Hi , my name is

John Swindell.

Technical Lead | Founder | AI Platform Engineer

I build and deploy AI tooling where product, data, and infrastructure meet. At Tekly Studio, I own product delivery, CI/CD guardrails, and AI-assisted workflows across a mixed BS/MS engineering cohort. I also founded Ellide to turn messy course documents into AI-ready teaching materials.

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About Me

John Swindell profile picture

I am an early-career engineer and founder focused on applied AI systems: document-to-context pipelines, LLM-ready workflows, data infrastructure, and automation that lets non-specialist users operate complex systems without living inside the implementation details.

My current work spans Technical Lead work at Tekly Studio, where I own Crypt0nest.io product delivery and set engineering standards for a 44-person mixed BS/MS intern and contributor cohort, plus founder-led product ownership at Ellide, where I am building an educator-first AI study-material platform. The common thread is the same: build useful systems, make the workflow reliable, and keep AI output grounded in the source material or operational reality it came from.

I am also deepening my Go and Kubernetes fundamentals while preparing for the Certified Kubernetes Administrator exam.

Core Technologies:
  • AI Product Engineering
  • LLM Workflows
  • Python, Go, JavaScript, SQL, NoSQL
  • OpenAI & Gemini API Integration
  • Google Cloud Platform: Cloud Run, GCS
  • Terraform, Docker, GitHub Actions
  • MLOps / LLMOps / AI Tooling
  • Linux, Bash, Self-Hosting
  • Data Pipelines, Validation Gates, Caching
  • Technical Writing & Product Documentation

Professional Experience

Technical Lead (Contract) - Tekly Studio
Dec 2025 - Present

Hired by the CEO as Technical Lead to own technical delivery for Crypt0nest.io products and set engineering standards for a 44-person mixed BS/MS intern and contributor cohort, majority MS-level.

  • AI-Driven Onboarding Platform: Built a production-critical onboarding system on Google Cloud Run that connects Airtable, Google Workspace, DocuSign, email workflows, and Gemini-generated LMS curricula.
  • CI/CD and Engineering Governance: Architected GitHub Actions workflows, RBAC controls, review gates, and branching standards so contributors can ship through auditable delivery paths.
  • AI Enablement: Built internal OpenAI/Gemini tooling, including context-aware support workflows and documentation-grounded training content for new contributors.
  • Product Delivery: Own product execution for Crypt0nest.io workstreams while translating ambiguous founder/operator requirements into maintainable software and clear technical documentation.
Founder - Ellide
May 2026 - Present

Founded Ellide, an AI study-material platform that turns syllabi, slides, scanned readings, and handouts into AI-ready teaching documents grounded in the actual course material.

  • Product Ownership: Designed the public educator workflow, student experience, developer positioning, and privacy-first product narrative for a closed-source AI document platform.
  • LLM-Ready Documents: Built the product around a practical problem in AI adoption: messy PDFs and raw uploads often produce generic answers, while structured Markdown, JSON, and teaching guidance give LLMs cleaner context.
  • Educator-First AI: Focused the product on guided learning, source references, Socratic tutoring behavior, and instructor-defined teaching posture instead of generic answer dumping.
  • Developer Surface: Published a developer-facing workflow at dev.ellide.co for OCR-heavy documents, structured Markdown/JSON output, and downstream use in AI chats, internal tools, and RAG pipelines.
MLOps & Data Engineer Intern - Crypt0nest.io
Jun 2025 - Sep 2025

Built data infrastructure and model-validation tooling for quantitative crypto research, with proprietary strategy details removed from the public case studies.

  • GCP Data Pipeline: Architected a Dockerized ETL pipeline that ingested CoinGecko, DeFi Llama, and LunarCrush data into GCS-backed datasets for model training.
  • Caching and Cost Control: Implemented a two-tier local/GCS cache that reduced repeated data refreshes from hours to minutes and cut external API dependency by roughly 90%.
  • Model Validation: Added SHAP diagnostics, walk-forward validation, and ingestion checks that blocked 6,000+ data integrity errors before downstream models consumed polluted records.
  • Point-in-Time Architecture: Designed pipeline logic to reduce survivorship and lookahead bias in historical training data.
Server Administrator - Repulsion Ltd.
October 2021 - October 2023

Supported 16 Linux-based, Pterodactyl-managed game server environments during U.S. off-hours.

  • Linux Operations: Used Bash and panel-based tooling to troubleshoot plugin failures, restarts, configuration issues, and player-facing incidents.
  • Support and Escalation: Coordinated with developers and translated technical constraints for nontechnical users during production issues.
  • Systems Foundation: Built practical instincts around service uptime, logs, configuration drift, and the human cost of unclear operational processes.

Education

April 2026
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Southern New Hampshire University
GPA: 3.97 / 4.0
  • SNHU President’s List: 2024 - 2026

Relevant Coursework:

  • Applied Statistics for STEM (Python, Pandas, NumPy, SciPy): Leveraged Python libraries to analyze complex datasets and derive actionable insights.
  • Object Oriented Programming (Java): Engineered modular and reusable software components by applying core OOP principles (encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism).
  • Data Structures and Algorithms: Implemented and analyzed various data structures and algorithms to optimize solutions for complex computational problems.
  • Foundation in C++ Programming: Built efficient applications in C++, gaining experience in memory management and performance optimization.
  • Operating Systems: Explored core OS concepts like process scheduling, memory management, and concurrency to understand system-level interactions.
  • Software Engineering Principles: Collaboratively developed a software project using agile methodologies, managing the full development lifecycle from requirements to a functional prototype.

Projects

Ellide - AI Study Materials for Educators Ellide - AI Study Materials for Educators
Founder AI Product LLMOps OCR Document AI RAG Context Education Technology
Ellide - AI Study Materials for Educators
Founded and launched Ellide.co, an educator-first AI workflow that turns syllabi, slides, readings, handouts, and OCR-heavy PDFs into AI-ready teaching documents. The product is built around grounded context, optional teaching guidance, and cleaner Markdown/JSON outputs for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, internal tools, and RAG-style workflows.
Visit Ellide
Automated Onboarding Pipeline & Headless LMS
Python GitHub Actions Platform Engineering DocuSign API Airtable API Gemini API Terraform Cloud Run
Automated Onboarding Pipeline & Headless LMS
Built a production-critical onboarding platform on Google Cloud Run for Tekly Studio. The system orchestrates Airtable, DocuSign, Google Workspace, email flows, Gemini-generated LMS curricula, Terraform-managed deployment, and GitHub Actions automation so a mixed BS/MS contributor cohort can onboard without fragile manual handoffs.
Read Architecture Breakdown
ML-Driven Quant Research Model
Python Machine Learning CatBoost QuantStats Walk-Forward Validation
ML-Driven Quant Research Model
A model-validation framework using CatBoost, SHAP diagnostics, QuantStats, and walk-forward validation to test momentum strategies without leaking future data. Built to identify overfitting, regime sensitivity, and risk-adjusted performance issues before a strategy reaches production research workflows.
Read Case Study
Automated Crypto Data Pipeline
Python Google Cloud Platform Docker
Automated Crypto Data Pipeline
A Dockerized GCP data pipeline built for quantitative research. It ingests market, on-chain, and social data from multiple APIs, applies point-in-time validation to reduce survivorship/lookahead bias, and uses a two-tier local/GCS cache to cut repeated refreshes from hours to minutes.
Read Architecture Breakdown
Async Discord Monitor
Python Asyncio BeautifulSoup Discord.py
Async Discord Monitor
Real-time inventory tracker built on a non-blocking asyncio architecture. Features a custom offline testing harness for safe DOM parsing and maintains a persistent WebSocket connection for zero-latency alerts.
Read About This Project
Computer Science Student Career Skill Explorer
HTML CSS JavaScript UI/UX Design Educational Tool Web Development AI / LLM Gemini API Cloudflare Workers
Computer Science Student Career Skill Explorer
Built a lightweight AI-assisted career exploration tool for CS students and Coding United members. Users complete self-assessment checklists, then a Cloudflare Worker calls the Gemini API to summarize strengths, gaps, and career-path alignments.
View Skill Explorer

Product, Leadership & Honors

Founder - Ellide
Launched Ellide.co, an educator-first AI study-material platform that turns syllabi, slides, scanned readings, and handouts into AI-ready teaching materials grounded in the actual course context.
Technical Lead - Tekly Studio
Hired by the CEO as Technical Lead to own Crypt0nest.io product delivery and set engineering standards, code review paths, and CI/CD guardrails for a 44-person mixed BS/MS intern and contributor cohort.
Key Contributor & Developer - Coding United Club @ SNHU
Spearheaded a major revitalization of the club's GitHub presence. Architected and documented core resources including developer templates (Python, Docker), a centralized Club Hub, and an interactive CS Career Skill Explorer. These initiatives significantly improved member onboarding and resource accessibility.
Technical Workshop Lead
Designed and delivered technical workshops for members on foundational engineering skills, including Git/GitHub workflows, Python environment management, and Docker basics, fostering peer-to-peer learning.
SNHU President's List
Consistently named to the President's List (2024–2026) for outstanding academic excellence, maintaining top-tier standing throughout all terms.

Contact Me

If you’d like to get in touch, my business email is below.
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