Thomas Gorence — Principal Software Engineer, Orlando FL

Experience

IDEAS / Disney — Principal Engineer

Led engineering for 25+ interactive installations across theme parks, cruise ships, museums, and science centers. Tens of millions of visitors. Architected an eLearning platform adopted company-wide. Technologies: React, Unity, Electron, GSAP, After Effects.

Intelity — Senior Staff Engineer

Owned the IoT platform integrating 5 hardware protocols across 200+ luxury properties worldwide. Built the MDM solution managing 10,000+ devices with 24/7 uptime. Technologies: Kotlin, Go, Node.js, Firebase, IoT.

CommentSold — Tech Lead

Led build infrastructure for 5,000+ white-label apps. Replaced FastLane with a custom Go pipeline achieving 5-10x speedup. Drove AI/ML adoption for image validation and content automation. Technologies: Go, React, AWS, Jenkins, Pulumi.

Priority One — Principal Engineer

Sole engineer on a price forecasting system analyzing millions of SKUs. Built custom Zebra scanner apps processing thousands of daily barcode scans. Technologies: Python, Go, Node.js, AutoTS.

Applied AI & ML — Independent AI/ML Engineer

Production AI systems: StyleGAN for image generation, GPT-3 for content automation, Rekognition for KYC, and ML pipelines with TensorFlow and PyTorch. 4 production ML systems shipped.

Music & Creative — Animator & Musician (ASCAP)

Credited composer on MTV, VH1, Cartoon Network and more. Comic creator, digital artist, and sound designer working across 2D/3D animation and post-production. 4 major networks, platinum artists.

Technical Expertise

Languages: TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, C#, Kotlin, Swift, Dart, PHP, C/C++, Java, Lua, SQL, Bash, x86 Assembly, Go

Frontend: React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Three.js, GSAP, WebGL, Svelte, HTML/CSS, Tailwind, Framer Motion

Backend: Node.js, Express, FastAPI, Django, .NET, GraphQL, REST, gRPC, WebSockets, Microservices

Cloud & DevOps: AWS, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD, Linux, Nginx, GitHub Actions, Jenkins

Data: PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, DynamoDB, Elasticsearch

AI & ML: Computer Vision, NLP, Neural Networks, StyleGAN2, LLM Training, Diffusion Models, PyTorch, TensorFlow

Mobile: React Native, Flutter, Swift/UIKit, Kotlin/Android, Electron, PWAs

Creative: After Effects, Premiere, Cinema 4D, Toon Boom, Unity, Unreal Engine, Blender, Pro Tools, GLSL Shaders

Hardware & IoT: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, RFID/NFC, Crestron, Lutron, Control4, Serial/MQTT

Career Journey

Started programming with Logo and QBasic as a kid. Learned x86 Assembly and reverse engineering with SoftICE. Enlisted in the United States Air Force (3C0X2) with TS/SCI clearance, working with SQL, ColdFusion, C++, COBOL, and Ada. After the military, worked defense contracts with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman on C4ISR systems.

Transitioned into professional audio with ASCAP credits on MTV, VH1, Adult Swim, and Cartoon Network. Spent 10 years at Walt Disney Studios doing post-production, 2D/3D animation, and interactive exhibit engineering. Built interactive installations with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and RFID at the Orlando Science Center and Spaceport America.

Led mobile development across iOS, Android, and cross-platform. Built game experiences with Unity, Unreal Engine, and VR/AR platforms. Architected world-class resort automation systems deployed across 200+ properties in Las Vegas, Dubai, Paris, Berlin, and NYC. Currently focused on cloud architecture, DevOps, and applied AI/ML including generative AI with ComfyUI, Flux, and LLM training.

Engineering Philosophy

I map the full system before writing a line of code. APIs and interfaces come first, implementation follows. Deep experience across hardware, software, and creative domains taught me that the best architecture emerges from understanding the complete picture.

Contact

Email: thomas@thomas.codes

GitHub: github.com/ThomasDotCodes

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thomasgorence

Resume: Download PDF