A Lifelong Love of Programming

Thomas has a long-standing passion for technology that began in 1996, when he began learning to program on his family’s first home computer — an already aging Magnavox 386SX-16, complete with MS-DOS 5 and its included QBasic IDE. He dedicated himself to mastering programming through continued independent study, Advanced Placement courses & ACM competitions in high school, and on to pursuing a degree in Computer Science Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Following 3.5 years of rigorous study, he gained valuable industry experience as an intern at Barracuda Networks. There, he contributed to the development of the Copy.com cloud storage platform, focusing primarily on the PHP + MySQL backend. He additionally created and improved the shell, batch, and CMake scripts to streamline & standardize builds per release type and platform, and contributed C++ development towards the proprietary cross-platform runtime.

Strong Experience in Aviation Industry Software

From 2022 to 2024, Thomas contracted with FL3XX GmbH, where he initially worked with operators to customize their Apache Velocity templates (and associated HTML/CSS) used to generate the operators’ client-facing sales documents, as well as internal & external flight-related documents. Through this exposure, general exploration of the software, as well as troubleshooting for operators via the help desk, he gained a wealth of knowledge regarding the needs and expectations of operators across the varied contexts of a comprehensive aviation management software.

During that period, Thomas worked with dozens of operators to handle customization requests for their FL3XX templates — from initial consultation, to drafting requirement specifications, and ultimately through implementation. These projects ranged from simple alterations of language & functionality in existing templates, to creating new entirely custom client-facing documents with operators during onboarding. Thomas has in-depth knowledge of the Apache Velocity templating language, underlying FL3XX functionality & objects (Sales & Dispatch workflow; bookings, flights, tickets, persons, etc.), and an aptitude for adapting these documents and their use within the FL3XX ecosystem to align with operators’ differing workflows and business requirements.

As his role evolved, Thomas expanded his expertise to include product management of the FL3XX API. In this capacity, he collaborated closely with operators and integration partners to provide expertise on integration with the FL3XX API, and worked with these consumers to identify needs and rectify issues with new & existing endpoints.

His unique blend of technical prowess and hands-on experience in the private aviation industry positions him as a trusted partner in developing innovative software solutions that meet the specific needs of aviation businesses.