on-call & operational

Hi, I'm Megan

A backend software engineer keeping live captions running for a global customer base. Previously a computational biochemist. Forever a crafter.

See my work Resume ↗ Say hi

Hi! I'm Megan, a backend software engineer in Toronto. I build and run live captioning, translation, and voice dubbing at AI-Media. Keeping live captions running for customers around the world. [keyboard clacking intensifies] Fun fact: before I wrote the caption software, I WAS the captions. [upbeat crafting music]

01 / whoami

Backend engineer, ex‑computational biochemist, full‑time craft enthusiast

I'm a software engineer at AI-Media in Toronto, and a primary backend engineer who owns Lexi, Translate, and Voice Cloud, the company's key live captioning, translation, and voice dubbing products. I take features from technical design to production, run planning, and answer the alerts when something breaks.

My path here took the scenic route. I did a BMSc and an MSc in computational biochemistry, simulating disordered proteins with molecular dynamics. Then I spent a year as a respeaker, voicing live captions for classes in real time. That's where I got curious about the software underneath, and I've been building it ever since.

I like systems that are a bit messy, code that's kind to the next person, and releases that go out boringly. Off the clock I'm usually stitching something tiny.

02 / CHANGELOG.md

Release notes

My career, versioned. Every release shipped to production; one was a public beta.

  1. v3.0.0 latest Jan 2025 – Present

    Software Engineer @ AI-Media

    Primary backend engineer for Lexi, Translate, and Voice Cloud.

    show full notes (5) hide notes
    • feat: Own the captioning, translation, and dubbing backends, from design doc to prod.
    • feat: Java services on AWS EKS, backed by DynamoDB, ElastiCache, and Amazon MQ.
    • lead: Scope the work, plan releases, and keep leadership in the loop.
    • ops: On call when production needs me.
    • refactor: Modernizing legacy services without slowing the release train.
  2. v2.0.0 Oct 2023 – Jan 2025

    Junior Software Engineer @ AI-Media

    Shipped Lexi features end to end, backend to frontend.

    show full notes (2) hide notes
    • feat: Built features across the Java/AWS backend and the eegcloud.tv site and API.
    • ops: Deployed and supported my own features in production.
  3. v1.0.0 Jul 2023 – Oct 2023

    Software Engineer Intern @ AI-Media

    Wrote the API products' first automated test suite.

    show full notes (2) hide notes
    • test: Took API testing from zero to automated.
    • fix: First bug fixes and small features on the backend.
  4. v0.9.0 beta Sept 2022 – Jul 2023

    Respeaker @ AI-Media

    Before I built the captions, I was the captions.

    show full notes (2) hide notes
    • feat: Voiced real-time captions for classes using Dragon speech recognition.
    • ops: Fixed technical issues live, mid-session. Great on-call training.

03 / greatest hits

Things I'm proud of

  • Live captions at scale

    The backend behind AI-Media's captioning, translation, and dubbing products, used around the world.

    • Java
    • EKS
    • DynamoDB
    • Amazon MQ

  • A test suite from zero

    Designed and built the first automated test suite for the API products, so releases ship with confidence.

    • API tests
    • CI/CD

  • Taming legacy code

    Modernizing services written by engineers who've since moved on, without slowing the release train.

    • Refactoring
    • Code review

  • On-call, minus the panic

    Production incident response for systems people rely on live. Calm under pressure has been practised on air.

    • CloudWatch
    • ElastiCache
    • Runbooks

04 / side quests

Projects

status: in progress

Something's on the hoop

A side project is being stitched together right now. Check back soon, or peek at my GitHub in the meantime.

05 / thread box

What I work with

Sorted by colour, like any good floss organizer.

AWS & infrastructure

  • EKS
  • EC2
  • DynamoDB
  • ElastiCache
  • CloudWatch
  • Amazon MQ
  • CloudFormation
  • Kubernetes
  • Linux

Languages

  • Java
  • Python
  • SQL
  • JavaScript
  • C++
  • Bash

Tools

  • Git
  • CI/CD
  • HTML/CSS
  • pandas
  • Matplotlib

Research toolkit

where I learned to love data

  • MATLAB
  • LaTeX
  • Molecular dynamics

06 / research

Research roots

Before backend, I simulated disordered proteins. Turns out wrangling messy, dynamic systems is great practice for production.

Molecular dynamics render of the Nrf2 Neh4 domain: green helices with blue loops
Nrf2 Neh4, in silico

  • MSc, Computational Biochemistry

    Western University · 2019 – 2021

  • BMSc, Computational Biochemistry

    Western University · 2015 – 2019

07 / after hours

When I'm not on call

  • Cross-stitching

    Pixel art, but slower and with more thread.

  • Ballet

    Years of dance. I still point my toes while the build runs.

  • Fashion

    Colour palettes are a design system, fight me.

  • Film

    Always with captions on (occupational hazard).

08 / open a ticket

Say hi

Hiring, looking to collaborate, or just want to talk about captions, backend systems, or cross-stitch patterns? My inbox is open.