Chieh "Jacky" Chen
Backend Software Engineer · Go · Houston, TX · Open to Remote (US)
Backend Software Engineer · Go · Houston, TX · Open to Remote (US)
I am a backend software engineer with eight years building and running production software, six of them in Go. My depth is in distributed microservices, API design across REST, GraphQL, and gRPC, CI/CD automation, and cloud migration to AWS and Kubernetes. I own features end to end — design through production support — and I work comfortably across frontend, security, and business stakeholders.
I came to this field the long way around, as a career changer with an M.S. in Computer Science earned at night while working full time. Most of my work lives in the parts of a system users never see: query layers, alerting pipelines, API contracts, build pipelines, and the debugging that keeps all of it honest. I have built for endpoint security forensics, oil and gas telemetry, and manufacturing floor hardware — domains where being wrong is expensive and the data does not wait for you.
I speak English and Mandarin Chinese fluently, and Japanese at a business conversational level. Outside of work I founded and run Houston Nihongo Kai, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that grew out of a Japanese language meetup. The rest of my time goes to a camera, a sketchbook, a very long trance playlist, and an ongoing search for the next good meal.
A profile in Japanese and Chinese, for recruiters and teams who prefer to read it that way.
バックエンドを専門とするソフトウェアエンジニアです。本番環境のサービス開発・運用に8年、うち6年以上を Go で担当してきました。現在は米国テキサス州ヒューストンを拠点に、リモートで働いています。
得意分野は、分散マイクロサービスの設計、REST・GraphQL・gRPC による API 設計、CI/CD の自動化、そして AWS ・ Kubernetes へのクラウド移行です。設計から本番運用まで一貫して機能を所有し、フロントエンド・セキュリティ・事業部門との連携も得意です。
現在は Cisco Systems にて、エンドポイントセキュリティ製品 Secure Endpoint / XDR Orbital の Go バックエンドを担当しています。以前は National Oilwell Varco で、石油・ガス業界向け監視プラットフォームの主力開発者として、マイクロサービス化、時系列データのレポート基盤、多チャネルアラート基盤を構築しました。
コンピュータサイエンスの修士号を取得し、異業種からエンジニアに転身しました。言語は英語・中国語（北京語）が母語レベル、日本語はビジネス会話レベルです。ヒューストンでは日本語コミュニティ「Houston Nihongo Kai」（501(c)(3) 非営利団体）を設立・運営しています。
ご連絡は me@chiehc.com までお願いします。
我是一名後端軟體工程師，擁有八年開發與維運正式環境服務的經驗，其中六年以上使用 Go 語言。目前定居於美國德州休士頓，以遠端方式工作。
專長包括分散式微服務架構設計、REST、GraphQL 與 gRPC 的 API 設計、CI/CD 自動化流程，以及將系統遷移至 AWS 與 Kubernetes。我習於從設計、實作到上線後的維運完整負責一項功能，並與前端、資安及業務單位緊密協作。
目前任職於 Cisco Systems，負責端點資安產品 Secure Endpoint / XDR Orbital 的 Go 後端開發。先前於 National Oilwell Varco 擔任監控平台的主要後端開發者，負責微服務拆分、時序資料報表引擎與多管道警報系統。
我擁有計算機科學碩士學位，是跨領域轉職投入軟體開發。英文與中文為母語程度，日文具備商務會話能力。同時在休士頓創辦並經營日語社群「Houston Nihongo Kai」（501(c)(3) 非營利組織）。
歡迎來信：me@chiehc.com
Eight years building and running production backend software, six of them in Go.
University of Houston, Houston, TX
University of Houston, Houston, TX
Cisco Systems, Inc. — Remote, US
Go backend engineer on Cisco Secure Endpoint / XDR Orbital, an endpoint query and forensics platform used by enterprise security and IT investigation teams.
National Oilwell Varco — Houston, TX
Lead backend feature developer on NOV's MAX monitoring suite — Go and C# microservices delivering real-time drilling and fracking telemetry to field operators, built inside an internal startup group.
TowWorks — Lake Jackson, TX
Applied Optoelectronics — Sugar Land, TX
Work I do outside of work — building communities in Houston around language, technology, and showing up for each other.
501(c)(3) nonprofit — nihongokai.org · YouTube · cchen@nihongokai.org
Houston developer community — code4yall.com
休士頓台灣青商會
The hobbyist half. Same curiosity, fewer stack traces.
Priorities: boba, then everything else
I shoot photo and video — mostly while travelling, mostly street and architecture. Some of it ends up on my channel, the rest lives further down this page. I draw. I listen to an unreasonable amount of house and trance. I watch anime, which is roughly how the Japanese started.
I travel to Japan and Taiwan whenever I can, and as much of the US as fits in a long weekend. Outdoors I am usually swimming, hiking, climbing something, or sitting in a hot spring recovering from it.
Above all of it, though, I am a foodie. And what good is good food without good friends? I like my friends' company just as much as the meal.
Shot on my own travels — Japan, Taiwan, Texas, and points in between. Click any photo to expand it. Moving pictures live on my YouTube channel.
Playlists I keep coming back to — house, trance, and a lot of Japanese pop. Hit play, or find them on my channel.