Developing Expertise
Joining as a Front End Engineer, after four years I was promoted to Technical Manager for the Corporate Web Development Team at Verisign Inc in Reston, VA.
Hello
, my name is
Brian Hrenak
.
With over 15 years of experience in web development and CI/CD, I am currently serving in the role of Technical Manager for the Corporate Web Development Team at a leading internet infrastructure company.
I have a passion for building engaging user experiences and inspiring others to do the same through a mastery of technical fundamentals and process improvement.
View My Résumé
Starting a Career
My first job out of school was developing database applications and visualizations as a contractor for the Department of Energy in Germantown, MD.
Earning My Degree
I transferred during sophomore year to George Mason University in Fairfax, VA to complete my degree in Information Systems and Operations Management while working part time in an auto parts store.
Formational Time
For the last two years of high school I lived in Hilton Head, SC, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout before earning a Life scholarship to attend the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Growing Up
From kindergarten through the beginning of high school my family lived in Arlington, VA, where I was active in the Boy Scouts and multiple sports, forming many lifelong connections.
Early Years
My first memories take place in Garden City, NY, living on Mitchel Air Force Base where my father was stationed and my mother worked remotely as a Project Manager for Computer Sciences Corporation.
Hello, World!
Born at Bethesda Naval Hospital in the early 1980s, I was granted a perspective which links the beginning of the internet age with my own growth and development.
Skills
JavaScript & TypeScript
- Object oriented, functional, MVC patterns
- Inheritance, hoisting, closure
- Asynchronous programming and events
- Modules and bundlers (webpack, rollup)
- AJAX, REST, API
HTML
- Semantic elements
- Custom elements and web components
- Accessibility standards
- Reflow, repaint, and compositing
- SEO and Social optimization
CSS
- Box model
- Responsive design
- Flexbox and grid layouts
- Transforms, transitions, and animations
- CSS variables
HTTP
- Request-response lifecycle
- Headers (CORS, CSP, Cache-Control, etc.)
- Server modules
- Caching, proxies, rewrites
- SSL and cert negotiation
Page Optimization
- Document parsing and resource ordering
- Blocking, async, and deferred resource loading
- Efficient DOM manipulation
- Resource compression and minification
- Optimizing LCP, CLS, TTI, and other vitals
Security Standards
- XSS and input validation
- Data encryption
- Exception management
- Cross-origin resource sharing
- Renovate and dependency maintenance
- git & GitHub
- NodeJS & npm
- Gulp & Grunt
- shell scripting
- React
- Angular
- HUGO
- TailwindCSS
- SQL & PL/SQL
- RDMS
- Oracle APEX
- OBIEE
- Jenkins
- Docker
- Ansible
- CLI Tooling
- Agile scrum
- Jira
- Confluence
- Release planning
Experience
Verisign Inc.
2018 - PresentManagement of the Corporate Web Development Team, consisting of 5 direct reports responsible for high visibility web properties essential to marketing and strategic communication initiatives.
Key Accomplishments
- Restructured team workflow and release processes to reduce defect rate by 76% over one year period.
- Transitioned all projects to use common tooling and architecture.
- Integrated GitHub-based CMS to empower business owners to update content.
- Completed successful rebuild of the 250 page corporate website and foundational components within 8-month planned timeframe.
- Fostered growth of individual contributors through mentorship and cross-training, developing several junior web developers into seasoned full-stack and DevOps engineers.
Verisign Inc.
2014 - 2018Lead Front End Developer for Verisign public web properties, including the primary corporate website and associated microsites as well as web application products.
Key Accomplishments
- Developed new features and pages for verisign.com, working closely with Design, Requirements, and stakeholder teams.
- Served as front end lead for prototype and initial release stages of NameStudio product, which grew into a new team and value channel.
- Lead front end developer for the Verisign DNS Firewall Portal, including development of a data repository framework to bind and manage application state.
- Primary developer for the #InternetOfficial marketing campaign, including integration of an entry form with a 3rd-party contest management service.
Appsential LLC
2010 - 2014Application and data visualization development as a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy's iManage program.
Key Accomplishments
- Developed database applications using Oracle Application Express to facilitate HR and Budgeting initiatives.
- Created reports, dashboards, and data visualizations using Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE).
- Served as OBIEE Admin, managing security groups and the creation of new data sources and views.
- Integrated new visualization libraries into OBIEE report views.
- Developed bespoke visualizations and dashboards, including a custom homepage for OBIEE which was rolled out to all Department employees.
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security
2008 - 2010Internship with the Acquisitions and Program Management Branch of the US-VISIT program.
Key Accomplishments
- Developed a task management application in Visual Basic for Excel which included the programatic generation of a data visualization dashboard.
- Collaborated with Budgeting Office to iteratively improve the application, resulting in full adoption within their standard reporting process.
- Obtained Federal background check and Suitability Clearance
Advance Auto Parts
2005 - 2008A formational experience which taught me how to align a team to common goals and invest in a mission, while balancing working towards my degree at the same time.
Key Accomplishments
- Shift Manager for a large store with twelve staff, a delivery service, and up to $1 million in inventory.
- Streamlined customer experience through checkout process improvement and strategic staff assignment.
- Instituted various contests and competitions for employees to motivate and reward measurable performance goal attainment.
- Served as interim Store Manager for three months during which the store surpassed all sales and cost goals.
Background
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA
December, 2009Bachelor of Science in Information Systems and Operations Management
Eagle Scout
Boy Scouts of America
1st Degree Black Belt
Tae Kwon Do
Born and raised in the Washington D.C. region, I have also lived briefly in New York and South Carolina, and travelled overseas to Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic. I have always been fascinated by the confluence of engineering and design, particularly the way in which thoughtful navigation of both perspectives can foster innovation, quality, and efficiency in technology and products used across all domains of modern life. Initially focusing my studies on mechanical and civil engineering, I eventually followed my interests into software where the same problem solving approach could be applied more rapidly, independently, and iteratively to produce results.
Links to earlier project pages can be found on the previous version of this homepage.