Résumé

Bernie Reiter

• Born and residing in Linz, Austria

Professional and Volunteer Experience

• 2015–present: Working as a Code Wrangler (Senior Developer) for Automattic Inc.
  • Currently member of WordPress’ Gutenberg block editor core team (focusing on the new Full-Site Editing feature, developer tooling, and automation)
  • Supervised a number of candidates through the final stage (i.e. trial project) of the company’s developer hiring process, hiring five of them
  • Some contributions to the Jetpack plugin, including a number of Gutenberg blocks
  • Previously member of the team that implemented the new React-based WordPress.com Theme Showcase
• 2013–2014: Maintainer of the open source app Gourmet Recipe Manager
  • Relaunched the website
  • Transferred the project from SourceForge to GitHub
  • Refactored the Python/GTK+/SQLAlchemy-based source code
  • Closed about 80 of initially 250 bugs
  • Performed regular (roughly monthly) releases for Linux/Unix and Windows
• 2013–2014: Founded the citizens’ initiative Innenhofgrün for the preservation of green spaces and trees in the city center of Linz under increased pressure from urban consolidation
  • Information and campaign hub website (WordPress-based)
  • Media relations work that yielded news coverage in regional and nationwide media
  • Organized an information event with panel discussion
  • Submitted a petition whose demands were subsequently largely met by the city administration
• 2009: Wrote, acted in, edited, and produced a no-budget short film for a campaign by alter-globalization group Attac
• 2009–2017: Implemented and maintained various (mostly WordPress-based) websites (an artist’s showcase, a traditional costumes group, a private flea market)
• 2006: Participated in Google Summer of Code 2006
  • Developed a generic tree container for Boost C++ Libraries (mentored by René Rivera)
  • Co-authored the proposal Hierarchical Data Structures and Related Concepts for the C++ Standard Library for the C++ ISO committee (with René Rivera)
• 2005–2015: Contributed to various Open Source projects (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, git, ownCloud, Scribus, LyX), including some WordPress plugins (e.g. NextGEN Gallery, The Events Calendar)

Education

• 2003–2012: Studied physics at the University of Vienna, Austria
  • Diploma thesis on String-Localized Quantum Fields for Fermions
  • Obtained degree Mag. rer. nat. (roughly equivalent to MSc)
  • Wrote and illustrated a lecture script for Prof. Hüffel’s course on Theoretical Methods of Physics 2

Workshops and Competitions

• 2015, 2016: Co-taught a class on advanced principles of WordPress.com’s React-based frontend at two of Automattic’s annual company retreats, Whistler, Canada
• 2010: Held a workshop on Web 2.0 Democracy and Participation, Attac Summer Academy, Austria
• 2010: Participated in the Social Impact Award competition, Vienna, Austria (submitted project Liquid Democracy Austria)

Software Development

• Programming Languages:
  • JavaScript (ES6+, React, Redux, Node.js, Babel, webpack)
  • PHP
  • Some rusty (albeit fond) memories of Python and C++
• Web: WordPress, HTML5, CSS3
• Tools: git, GitHub Actions, svn

Languages

German (native), English (bilingual), French (conversant), Czech (basic skills)

Interests and Hobbies

Languages, Free Software, ecology, film, photography, interior design, Japanese aesthetics, atheism, vegetarian cooking & eating, coffee and tea, cycling, swimming, genealogy