Blake Willmarth and his dog, Simba.

Blake Willmarth

I am a software engineer with nearly twenty years of experience building data platforms, web applications, internal tools, and enterprise software. I work from the original problem through launch and ongoing support: understanding how people work, organising the information, building the interface, and looking after what I ship.

My career has moved between consulting, enterprise delivery, and product engineering. I learned how large organisations bring software into daily work, across stakeholders, budgets, and timelines. I also learned that useful systems start with a clear understanding of the information and decisions behind the work.

Today I run Ayllu, a Vermont-based solo development practice. I build content-driven websites, data platforms, and internal tools for small businesses and organisations, and remain responsible for what I ship.

Core strengths

  • Reliable information. Bringing inconsistent sources together, defining clear rules, and checking updates so people can trust the result.
  • End-to-end delivery. Taking responsibility from the data and integrations through the application interface, launch, and ongoing support.
  • Tools that reduce manual work. Turning multi-week processes into self-service workflows that non-engineers can run.
  • Systems other people can maintain. Providing test environments, practical documentation, and clear operating procedures for the next person.
  • Enterprise delivery and adoption. Helping large organisations introduce software and data platforms across stakeholders, budgets, timelines, and the process changes that make new systems useful.
  • Connecting business and engineering. A decade of stakeholder-facing delivery work, plus a Master’s in computer and information technology.

Experience

Technical skills

  • Languages: Python, Ruby, TypeScript, JavaScript, C# / .NET, Perl
  • Web frameworks: Astro (static and server output), Node.js + Express, React 19, Ruby on Rails
  • Styling and content modelling: Tailwind CSS 4, Astro content collections, MDX, Zod, Pages CMS
  • APIs and data: GraphQL, REST, PostgreSQL, Supabase, Google BigQuery, Redis
  • Data pipelines: Python with Playwright, staged ingest with validation gates, pytest
  • Search and performance: static and server rendering, caching with invalidation, sitemaps, canonical rules, Core Web Vitals
  • Data integrity: entity identity, validation gates, change ledgers, visibility rules
  • Application operations: authentication, scoped permissions, staging environments
  • Infrastructure and DevOps: Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Netlify, HashiCorp Vault, GCP, AWS
  • Integration and messaging: webhooks, Web Push (VAPID), calendar feeds, custom dispatchers, event-driven job execution

Education

  • University of Pennsylvania — Master of Computer and Information Technology, School of Engineering & Applied Science, 2010
  • Colgate University — Bachelor of Arts, Mathematical Economics, magna cum laude, 2006

How I work

  • Understand the work first. I clarify the information and decisions a system must support before building screens.
  • Write the rules down. Publishing rules, identity rules, and checks belong in the project, not in someone’s head.
  • Make it operable. A system is not done when it works once; someone else should be able to run it, understand it, and recover when something goes wrong.
  • Keep the client in control. Prefer plain Markdown, versioned content, and documented workflows over lock-in.
  • Accessibility is a requirement, not a pass. Contrast, keyboard operation, and semantic structure are part of the definition of done.