Hello! I'm Harkunwar 👋
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I'm a
Software Developer
Node.js Collaborator
Performance Engineer
Data Viz Specialist
Open Source Builder
Software Developer
Node.js Collaborator
Performance Engineer
Data Viz Specialist
Open Source Builder
I've been programming for more years of my life than not! My journey has taken me from web development to machine learning research, embedded systems, backend development, and back to frontend.
I build elegant solutions with clean, efficient code. And yes, I'll happily spend a day automating a 5-minute task — I call it "investing in the future."
My Journey
From embedded systems to enterprise software — here's what I've been building
Software Engineer
Databricks
- Current Role: Part of the Data Visualizations team, developing high-performance components for AI/BI Dashboards.
Software Developer
Splunk
- High-Impact Features: Led the development of Scheduled PDF Exports (500+ customer votes) using a custom Chromium solution, saving $50k/yr in legacy maintenance. Implemented secure sandboxing to support 100+ Custom Visualizations, satisfying 400+ customer requests.
- Performance Engineering: Reduced application compile times by 96% (120s to 4s) by migrating Webpack to ESBuild, and optimized GitLab CI/CD pipelines from 30m to 7m through parallelism.
- Modernization & Quality: Spearheaded the migration of over 100 project files to TypeScript and architected a scalable Cypress framework, migrating 500+ functional tests for improved reliability.
- Leadership & Community: Served as Scrum Master leading sprint rituals. Hosted 20+ technical tech talks and presented an Advanced Dashboarding workshop to 150+ attendees at Splunk .conf 2025.
- Creative Innovation: Designed a fully functional turn-based game using Dashboards for Splunk .conf 2023, engaging 200+ customers and showcasing platform extensibility.
Node.js Collaborator
Node.js
- Repo Maintainer: Active maintainer of the official nodejs.org repository since May 2023, ensuring platform stability for millions of developers.
- Next.js Migration: Key contributor to the v2 website re-architecture, migrating the massive legacy Gatsby codebase to a modern, performant Next.js stack.
- Test Infrastructure: Enhanced critical test suites to improve CI reliability and reduce regressions in the deployment pipeline.
- Global Engagement: Attended Open Source Summits in Vancouver, BC and Bilbao, Spain, collaborating directly with key Node.js maintainers and steering committee members.
Software Developer Intern
Splunk
- Performance Engineering: Achieved a 10x improvement in web page load times by implementing React Virtualized lazy loading for large datasets.
- Feature Development: Spearheaded the design and implementation of image/icon embedding features, impacting over 1,000 enterprise users.
- UI/UX Implementation: Designed and built four core modal dialogs integral to the user experience in Splunk Dashboard Studio.
Teaching Assistant
University of British Columbia
- Core Instruction: Assisted in teaching a core systems programming course covering C, x86 assembly, memory models, and operating system concepts.
- Student Mentorship: Led weekly lab sessions and provided 1-on-1 support to over 150 students, aiding in debugging complex low-level code.
- Academic Support: Facilitated understanding of performance optimization and low-level programming through office hours and group tutorials.
Full Stack & DevOps Developer
AppNeta
- Full Stack Development: Engineered HTTP monitoring features using Java and React, and improved analytics reporting with Jasper Reports.
- Cloud Automation: Transitioned manual infrastructure tasks to automated Terraform scripts and built serverless dashboards using AWS Lambda/NodeJS.
- Product Enhancement: Implemented comprehensive error handling, custom syntax highlighting for API data, and feature flag management.
Embedded Systems Developer
Better Way Lighting
- Firmware Development: Engineered C/C++ firmware for Smart LED Bulb Mesh Systems using ESP-MDF and ESP-IDF frameworks.
- Production Engineering: Built interactive lighting systems engaged in major productions including Avatar, Star Trek, and Sabrina.
- Systems Architecture: Designed a universal menu system for cross-device compatibility and ported legacy animation logic to modern microcontrollers.
- Hardware Design: Designed and programmed a custom Arduino DMX controller to automate quality assurance testing for lighting products.
Machine Learning Researcher
University of British Columbia
- Algorithm Innovation: Co-authored a novel bootstrap-augmented k-means algorithm to enable parameter-less fuzzy clustering and uncertainty estimation.
- Publication & Software: Contributed to the development of the bootkmeans R package on CRAN and listed as a co-author on the associated research paper.
- Technical Implementation: Implemented core statistical methods in R to improve pattern recognition accuracy beyond traditional k-means limitations.
B.Sc. Computer Science
University of British Columbia
- Honors: Multi-year recipient of the Dean’s Honour List for academic excellence.
- Professional Experience: Completed the UBC Science Co-op Program, gaining four terms of industry experience by integrating professional work placements with academic study.
- Technical Focus: Developed expertise across the full stack of computer science, including:
- Software Engineering: Advanced Software Construction, Software Engineering Projects, and Project Management.
- Systems & Architecture: Operating Systems, Computer Hardware, and Compiler Construction.
- Theory & Analysis: Advanced Algorithm Design, Discrete Structures, and Numerical Computation.
- Specialized Coursework: Gained exposure to emerging fields such as Machine Learning, Internet Computing, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
Get In Touch
Have a project in mind or just want to say hello? I'd love to hear from you!
Location
Seattle, Washington