About Me

I hold a B.S. in Physics from the University of Maryland, where I graduated summa cum laude. The analytical and mathematical foundation from physics is what I lean on most heavily in technical work — whether it's debugging a system end-to-end, designing an experiment to validate a process change, or reading a dense technical standard for the first time. That habit of working through unfamiliar material is one of the things I most value about my background.

Education

Hi, I'm Tom Wade, an engineer working at the intersection of hardware, software, and customer-facing technical work. I bring 4+ years of hands-on experience designing and supporting production systems in a small-team environment — building the kind of full-stack solutions where the database, the application, the hardware, and the customer all have to work together.

Outside of my professional life, I'm a maker and tinkerer who loves the boundary between hardware and software — anything from custom PCBs to 3D-printed prototypes to motion-control rigs. I'm also an avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast, spending much of my free time hiking, camping, and discovering new places. The curiosity that draws me to building things is the same curiosity that shapes how I approach problems at work — by digging into the details until something actually fits together.

My Professional Background

In my professional work, I'm the sole developer of a customer-facing web portal (Python/Django + JavaScript + MySQL) used daily by external customers worldwide. I led significant portions of an on-prem to AWS migration with a zero-downtime cutover, contributed substantially to my company's ISO 9001 certification effort, and built the data infrastructure that ties our production test stations into a single audit-ready record. The work spans full-stack web development, cloud infrastructure, mechanical and electrical design, and customer-facing technical support — and I genuinely enjoy moving between those layers.

Skills and Aspirations

Comfortable with Python, Django, JavaScript, MySQL, PostgreSQL, AWS, Linux, Docker, KiCad, FreeCAD, and SolidWorks. Looking to bring this experience into roles in IoT solutions engineering, manufacturing engineering, customer-facing technical work, software engineering, and adjacent spaces.