Greetings, my name is Nora.

(she/they)

Black and white photograph of a white, genderless person. Only half their face can be seen. They have a serious expression and cat-winged eyeliner.

I am a software engineer with a strong passion for backend engineering and cybersecurity. My professional experience has centered around designing, developing, and maintaining scalable services and APIs, with a focus on payment infrastructure, system security, and code maintainability. I value continuous learning and am particularly drawn to opportunities that encourage growth and innovation.

Throughout my career, I have taken on responsibilities spanning the software development lifecycle, from system architecture and technical design, to implementation, integration, and production support. I've worked on complex engineering challenges involving authentication, fraud prevention, third-party integrations, and expansion of services across international markets. These experiences have strengthened my ability to approach problems from both a technical and systems-level perspective, balancing maintainability, performance, security, and business requirements.

Before transitioning into software engineering, I worked in community mental health, providing direct client care. This experience shaped how I approach collaboration, communication, and problem-solving, particularly in complex or high-pressure environments. I believe that effective engineering requires not only technical expertise, but also the ability to understand different perspectives, communicate ideas clearly, and work collaboratively towards meaningful solutions.

black and white framed science project of dead pinned winged insects

Projects

Dream Journal (Python)
An AI-Powered Dream Journal using Google's Sentiment Analysis API and OpenAI's DALL-E Image Generation API.
SnakeSynth (Python)
A music syntheisizer written in Python, interface made with Pyside.
Holistic Herbal Encyclopedia (Go)
A web app encyclopedia that provides information on medicinal herbs and how to properly use them.
Appointment Keeper (Java)
An Android app Appointment Book with persistent storage.
Life (Rust)
Embedded software that plays the game of Life on the Microbit v2.
Blind SQL Injection (Python)
Programmatically solves the Blind SQL Injection with Conditional Responses level of Portswigger using binary search brute force algorithm.
WikiWatcher (Python)
An API for retrieving data about the history of edits made to an article or by a user on Wikipedia.
Rust Secret (Rust)
An anonymous secret posting website where strangers can connect; based on Post Secret.
Herbal Medicine Dictionary (C++)
A list of medicinal plants, their dosage, uses, preparations, and contraindications.

Languages

C, C++, Python, Java, HTML, CSS, Javascript, Typescript, Scala, GoLang, Rust
black and white photograph of a birthday cake with candles

Education

Portland State University
Master of Science, Computer Science
Cybersecurity Graduate Certificate
Areas of Focus:
Software Engineering & Cybersecurity;
GPA: 3.98
Bachelor of Arts, Spanish Language
Graduated Magna Cum Laude

Work Experience

Lead Cloud Engineer @ HP
June 2023 - Present

Experienced cloud and backend engineer with a strong track record of improving system reliability, scalability, and security across payment and e-commerce platforms. Proven ability to reduce costs, boost efficiency, and lead high-impact initiatives—ranging from fraud detection and PCI-DSS compliance to designing high-availability cloud infrastructure and launching customer-centric microservices.

Contact Me