Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Role: Software Developer III (contract via CACI & Gridiron IT)
Duration: October 2024 – October 2025
Overview
For the past year, I’ve served as a Software Developer III supporting NASA’s web ecosystem, contributing to the ongoing development, maintenance, and modernization of the NASA.gov and Plus.NASA.gov platforms.
My work has focused on ensuring the performance, accessibility, and reliability of NASA’s public-facing digital infrastructure—platforms that collectively serve millions of global visitors daily.
My Role
Working within a distributed, multi-agency team, I’ve played a key role in:
- Maintaining and extending WordPress themes and plugins to improve content publishing efficiency and performance across NASA web properties.
- Supporting Drupal-based microsites and ensuring consistency across the larger ecosystem of NASA-managed domains.
- Implementing security and performance updates, ensuring all systems remain compliant with federal IT and accessibility standards.
- Enhancing accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1) through structural improvements, ARIA labeling, and QA testing with automated tools and manual audits.
- Collaborating cross-functionally with content, media, and engineering teams to ensure a seamless and stable visitor experience.
Technical Stack
WordPress, Drupal, PHP, JavaScript (ES6), HDS Design System, Gravity Forms, MySQL, Git, WP VIP, axe DevTools, Lighthouse, React
Achievements
- Reduced accessibility violations by over 40% on NASA.gov
- Developed modular enhancements for plugins and themes used across multiple NASA domains.
- Contributed to NASA’s immersive storytelling platform Plus.NASA.gov, which showcases long-form editorial and multimedia features.
The Result
NASA’s web ecosystem continues to set the standard for accessible, public-facing federal websites, combining storytelling, transparency, and technology. My role contributed to maintaining the integrity and reliability of this digital infrastructure — one that helps millions explore the universe online.
Disclaimer
This project was completed while serving as a Software Developer III contractor supporting NASA web properties. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent those of NASA or the U.S. Government.
