Matthew Yang

Backend Software Engineer

Building robust payment systems, scaling applications, and crafting reliable backend architectures with Ruby, C#, and modern cloud infrastructure.

// about me

Who I Am

Coming Soon

I'm a backend software engineer based in the Portland, OR / Vancouver, WA metro area, with a career path that's anything but conventional. Before writing my first line of production code, I spent over a decade in public safety — four years as a 911 police dispatcher and seven years as a corrections officer.

That experience taught me to stay calm under pressure, think systematically, and communicate clearly — skills that translate directly into building reliable, well-architected software. Since transitioning to tech in 2016, I've focused on backend development, payment systems, and large-scale application migrations.

When I'm not coding, I'm spending time with my wife and two kids, exploring the Pacific Northwest.

9+
Years in Tech
11+
Years Public Safety
UW
Class of '03
// experience

Where I've Worked

Apartments.com

2019 — Present

Senior Software Engineer, Payments Team

Portland, OR

  • Assisted in migrating thousands of users from Cozy.co to the Apartments.com platform
  • Migrated a complete and mature Ruby application to C# / .NET
  • Extensive integration with the Stripe payment processing platform, including Stripe Connect
  • Worked on large-scale payment infrastructure serving a major real estate platform

Cozy.co

2019

Senior Software Engineer

Portland, OR

  • Full-stack development with Ruby and JavaScript
  • Built and maintained features for a property management and payments platform
  • Worked with PostgreSQL and integrated third-party payment services

Sportsrocket

2016 — 2019

Software Engineer / Technical Team Lead

Bellevue, WA

  • Full-stack development with Ruby on Rails and Angular for a sports streaming platform
  • Gained foundational experience in professional software development

Prior Career

🔒

Corrections Officer

City Jail · 7 years

📡

911 Police Dispatcher

Emergency Services · 4 years

// skills

Technologies & Tools

Languages

Ruby C# JavaScript SQL

Frameworks

Ruby on Rails .NET Node.js

Databases & Messaging

PostgreSQL RabbitMQ Amazon SQS

Payments

Stripe Stripe Connect Payment Processing

Cloud & DevOps

AWS Azure DevOps Heroku Datadog Sentry

Practices

AI-Assisted Development System Migrations API Design
// education

Education

UW

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington

degree: Bachelor of Arts in Society & Justice
minor: Political Science
year: 2003
CF

Code Fellows

Seattle, Washington

focus: Ruby on Rails Development
year: 2015
// contact

Get In Touch

Interested in working together or have a question? Send me a message and I'll get back to you.

Location

Portland, OR / Vancouver, WA Metro

Pacific Time Zone (PT)