# Matthew Lai

> Software Engineer

Location: New York, New York, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/matthewlai

Software Engineer and Github trending open source developer working with React/Node/Express applications. Recent work includes KafkaSentinel - open source Kafka cluster metrics monitor. 

Github: https://github.com/matthewlai93

## Work Experience
### DevUp | Software Engineer @ Open Source
Jan 2021 – Present
• Utilized websockets to run and maintain messages and interactions between users who selected each other as potential pair programming partners in real time so you never miss a beat.
   • Maintains a SQL database to store many to many relationships for low latency queries and find other programmers who have signed up for the service along with what programming languages and potential level of understanding.
   • Implemented OAuth using Github authentication to allow sign in to find other programmers with similar languages to pair program with and improve your understanding of the code.
   • Nodejs/ express utilized on the back end for efficient routing allowing the front end  to submit queries with ease.

### SnippetCapture | Software Engineer @ Open Source
Jan 2021 – Present
• Utilized postgreSQL to store the code snippets in many to many relationships to link certain snippets to users as well as for each descriptor tag.
   • Node.js/express utilized to allow for queries received from the front end to be passed to the database through routing.
   • Redux maintains a global store of state to ensure state is never lost on the client side.
   • React hooks allowed for an easier use of React through functional components and methods like useState, useHistory, useDispatch for redux, and useEffect.

### Software Engineer @ KafkaSentinel
Jan 2021 – Jan 2022
• Ensures real-time monitoring of a Kafka cluster’s metrics through the utilization of websockets passing data to an easy to comprehend webpage. These metrics included the ID of the cluster, the number of current brokers running, the amount of topics, total amount of partitions, total amount of data being read by the consumer, total amount of messages consumed, total amount of messages produced, and total amount of data being sent read as throughput per second.
   • Utilized Node/express to allow routing from the front end to query and receive data through the websockets collecting data emitted from the Kafka consumer.
   • Striking front-end visuals created through the use of React and React Hooks to display data in cards that are easy to understand and straight to the point that refresh whenever new data is received from the cluster. 
   • The hooks allowed for easy state management to re-render components on the fly as the data being received changed and required its component to display that change.
   • Uses the Kafka Admin Api to allow users to view their respective clusters by logging in and accessing our website.
   • Utilizes Docker Containers to deploy as it removes the thought of your application possibly not running. Docker’s ability to use a working image of an application is revolutionary and lightweight.
   • KafkaSentinel is maintained by the open-source partnership OSLabs.


## Education
### Kingsborough Community College

### Stony Brook University


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/matthew-a-lai

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Source: https://flows.cv/matthewlai
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/matthewlai/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-04-13