Charles E. Ross

San Jacinto, California | 951-370-5596 | chivalry@mac.com | GitHub | LinkedIn

Full Curriculum Vitae | App screenshots with context

Professional Summary

Senior software developer and solutions architect with more than 30 years of experience delivering custom CRM, workflow automation, and line-of-business applications across a wide range of industries and platforms. Recent work includes AI-assisted delivery of a full-stack mortgage brokerage CRM and four years of architecture ownership on a Salesforce business operations platform. Builds software that improves access to accurate data, shifts repetitive work into automation, and owns architecture, implementation, DevOps, and client-facing technical communication end-to-end. Known for ramping quickly on unfamiliar technologies when project needs demand it and turning that ramp-up into production delivery.

Core Skills

• AI-assisted development: Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Replit Agent
• CRM and business systems: custom CRM, workflow automation, Salesforce Lightning Platform, FileMaker, OutSystems
• Application development: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Flask, PHP, HTML, CSS, Lightning Web Components, Apex/Java
• Data and integration: PostgreSQL, MySQL, SOQL, JSON, XML, XSLT, REST API integrations
• Platforms and delivery: web, macOS, Windows, iOS, FileMaker Server, Salesforce orgs, cloud environments
• Additional background: AppleScript, Cocoa, Objective-C++, Xojo, UI/UX design

Experience

Principal Developer & Consultant, Chivalry Software | 2004–Present

• Operated Chivalry Software as a boutique consultancy, serving as principal developer and technical director on multi-year client engagements — with the scope, responsibility, and delivery accountability of a senior individual contributor or technical lead at a product company.
• Delivered custom CRM, operations, and workflow applications that improved access to accurate data and shifted repetitive work into automation for clients across mortgage brokerage, legal, publishing, education, retail, entertainment, and manufacturing.
• Most recently served as senior developer on a full-stack mortgage brokerage CRM, using AI-assisted development with Claude Code and Replit Agent to deliver pipeline management, document workflows, and reporting.
• Built and shipped business systems across React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Salesforce Lightning Platform, OutSystems, FileMaker, Flask, and CakePHP, choosing the right stack for each client's workflow and delivery constraints.
• Learned PHP over a weekend to deliver a client web project on schedule, and reached productive delivery on OutSystems within a week of first exposure.
• Led architecture, DevOps, and implementation as primary technical decision-maker for a four-year Salesforce platform engagement spanning HR, recruiting, support, project tracking, surveys, and field incident reporting.
• Mentored junior developers across Salesforce, FileMaker, and web projects, improving onboarding and delivery consistency across engagements.
• Conducted GitHub pull request code reviews for both junior developers and peers over six-plus years, across Salesforce (Apex, LWC), React, TypeScript, and Node.js — evaluating correctness, code quality, and design consistency.
• Delivered over a dozen distinct internal tools and owned platform selection, systems design, and deployment across cloud environments, Salesforce orgs, and FileMaker Server, including a gamified training app that sped onboarding and shortened time to proficiency on new procedures and an iPad personality-assessment app used in sales-role candidate evaluation.

Selected Projects

• Mortgage Brokerage CRM (2025–2026): Senior developer on a full-stack custom CRM built from scratch for a live mortgage brokerage. Delivered pipeline, document, communication, and reporting workflows that streamlined day-to-day loan operations. Stack: React, TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL; AI-assisted development with Claude Code and Replit Agent.
• Business Operations Platform (2021–2025): Lead developer and architect for a multi-module Salesforce-based platform spanning HR, recruiting, project tracking, surveys, support ticketing, and field incident reporting. Owned architecture, DevOps, data model, and client communication across four years of continuous delivery, improving operational consistency and visibility across teams.
• Salesforce Permission Assistant (2023–2024): Senior contributor on an AppExchange utility that simplified management of complex Salesforce permission sets for enterprise-scale orgs.
• lwc-popover-window (2023–2024, open source): Authored a reusable Lightning Web Component enabling popover windows in Salesforce Lightning Experience. Published as open source and documented in a technical article.

Writer / Editor, Various Publications | 2000–Present

• Write and edit technical content focused on FileMaker, Salesforce, AppleScript, and software development.
• Served as technical editor for Xcode 5: Start to Finish and Xcode 6: Start to Finish, and as technical editor and contributing author (two chapters) for The Book of FileMaker.
• Published tutorials, reviews, and technical articles for Macworld Magazine, ISO FileMaker Magazine, and About This Particular Macintosh.

Manager of Software Development, Bert Howe and Associates | 2007–2008

• Developed in-house applications supporting litigation workflow and operations.
• Maintained and extended existing systems while advising on technical direction for litigation operations.

Manager of Information Systems, JobElephant.com | 2006–2007

• Built and maintained internal business operations software and vendor data exchanges.
• Administered internal macOS-based infrastructure and delivered employee support and training for day-to-day operations.

Earlier Experience

• Developer, Productive Computing | 2003–2004
• Senior Developer, Metro Technologies | 2000–2003
• Manager of Information Systems / Database Analyst, Direct Partners | 1996–1999
• Manager of Information Technologies, Grey Advertising | 1993–1996

Open Source and Community

• Created lwc-popover-window, structured-flask, alexandria, and filemaker.vim.
• Maintained or contributed to Vim, Flask, Werkzeug, Flask-Bcrypt, Flask-Dotenv, SimpleImage, UltiSnips, and FMEasyAudit.
• Mentor on Python and JavaScript tracks at Exercism.
• Top 10% Stack Overflow user and longtime moderator on FMForums.

Education and Certifications

• University of California, Los Angeles | Mathematics with Specialization in Computing
• Certified FileMaker Developer
• Salesforce Superbadges: Apex Specialist (Apex/Java), Lightning Experience Specialist, Security Specialist, App Customization Specialist
• Additional training: Python, JavaScript, Responsive Web Design, Bash shell scripting, Docker and Kubernetes