Michael Cummings

I'm a Chicago native and a Full Stack Software Engineer with over a decade of experience building reliable, scalable systems and modern web applications. My work focuses on combining strong engineering fundamentals with modern frameworks like Next.js and React to build fast, maintainable, and highly performant products.

I'm also a startup founder and security researcher. I enjoy exploring how systems work under the hood and continuously experiment with new technologies and tools that improve productivity and performance.

My engineering approach is highly data-driven. I use metrics and operational data to guide architectural decisions, prioritize work, and validate whether delivered systems achieve their intended impact. I'm experienced designing serverless architectures, building CI/CD pipelines, and managing infrastructure using infrastructure-as-code practices.

I'm also familiar with modern video encoding formats and workflows, including AV1, H.264, and HEVC (H.265), and understand their tradeoffs across compression efficiency, performance, and compatibility.

Outside of engineering, I love traveling and experiencing new places. I'm currently living as a digital nomad, spending time in cities around the world. When I'm not working, you'll usually find me at music festivals, outdoors, or hanging out with friends.

I'm passionate about building great software, contributing to open-source projects, and continuously experimenting with emerging technologies that push the boundaries of what's possible.