the Dropbox upload integration
  • Created the XBOX Live authentication integration
  • Created the IOS push notification integration
Developer 2010-09 — 2011-09
  • Helped with a major overhaul of the core site framework
  • Worked with a Scribe + MongoDB based stats system
  • Built the subscription system and Facebook Credits integration
INTERESTS
Web APIs , Developer Experience , Framework design & development , Tabletop & Video Games , Movies , Comics , 3D Printing