Jerome Bustarga Built-in
Software developer working across backend services, cloud infrastructure and the front end. I build things that ship, I document them so someone else can run them, and I care about who they leave out.
RoleSoftware Developer
FocusBackend and cloud infrastructure, applied ML, full-stack
EducationCreighton University — BS, Computer Science & Graphic Design/Film (double major), May 2026
StatusOpen to opportunities
Currently
Building The Algorithm Mirror, a privacy-first tool that turns YouTube watch histories into interactive visualizations. It reached 91.2% categorization accuracy with an 89.7% cost reduction using a hybrid AI approach.
Experience
Five roles across software, infrastructure and design — most recently standing up a team's first cloud environment.
Creighton4Good
Feb – Aug 2026
Software Development Intern
Open-Source Software Lab · Omaha, NE (Remote) · 30 hrs/week
Infrastructure & deployment
- Designed and deployed a containerized Spring Boot backend to AWS ECS Fargate, with RDS MySQL, S3, an Application Load Balancer, ECR, IAM roles and CloudWatch logging, giving the team its first shared staging environment.
- Authored a multi-stage Dockerfile that cut image size by separating build and runtime stages, and established a repeatable deployment process the team adopted.
- Diagnosed a load balancer health check misconfiguration that was silently failing every deployment, reasoning from rollout behaviour back to threshold timing against application startup.
Security & identity
- Implemented HTTPS end to end for staging: generated the certificate signing request, coordinated issuance with Information Security, and configured TLS termination at the load balancer.
- Debugged and fixed OAuth redirect URI generation behind a reverse proxy, unblocking Microsoft Entra single sign-on on web and mobile after months of being blocked.
- Narrowed publicly exposed monitoring endpoints that were leaking configuration data on a public URL.
Application development
- Migrated photo storage from ephemeral container disk to Amazon S3 with a scoped IAM task role, preserving the existing API contracts so no frontend changes were needed.
- Implemented a scheduled job to close expired events, choosing a stored-status approach over read-time filtering to keep the database the single source of truth.
Collaboration & ownership
- Reviewed pull requests across backend and frontend, catching authorization gaps, cross-platform inconsistencies and merge conflicts before they reached production.
- Wrote the documentation for deployment, monitoring, certificate renewal, cost and known limitations, and led a handoff session so the remaining developer could maintain the environment independently.
GRO
Jun – Aug 2026
Web Design Intern
Evansville, IN (Remote) · 20 hrs/week
- Built custom, responsive WordPress pages from Figma mockups using Elementor Pro and Bricks Builder, with pixel-accurate implementation across desktop, tablet and mobile.
- Applied SEO and performance practices including semantic heading hierarchy, image optimization, metadata and Core Web Vitals, while building to accessibility and usability standards.
- Worked with UX/UI designers on handoff, ran QA for responsiveness and cross-device consistency, and resolved layout and Elementor issues.
HDR, Inc.
May 2025 – Jan 2026
Corporate Marketing Services Intern
Omaha, NE · 40 hrs/week
- Created the Environmental Science and Planning onboarding document and designed assets for monthly internal events across cross-sector services.
- Produced graphics, digital assets and award submittals, and edited Arizona office headshots in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, aligned to HDR's global brand standards.
- Edited engineering project feature videos, wrote internal articles and maintained SharePoint pages, supporting HDR Foundation initiatives with multidisciplinary teams.
BrookHaven Tax & Accounting
Jul – Dec 2025
Data Analytics & Design Assistant
Hartwell, GA (Remote) · 15 hrs/week
- Built Excel automation tools including VBA macros and formula-driven dashboards, integrated with brand-compliant templates to streamline recurring client reporting.
- Designed brand-compliant graphics for client presentations, tax-season marketing and internal communications.
- Reported directly to the CEO, turning complex financial data into accessible dashboards and visual summaries for small-business clients and non-technical stakeholders.
Creighton iJay Store
Jan – May 2025
Web Developer
Apple Authorized Campus Store · Omaha, NE · 10 hrs/week
- Led design and development of the iJay Alumni page in Shopify, a responsive landing experience connecting Creighton alumni with the campus Apple store.
- Built and maintained responsive pages in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java and Python as lead developer on a two-person team.
- Ran code reviews and tested across Chrome, Safari, Firefox and mobile for cross-browser compatibility and performance.
Background
The short version: design came first, code came later, and the gap between them is where I like to work.
I have been fond of designing since I was fifteen. I would volunteer to make invitations, banners and flyers for family occasions, weddings, birthdays and my cousins' school projects. It was something I could give people before I had anything else to give.
There was a stretch when I was an out-of-school youth, and I really felt like I had fallen behind. I stepped back from my own education so my siblings could continue theirs. Around that time my mom and I started a bakery and pizzeria, and I handled everything on the front: the marketing, the banners and flyers and calling cards, the social media, even making the pizza boxes.
I finished high school as valedictorian and was accepted to five schools that offered me scholarships, though none were enough on their own. I shared my story online and my provincial government recognized it.
At Creighton University I started as a physics major on the engineering track. One of the requirements was a computer science class, and the moment I took my first one I fell in love, so I switched my major.
I know the reality of being in the margins, and I still consider myself part of it. I am not someone looking in from the outside. That is why my mission is to help the next generation find their voice and amplify it.
Skills
What I reach for, roughly in order of how often I use it.
Languages
JavaC#CPythonJavaScriptTypeScriptPHPSQLHTMLCSS
Cloud & Infrastructure
AWS ECS FargateRDSS3ALBECRIAMACMCloudWatchDocker
Backend
Spring BootDjangoFlaskREST APIsMySQLMongoDBSQLiteHSQLDBData modelingNormalization (BCNF)Scheduled jobs
Security & Identity
OAuth 2.0Microsoft Entra IDTLS / HTTPSCertificate signingScoped IAM roles
Frontend & Mobile
ReactReact NativeExpop5.jsGSAPCanvas APIChrome Extensions (MV3)WordPressElementorBricks Builder
Game & Real-time 3D
UnityC#Three.jsWebGL
AI & Data
scikit-learnAnomaly detectionIsolation ForestRAGEmbeddingssentence-transformersHugging FaceGemini APIpandasData visualizationPrompt design
Practice
GitCode reviewTechnical documentationDeployment runbooks
Design
FigmaIllustratorPhotoshopInDesignAfter EffectsAccessibility (WCAG)Usability testing
Honors & Service
Recognition for the work, and the volunteering that runs alongside it.
Honors, awards & certificates
Outstanding Graduate in Graphic Design & FilmMay 2026
Creighton University
Kappa Pi International Art Honors SocietyMar 2026
Creighton University Chapter
Phi Alpha Theta International Honor Society in HistoryApr 2026
Creighton University Chapter
Data+ Analytics CertificateOct 2025
gener8tor Skills
Film Festival Selections2025
Flatwater Film Festival · Omaha Film Festival
Joella Cohen ScholarshipApr 2024
Creighton CSDJ
Camarines Sur International ScholarshipJul 2022
Provincial Government of Camarines Sur
Service
GivePulse Ambassador ProgramOct 2024 – May 2025
Remote
Cortina Living-Learning CommunityJan – May 2025
Omaha, NE
Schlegel Center for Service and JusticeJan – Dec 2023
Omaha, NE
+iMPACT LeadershipJan 2021 – Jan 2022
Manila, Philippines
Effective Altruism BlueMar – Jun 2021
Ateneo de Manila University · Manila, Philippines
Office of Senator Francis PangilinanOct – Nov 2020
Manila, Philippines
Contact
Open to software engineering and full-stack roles. The fastest way to reach me is email.
Selected live projects
