# Nora Shapiro > Software Engineer @ Sentry.io Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/norashapiro A software engineer with a non-traditional background, scientist with start-up experience, well-rounded employee who knows how to code. Can think critically and communicate, loves mentoring, believes in community. Started coding in late 2017, learned the fundamentals of computer science, then went to Hackbright Academy, an intensive 12-week software engineering program for women that teaches Python and full-stack web development. Thrived in the bootcamp environment: great at picking up concepts and fast-paced learning, can work through problems independently and troubleshoot effectively. Looking for a team that can put up guard rails, then let me run. ## Work Experience ### Software Engineer @ Sentry (sentry.io) Jan 2024 – Present | San Francisco, CA Sentry is open source! You can see my work here https://github.com/nora-shap ### Backend Software Engineer @ Healthy Together Jan 2018 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area Backend engineer working in Django to improve technology in government Health and Human Services: - Design and build custom software solutions for client needs while also integrating their existing systems for no gaps in service or downtime - Build and maintain a RESTful API across a handful of services for use by web, iOS and Android consumers - Build databases to handle a broad range of client needs and implement clever solutions for efficient storage and searching - Integrate 3rd party APIs to boost current features and add new features - Build caches to reduce API calls - Build fallback logic so our users never experience errors or delays - Rework notifications and add intelligent system messaging throughout the app - Work with client-side engineers to build efficient, reliable, and scalable features ### Fellow @ Hackbright Academy Jan 2018 – Jan 2018 | San Francisco Bay Area Studied full-stack web development in a 12-week intensive software engineering program for women. Hackbright Academy teaches the fundamentals of computer science in addition to modern web development. Curriculum: Python, Javascript and jQuery plus AJAX, React, SQL (PostgreSQL and SQLAlchemy), Flask and Jinja, HTML, CSS. Created a web app called Eat It, which prevents you from falling on your face when it comes to food management and meal planning. Eat it is your pantry in the cloud: your household's foodstuffs organized by location or expiration, where you can move, edit, or update any detail. Eat It will help you consume perishables before they expire, and let you know what has expired. Eat It can also help with grocery shopping: toggle any item in your pantry onto your shopping list when you want a refill, or add items directly. When you're ready to go shopping, the map feature can tell you which supermarkets near you are open, and once you check items off the shopping list, they are added back to your pantry with an updated expiration. Tech stack: Python, Flask, Jinja, PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, JavaScript, jQuery, AJAX, bcrypt, HTML, Bootstrap. APIs used: Google Maps (geolocation and Places Library). ### Associate Account Coordinator @ Touch of Modern Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area Associate Account Coordinator (July 2017 - Aug 2017) - Increased responsibilities from the Junior role: higher event load, more participation in training coworkers, more responsibility in managing fulfillment problems and post-sale issues. - Increased role in Inventory Specialist Project. - Completed cross-training across all event categories, able to proficiently coordinate any and all events. - Maintained a 0% error rate in my submitted documents. Inventory Specialist Project (April 2017-Aug 2017) - Worked with Marketing, Merchandising, and Shipping Departments to manage the consignment system. - Learned how to understand and operate an intricate and idiosyncratic inventory management and order creation system. - Made sure all stocks match between the system and the warehouse, responsible for resolving all errors within the stocks system. - Responsible for all lost or late customer orders and finding then solving problems with orders. Junior Account Coordinator (Sept 2016 - June 2017) - Managed Vendors: acted as the interface between Touch of Modern and vendors, comprehension and communication of company policies and expectations, collected event information and converted to a format that matches site aesthetic. - Managed Flash Events: Set up and ran successful 5-day flash sales, coordinated all details across departments to ensure a flawless event and a seamless experience for customers. - Managed Post-Sale Logistics: made sure shipment and payment occurs on time, made sure all customers received orders successfully and on time. ### PhD Candidate @ OHSU | Oregon Health & Science University Jan 2013 – Jan 2016 My long-term research goal is to understand why no two people experience pain the same way by investigating the many factors that can alter pain perception. My ongoing graduate research is focused on the pain modulating cells of the rostral ventromedial medulla and their surprising response to light. I have familiarized myself with the techniques required for my project, including the collection and analysis of in vivo extracellular recordings, stereotactic surgery for injection of blocking agents, and piloted different applications of heat and light to evoke cellular response. My project is highly relevant to human health because it will provide insight into the complexities of photosensitivity, which is present as a side effect of many neurological disorders and medications. The proposed project pursues the initial observations made in this lab, included on one publication currently under review, to which I contributed cellular recordings. ### Research Associate @ Gladstone Institutes Jan 2011 – Jan 2013 After graduating from Oberlin in 2011 with a B.A. in Neuroscience I wanted to get more research experience before deciding on the next step in my education. I found a Research Associate position in the lab of Dr. Anatol Kreitzer at UCSF, who studies circuitry in the basal ganglia. I received close mentorship from Dr. Kreitzer and nearly every member of his team. I learned many technical skills, such as surgery, microscopy, and working with optogenetics, and gained confidence in my ability as a scientist, as well as experience with effective research presentation and manuscript preparation. I performed lab managerial duties, assisted lab members with their projects, and completed a research project of my own. For my personal research project I wanted to examine the downstream targets of the direct and indirect pathway of the striatum. To do this I used optogenetics to selectively drive one of the two pathways, then perfused the mice and stained for c-fos, a marker of neuronal activity. My data support the classical model of basal ganglia function, and there are many fascinating trends in other structures that give light to the behavioral effects of optogenetic stimulation in the striatum. I was able to present this project in a poster at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, and it was included on a publication. Dr. Alexandria Nelson’s project focused on the role of the interneurons of the striatum and how they affect the output of medium spiny neurons of the direct and indirect pathway. I was able to draw upon my research experience in college and in the lab of Dr. Choi to overhaul the histology system in the Kreitzer lab. I optimized many of the pre-existing protocols and established many more. My work with parvalbumin, tyrosine hydroxylase, and choline acetyltransferase staining are shown in the publication with Dr. Nelson, which involved perfusion and preparation of brain tissue, slicing, and imaging as well as the staining. ### Undergraduate Research Assistant @ Oberlin College Jan 2009 – Jan 2011 | Oberlin, OH During my time in college I worked in two labs. My first experience was a decision-making study in the lab of Dr. Michael Loose using EEG on humans. I also worked on a project searching for 5-HT2C receptor expression in the brain with Dr. Katherine Caldwell. Oberlin College was the first liberal arts institution to offer a neuroscience major, therefore the program was well established and included in-depth, rigorous academics and training in basic and advanced lab techniques. My first research experience was two semesters in the lab of Dr Michael Loose working on a decision making study using human subjects and EEG during a gambling task. We found that a component of the feedback event related potential, the feedback positivity, increases significantly in response to a large magnitude win or loss as well as in the trial preceding a switch in strategy. We hypothesized that a feedback positivity increase represents important information, a way to draw attention to an event for reevaluation. I worked on a small team of undergraduate researchers who designed experiments through weekly discussions, ran the EEG experiment on volunteers several times a week, and analyzed the resulting data. During my senior year I worked in the lab of my academic advisor, Dr. Katherine Caldwell, on a yearlong project to localize the 5-HT2C receptor in the brain. The 5-HT2C receptor is widely implicated in the treatment and pathology of many diseases, but the cellular localization remains unknown. My data was not conclusive about the precise location of 5-HT2C receptors or their presence in the VTA, but it was here that I mastered my histology and immunofluorescence skill-set. I spent a year troubleshooting this staining protocol, and I learned a lot about different methods and tools in immunohistochemistry, as well as the patience and fastidiousness required when troubleshooting any scientific protocol. ### Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship @ Mayo Clinic Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 In the summer of 2010 I worked at the Mayo Clinic in the lab of Dr. Doo-Sup Choi, who studies the neurobiology of alcoholism, as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow. This was my first experience in a professional lab, my first time seeing how members of a lab work together, and my first time working among academic researchers. I worked aside a postdoc studying adenosine mediated glutamate signaling and its implication in alcohol use disorders using type 1 Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter knockout mice. These knockout mice show increased extracellular glutamate, increased EPSPs and abnormal drinking behavior, so the lab uses them as a model of human chronic alcohol disorder, but it is unclear how the increased glutamate release is linked to the observed behavioral changes. Previous proteomics work led us to hypothesize that CREB mediated gene expression in the nucleus accumbens was altered. I sliced and stained brains of cre-lac-z mice to compare CREB activity in wildtype and knockout mice in the nucleus accumbens shell and core regions. I found that there was decreased CREB activity in the knockout mice, specifically in the core region. These data were published on a paper that elaborates on this altered signaling pathway, including each step from increased glutamate to decreased CREB activity. My project culminated in a poster presentation that I gave at the Mayo Clinic and at the Midwest/Great Lakes Undergraduate Research Symposium in Neuroscience later that year. ## Education ### Python Hackbright Academy ### Master’s Degree in Neuroscience Oregon Health & Science University ### Bachelor’s Degree in Neuroscience Oberlin College ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/norashap - GitHub: https://github.com/noraham - Portfolio: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nora_Hammack - Portfolio: http://neurotree.org/neurotree/tree.php?pid=70950&pnodecount=4&cnodecount=2&fontsize=3 --- Source: https://flows.cv/norashapiro JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/norashapiro/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-11