A little about me

Last updated July 7th, 2021

Hi, I'm Ryan, and this is my website. I built this website as a project to learn about bootstrap, ssl, purchasing a domain name, and other web technologies. Now I post pictures and guides from time to time. I studied Computer Engineering at Iowa State Universtity and then did a Masters of Business Administration. Since then I've worked in Software Engineering and Product Management roles.

I love talking about technology and the outdoors, so you'll mostly see posts about those.

Early life

I grew up in Ames and went to school in the small town of Gilbert. In high school, I was involved in everything I could think of. I played the bass clarinet in band, sang bass in choir, ran cross country and track, and participated in student council and leadersihp organizations. I ran with the varsity team at the Cross Country State Championships three years, with the team coming in 8th, 3rd, and 2nd. I graduated in 2013 as Valedictorian.

After high school, I stuck around Ames to attend Iowa State University, studying Computer Engineering. I worked the whole time I was in college, first as a software engineer at the Iowa Department of Transportation, then as a Community Advisor in the residence halls, and then more software development for IBM. I was involved in the Honors Program, Dance Marathon, and volunteered as a Student Admissions Representative. I also helped found the ISU Chapter of Delta Sigma Phi fratnerity and served in various leadeship roles on the executive board.

Four years wasn't enough to fit everything in, so I added a fifth year to do a concurrent Masters of Business Administration while working as a Graduate Assistant in the College of Business. I graduated with both degrees in Fall of 2018, Magna Cum Laude, Honors, and was selected as the Outstanding Engineering Graduate for the Computer Engineering department.

Career

During college, I compeleted software internships at the Iowa Department of Transportation, Cerner Corporation, IBM, and The Boeing Company. I also spent two years doing part-time software development during the school years.

Immediately after graduation, I began a career in Product Management at a growth-phase ecommerce company called Spreetail. I helped build an automatic pricing tool which adjusts the prices of more than 20,000 products across more than a dozen ecommerce marketplaces every hour, resulting in over $10 million of additional revenue in the first year. After two years, I moved to another Product Management role at a regional grocery store called Hy-Vee. Here, I helped redesign the grocery ecommerce homepage resulting in a 5x increase in browsing time and a 15% increase in conversion rate.

Now I work as a full-stack, Senior Software Engineer for a digital grocery startup called Prodx. I design SQL and No-SQL databases, write backend API controllers and services in .NET, build frontend web apps in Angular and Blazor, and deploy to Azure cloud resources that I manage.

Ryan standing by tent

Below is an excerpt from ISU's press release about the Outstanding Engineering Graduates of Fall 2018

Gallus completed his honors project entitled “Predicting What’s Popular: Social Media Analytics with Machine Learning” and travelled to the United Kingdom in Fall 2015, studying abroad at the University of Birmingham.

On top of a cumulative GPA of 3.86, Gallus has been a part of the President’s Leadership class, raised over $1,250 dollars for the Dance Marathon, served on the recruitment committee and as a student admissions representative and membership development coordinator.

In addition to these efforts, Gallus co-founded the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity and served as the first vice president of risk management and judicial affairs. Also elected as philanthropy chair, Gallus organized the 4K Hay Run for Cancer with over 150 participants, raising over $1,500 dollars for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.

Gallus has also served as a community advisor for his residence hall and a freshman honors program leader.

In addition to his involvement at Iowa State, Gallus has had four internships: Iowa DOT, developing JavaScript web applications to support geospatial information; Cerner, developing Java desktop and web applications for querying and analyzing patient medical record data; IBM as a software engineering intern; and at Boeing as a Project Management Intern.

“On top of all of Ryan’s accomplishments, he is willing to go the ‘extra mile’ for his peers and does it with a smile on his face and a concern for all,” said Vicky Thorland-Oster, manager of student services in electrical and computer engineering.

Full Article
Ryan in suit and bowtie