Rebecca Bailey

Developer Educator & Technical Community Builder

Seattle, WA

becca.is · linkedin.com/in/beccamakesthings

About Me

I’m a software engineer and former teacher with experience as an engineering manager, consultant, and startup CTO. I’ve built developer tools and design systems, maintained an open-source charting library, and worked on accessibility across a large product.

I like helping people understand complicated things. That has been part of my work in the classroom, in conference talks and technical writing, and while mentoring and managing engineers.

My recent work includes worker advocacy tools and AI-assisted research. I’m interested in developer education and work that helps other people build and use software.

Highlights

React Conf speaker
Open source maintainer for Victory, a React and D3 visualization library
Former engineering manager and startup CTO
Published technical writer
Former K–12 educator
Accessibility and design systems advocate

Selected Projects

Living Hive — AI-embedding hive visualization mapping workplace stories for worker advocacy
Hive-ly — Legal-tech platform supporting workers documenting workplace issues and connecting with attorneys
Open Weave — Size-inclusive styling service with accessibility as a core design principle
Data Visualization Fellowship — Open-source research on chart performance with large datasets, built on Victory
Accessibility at scale — Design systems and compliance tracking across a large product ecosystem; see Design Systems for Data Visualization

Experience

CTO & Lead Engineer

Hive-ly · Remote
September 2025 – January 2026

Led architecture and product development for an AI-enabled legal technology platform supporting worker advocacy.
Built AI-powered workflows for analyzing legal documents and generating structured narratives from case data.
Developed guardrails and human review processes to support responsible AI usage in high-trust workflows.
Worked with legal advisors and advocates to understand what workers needed and turn those needs into product features.
Established engineering standards, observability practices, and deployment workflows for a distributed team.

Senior Software Engineer II

Cisco (ThousandEyes) · Seattle, WA
April 2023 – April 2025

Helped grow the User Experience Engineering platform team, which built shared design system and data visualization tools for ThousandEyes.
Worked with designers and engineers to improve the accessibility, consistency, and performance of a shared component library.
Developed systems and processes for tracking accessibility compliance across a large product ecosystem.
Modernized critical visualization components used to monitor large-scale network infrastructure.
Advocated for accessibility and developer experience improvements across teams.

Engineering Manager / Senior Software Engineer / Team Lead

Formidable · Seattle, WA
November 2019 – January 2023

Built high-performance web applications for clients using React, Next.js, TypeScript, Node.js, GraphQL, and web components.
Managed and mentored teams of two to six engineers across multiple client engagements.
Maintained Victory, Formidable’s open-source charting library built with React and D3.
Completed an open-source fellowship exploring data visualization performance with large datasets.
Worked with product and design teams to decide what to build and how to build it.
Worked on web performance and tools that made development easier for other engineers.

Lead Software Crafter / Software Crafter

8th Light · Chicago, IL
April 2016 – March 2019

Built full-stack applications using React, Angular, Ruby, and Java.
Led frontend development for a large staffing platform and accompanying design system.
Mentored engineers through apprenticeship and professional development programs.
Facilitated technical discussions, onboarding, and knowledge sharing across teams.

Music and Fine Arts Teacher

Various Schools and Programs
2011 – 2015

Taught music, art, and drama to K–12 students in Chicago and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.
Developed curriculum, facilitated workshops, and adapted instruction for diverse learning styles.
Built the communication, teaching, and public speaking skills that continue to shape my technical work today.

Speaking

Bouncing Back (But Not Back to Normal)

DevReach 2022

A talk exploring resilience research, community support systems, and lessons from organizational recovery.

The State of React State

React Conf 2019

An overview of the React state management ecosystem and emerging patterns in frontend architecture.

Writing

Community Resilience Is Not a Wellness App

Performance Anxiety

Exploring resilience as a systems problem rather than an individual responsibility.

Stop Telling Women to Be More Confident. Start Hiring Them Instead.

Performance Anxiety

A reflection on confidence, hiring practices, and structural barriers in technology.

Data Visualizations and the Main Thread: A (Sometimes) Love Story

Formidable Blog

Lessons learned building performant data visualization systems for the web.

Who Gets to Be the Hero?

Performance Anxiety

On labor, recognition, and who gets credit for the work that holds systems together.

Community & Mentorship

Mentored engineers through 8th Light’s apprenticeship program, focusing on code review, teaching, and professional development.
Managed and mentored teams of two to six engineers at Formidable across multiple client engagements.
Former K–12 educator in music, art, and drama—experience that continues to shape how I explain complex systems and work with teams.
Conference speaker at React Conf, DevReach, Full Stack, and Reactathon.
Maintainer and contributor for Victory, an open-source charting library built with React and D3.
Available for speaking, developer education, technical writing, and selective consulting.

Open Source & Community

Victory

Maintainer and contributor for Victory, an open-source charting library built with React and D3.

Open Source Fellowship

Researched and prototyped approaches for improving data visualization performance with large datasets. Blog series: Part 1 · Part 2

Core Technologies

TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, Supabase, AI/LLM APIs, Design Systems, Accessibility (WCAG), Data Visualization (D3), Web Performance, Developer Experience, Engineering Leadership

Education

Dev Bootcamp

Chicago, IL · 2015–2016

19-week immersive software development program focused on Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, and modern web development practices.

Anderson University

Anderson, IN · 2006–2010

Bachelor of Music in Music Education
Anderson University Honors Program