Hi there, my name is
Radison Akerman.
I rapidly develop high-quality web utilities that perform at scale. Currently, I'm studying Computer Science + Business @ UIC, project managing a team of 7, and mentoring CPS students on behalf of the UIC Cities Project.
Exploding Chickens:
Celebrating 1,250 games played!
01. About Me
Portrait of Radison

Hello there! I’m Radison, a software engineer, creative leader, project manager, computer science student, and professional photographer. My interest in digital technology started back in middle school when I tinkered with microcontrollers and competed in FIRST LEGO League competitions — it turns out you can learn a lot from bits of plastic and expensive servos.

Fast-forward to today, where I’ve had the privilege of working at a rocket company, an R1 research university, a U.S. Senate campaign, a start-up, and an event management group. Just this past summer, I was a Software Engineering Intern on the Starship Software team at SpaceX! I had an absolute blast helping build the largest rocket on planet Earth.

I’m juggling quite a few responsibilities at the University of Illinois Chicago. For starters, I am studying computer science and business full-time (with a 4.0 GPA, whoop!). I also project manage and work directly with 6+ software developers under the College of Engineering. Together we've developed and shipped over 10 full-stack web applications used by 1000's on campus.

Making an impact is part of my DNA, especially when it comes to personal projects. I recently gave three distinct 300-level guest lectures at UIC and one lecture internally at SpaceX about Exploding Chickens — a popular web-based card game I built with my friends. We dove deep into project management, design patterns, code review, and test coverage.

Exploding Chickens fanned the flames (literally) and acted as a springboard for both my professional skills and further projects down the line. I now independently host over 10 web services, 2 web products generating revenue, and 5 organizational members who help make these ideas a reality.

In my spare time, I love to build things with my hands (woodworking, small electronics), volunteer in the community, and compete in endurance triathlons. In August 2022, I finished 214th out of 2,456 in the Chicago Triathlon, Olympic distance — my first ever multisport race.

02. Experience
Where I've Worked
Lasting impacts. Pushing things further.
Project Manager & Software Engineer @ University of Illinois Chicago
Aug 2021 - Present // Chicago, IL
  • Organized a team of 7 web developers working on over 10 large-scale, full-stack web applications
  • Developed and maintained custom full-stack web applications on Nuxt, Laravel, Vue/React, SQL, used by 3,000+ users
  • Integrated new project management software (Paymo) and maintained framework templates/documentation in Github
  • Single-handedly developed and published a Shibboleth (SAML SSO) to Express (Node.js) authentication package on npm
  • Drafted and enforced university IT policies and procedures, identified data risks across all 500+ faculty and staff
Software Engineering Intern, Starship Software @ SpaceX
May 2023 - Sep 2023 // Starbase, TX
  • Owned Starship Config Signoff, a critical flight reliability tool used by 100+ Starship engineers to validate 1M+ vehicle config values
  • Spearheaded development of 10+ features into Signoff: rebuilt Flask APIs, new SQLAlchemy query structure, refreshed React UI
  • Integrated a vehicle software verification Python script concurrently into SpaceY, a next-gen operations platform using Rust, Bazel
  • Built functioning UI mockups in Lit, CSS as part of Starship software deploys rework, participated in design conversations and CDRs
Section Leader @ Stanford University
Apr 2021 - Jul 2023 // Remote
  • Section led Code in Place 2021, 2023 — a free, human-centric, intro-to-coding course
  • Helped instruct over 10,000 students on the fundamentals of Python and computer science principles
  • Worked one-on-one with all age groups, built office-hours-esque curriculum tailored to the 4 week course
Executive Operations Director @ Pulqra
Feb 2020 - Feb 2023 // United States
  • Co-built and operationally led Pulqra, a mission-capitalist creative marketing collective
  • Reimagined businesses and artists by designing over 5 commercial websites and social portfolios from scratch
  • Rendered services to over 200 clients worldwide — from photography to social media management to copywriting
03. Projects
RAkerman Foundation
Exploding Chickens
A beautiful, online alternative to the popular Exploding Kittens card game. Built on Node.js with nearly 1000 games played by 600+ players, led development and a team of 5.
Node.js
MongoDB
Mocha
Handlebars
Vue
Tailwinds
Auth0
Stripe
Pulqra
Steven Olikara Website
A foundational website supporting Steven Olikara’s 2022 run for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. Completely rebuilt from the ground up with unified colors, textures, and mobile optimizations.
Nuxt
Cloudflare Workers/KV
Tailwinds
RAkerman Foundation
Author
A centralized user management backbone for all RAkerman Foundation services. Instead of manipulating user data on each RF service, Author serves as a "one-stop-shop" for users and RF services.
Nuxt
Cloudflare Workers/KV
Typescript
Tailwinds
Other Neat Stuff
Mighty projects. Huge breadth.
May blow your socks off.
  • m8
    Alpha
    A media upload, organization, and display tool leveraging Cloudflare Workers
    Nuxt
    Cloudflare Workers/KV
    Typescript
    Tailwinds
  • Mark 4
    A fourth attempt at Radison Akerman's personal website. Notes of programming, cleanliness, and unification
    Nuxt
    Cloudflare Workers/KV
    Tailwinds
  • Informr
    Beta
    A web form submission intermediary leveraging edge cloud compute
    Nuxt
    Cloudflare Workers/KV/R2
    Auth0
    Typescript
    Tailwinds
    Mailgun
  • Pulqra Website
    A minimalist website showcasing Pulqra's vision, product, and collaborations worldwide
    Nuxt
    Cloudflare Workers/KV
    Tailwinds
  • RAkerman Linker
    A simple url shortener that can be deployed in a pinch on Cloudflare Workers + KV
    Nuxt
    Cloudflare Workers/KV
    Typescript
    Tailwinds
  • Vibhav Bansal Website
    Archived
    A razor-sharp business portfolio website for a nationwide leader in Neuroscience
    Nuxt
    Cloudflare Workers/KV
    Tailwinds
  • Passport UIC Shibboleth
    A npm package that integrates Shibboleth's SAML SSO with Node.js Express web apps
    Node.js
    Express
    SAML
    Vite
    Tailwinds
  • Remindcord
    Archived
    A dead-simple, custom Discord bot that sends messages on a defined interval
    Node.js
    Express
    Discord API
  • Space and Key
    A full-stack web app streamlining data entry between physical accesses and spaces
    Nuxt
    Auth0
    SQL
    Tailwinds
04. Photography
Oops. It appears there aren't any featured photos available at the moment. Please check again later.
05. Get In Touch
What's next? Well, that is up to you. Here's a few options based on what your looking for:
>> A. "HELP! I'm searching far and wide for a computer wizard"
Take a gander at my resume, if you think we'd be a match (yay!) fill out the good ole' contact form.
>> B. "I need a group of highly-driven creatives that can do anything"
Check out Pulqra, we'd be thrilled to collab with you over our catalogue of services.
>> C. "Whoa. I don't even know where to start but let's chat"
My inbox is always open. I'm constantly running cycling around, so when I come to a stop I'll give you a shout.
Please don't solicit with products + services, I make all of those myself ;-)