Hey! I'm Tristen.
WHO AM I?
I'm Tristen, a software engineering student at RIT graduating Dec 2026. I most recently spent a summer at M&T Bank building a Java test orchestration platform from scratch, and I'm looking for full-time roles starting after I graduate. I care a lot about process and ethics in software. The why behind what we build is really important to me, and I want to make sure that what we build is accessible to all kinds of people, is maintainable, and secure.
Outside of that: I am a cat dad of two, have a Rimworld habit that I couldn't be paid a million dollars to break, do amateur photography, and pretty much any craft I can get my hands on.
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
I've interned at a few places while at RIT, including:
M&T Bank — Buffalo, NY
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INTERN
JAVAPLAYWRIGHTGITLAB CI/CDJun 2026 – Aug 2026
M&T Bank — Buffalo, NY
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INTERN
- Designed and built a Java test orchestration platform from the ground up as a solo project, replacing a legacy ReadyAPI setup.
- Migrated 255 API and message queue tests to Playwright, improving maintainability and enabling programmatic test control.
- Integrated the platform into GitLab CI/CD pipelines to automate weekly test execution across deployment workflows.
Benco Dental — Virtual
FRONTEND SOFTWARE INTERN
C#.NETREACTJan 2026 – Jun 2026
Benco Dental — Virtual
FRONTEND SOFTWARE INTERN
- Contributing to full-stack applications with a C# (.NET) backend and React frontend on a cross-functional engineering team.
- Resolving frontend tickets for an e-commerce platform and internal applications — UI bugs, performance issues, edge cases.
Innovative Systems, Inc. — Pittsburgh, PA
FULL-STACK SOFTWARE INTERN
C#.NETREACTSep 2025 – Dec 2025
Innovative Systems, Inc. — Pittsburgh, PA
FULL-STACK SOFTWARE INTERN
- Extended full-stack applications with features and fixes across C# (.NET) and React stacks.
- Led a refactor initiative to improve maintainability and scalability through stronger object-oriented design patterns.
- Reduced React warning count from 250+ to zero, improving debugging efficiency and creating a cleaner CI/CD pipeline.
M&T Bank — Buffalo, NY
FRONTEND SOFTWARE INTERN
ANGULARFIGMAREST APISJun 2025 – Aug 2025
M&T Bank — Buffalo, NY
FRONTEND SOFTWARE INTERN
- Designed and prototyped comprehensive dashboards in Figma to improve the business workflow for viewing credit history disputes.
- Implemented Angular services and components to streamline bank and 3rd-party REST API information in one location.
Casey K. HQ — Virtual
WEB DEVELOPER
WORDPRESSELEMENTORWOOCOMMERCEAUTOMATORWPAug 2024 – Jun 2025
Casey K. HQ — Virtual
WEB DEVELOPER
- Ran a WordPress/WooCommerce site with Elementor and AutomatorWP automations.
M&T Bank — Buffalo, NY
TECHNOLOGY INTERN
CI/CDARTIFACTORYSECURITY SCANNINGJun 2024 – Aug 2024
M&T Bank — Buffalo, NY
TECHNOLOGY INTERN
- Worked on CI/CD pipelines, artifact management, and security scanning.
PROJECTS
Contrax
SENIOR PROJECT WITH MINDEX
repo private (NDA)
Senior capstone with Mindex as sponsor. React Native fantasy football app where I'm PM and frontend dev. Restructured how we broke down tasks and doubled sprint velocity. Also refactored a messy legacy frontend and wrote a Go script to seed test users for stakeholder demos.
Undergrad research project for WGST-225 looking at citational bias in avian behavioral biology. Built citation network graphs from 105 papers using the Semantic Scholar API, NetworkX, and ForceAtlas2. Found the same-sex behavior literature was notably less connected, with the most-cited paper being a review calling for more data.
Personal Website
PERSONAL PROJECT
My personal portfolio site, built with TanStack Start (React), Tailwind, and GT Walsheim. Still a work in progress.
Slack-Discord Bridge
PERSONAL PROJECT
Mirrors messages between a Slack channel and a Discord channel in both directions, in real time. Three separate processes (Slack listener, Discord bot, Flask server) running in parallel to relay messages across platforms.
CONTACT
I'm graduating Dec 2026 and looking for full-time roles. Feel free to reach out!