matthew

blas0@github

I'm a forward deployed engineer in and outside of my career in technical print design.

Engineering

I focus on building internal business tools and native open source apps for technical and non-technical users.

  1. I built two internal applications that gave a client back more than 30 hours a week. A few of the recent pieces:
    • A shipping pipeline that took daily processing from over an hour down to a few minutes.
    • A freight-quote tool that folded three carrier APIs into one workflow.
    • An operations layer, a minimally scoped custom "Notion" alternative, that ties the day-to-day tools, forms, and accounting into one place.
  2. Native macOS apps I've shipped:
    • keyDrop, a menu-bar vault for API keys that stores them locally in the Keychain.
    • oh-my-just-open, a default-app manager for files and URL schemes.
  3. I reach for Python and TypeScript, with REST integrations and auth in the middle, and I lean on Claude, Codex, and Gemini for the agentic parts.

Career work

I do technical print design and prepress prep for flexographic plates.

  1. I process client artwork, match color, and prepare files for prepress plate production on flexographic paper substrates.
  2. I handle client relations over email, phone, and text.
  3. I help co-host exhibition booths at national restaurant and cafe convention shows.
  4. I wear a lot of hats:
    • IT administrative work
    • Routine maintenance: printers, backups, optimizations, and the like
    • Google Workspace administration: email, authentication, cloud services, and employee support tickets

Me

I'm driven to figure things out on my own. I tend to dive into a problem, task, or a project before looking at instructions or guides; not because I dismiss them – but because I learn fastest by building, breaking, and reasoning through it myself. I have noticed that I apply structures that I have experienced from one domain and apply it somewhere entirely unrelated.