Kevin Rugg

Python, Flask, FastAPI, React, TypeScript, SvelteKit, Go, Java, Google Cloud Platform, Google AppEngine, Google Cloud Run, Google Firestore, Docker, Cloudflare, Google Gemini API, Gemini Function Calling, Anthropic Claude API, MCP Servers (Model Context Protocol), REST APIs, Server-Sent Events (SSE), Google OAuth 2.0, Gmail API, Google Sheets API v4, Telegram Bot API, Unsplash API, PayPal API, AI-assisted Development (Claude Code, Replit AI, Gemini Code Assist)

• Since leaving Google, independently designed, built, shipped, and operated a portfolio of end-to-end web applications, anchored by Rugg Travel, the travel advisory business I run, alongside AI-powered consumer tools, a personal assistant hub, and a handful of experiments that were later sunset or folded into other projects.
• Rugg Travel runs on three hosts: a static marketing site on Cloudflare, a client trip-planning app, and a separate host for client planning documents published straight from Firestore with per-person reactions, isolated from the app's session cookies.
• Most apps pair a Python backend (Flask or FastAPI) with a modern frontend (React/Vite, SvelteKit, or vanilla JS), packaged as Docker containers on Google Cloud Run with Google OAuth 2.0 and Firestore for persistence.
• Several integrate deeply with Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini, including function calling, authenticated MCP servers, Server-Sent Events streaming, and a Telegram + Omi wearable bridge to Claude. JARVIS also drives e-ink, Nest Hub, and Pi-based displays and casts audio to Sonos and Chromecast. Owned the full lifecycle on each: product design, architecture, implementation, deployment, DNS/TLS, analytics, privacy/consent, and ongoing support.

• Live projects: ruggtravel.com, jarvis.krugg.com, hound.krugg.com, raven.krugg.com, firefly.krugg.com, pika.krugg.com, www.krugg.com
• Retired: Lynx (small-business tracker, moved into JARVIS), Hippo (Google Workspace assistant). Parked: Otter (fishing companion), Zebra (idle game).

Java, Distributed Systems, System Design, Data Pipelines, SQL Databases, Spanner, Google AppEngine, REST APIs, Microservices, Data Structures and Algorithms, Performance Optimization, Agile Development, Building Teams, Mentoring, Clean Code and Quality, Testing, Security and Privacy, Tech Debt Management, Flutter, Accessibility, Data Regionalization

• Google Classroom
  • Helped Classroom become net-profitable after usage and costs skyrocketed during the pandemic. Initially managed two teams focused on premium features, Plagerism Reports and Analytics. After growing the Analytics team by both an acquisition and aggressive hiring in Mexico City, shifted from managing back over to technical leadership and implementation.
  • Interesting aspects to these projects included extreme security and privacy consideration given Google's reputational risk handling under-18 data, the changing landscape and opportunities with the rise of capabilities of AI, and balancing revenue and sustainable growth with the core mission to provide useful functionality to teachers, education leaders, and students to improve education.
• Corporate Engineering
  • Compensation, Performance Management, Applicant Tracking, Master Data Management
  • Developed storage solutions for internal data deemed too sensitive to be able to use Google's public Cloud solutions at that time. Worked closely with Google's Cloud SQL solution to make that a viable option for internal data needs.
  • Worked in Munich for a year helping grow that office, mentor new developers, and start projects that that site could continue to own.
  • Tech Lead for Compensation Planning and Benefits engineering teams (~20 devs). Expanded my scope to include helping grow technical leadership for Performance Management teams, Learning Platform teams, and then eventually coordinating and helping guide technical decisions across all the teams working on HR systems, ~170 devs, across five directors.
  • Since Google's Corporate Engineering (~2,000 devs) leaned more towards junior developers than the rest of Google, coordinated with a small group of other senior developers to build support for growing our technical talent, curating a list of recommended technologies and best practices. Taught internal classees on how to choose the right storage systems for new projects and how to successfully launch projects within Google.

Python, Ruby, Javascript, Flash/Flex, Mobile Development, Amazon EC2, Hibernate, Apache, Tomcat, Oracle, EJB, XSLT, Smalltalk, C++, C#