David Rothstein
Code Wrangler at Automattic
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolDavid Rothstein is an astronomer-turned-software engineer with 15 years of experience building and maintaining large-scale CMS platforms, currently working as a Code Wrangler at Automattic on WordPress.com. He is a long-time open-source steward—formerly a Drupal 7 core co-maintainer and release manager—who has reviewed and committed hundreds of patches and led security and bug-fix releases for the most widely used Drupal version. His contributions span front-end work in Automattic's Calypso (Apple Pay, checkout flows, search) and back-end improvements to Backdrop's Views UI, reflecting a rare blend of UI polish and deep CMS internals expertise. Comfortable moving between customer-facing features, performance engineering, and release operations, he brings an academic rigor from a PhD in Astronomy to pragmatic, human-centered web development.
15 years of coding experience
10 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Physics and Astronomy, Bachelor of Arts (BA), Physics and Astronomy at Haverford CollegeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Science (MS), Astronomy, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Science (MS), Astronomy at Cornell University
Github Skills (13)
backdrop10
wordpress10
cms10
php10
javascript10
react10
ui-components10
jsx9
redux9
html9
css9
s68
ui-design8
Programming languages (2)
Github contributions (5)
Automattic/wp-calypso
Feb 2018 - Nov 2022
The JavaScript and API powered WordPress.com
Role in this project:
Front-end Developer
Front-end DeveloperContributions:180 reviews, 63 commits, 144 PRs in 4 years 10 months
Contributions summary:David primarily contributed to the front-end aspects of the WordPress.com platform, as evidenced by their work on UI components, checkout flows, and plan management. They implemented features such as Apple Pay integration, expanded search functionality for posts, and improved notices related to subscription renewals. Their commits also involved updating and refactoring existing components, indicating a focus on both new feature development and code maintenance within the Calypso environment.
apireactwordpressjavascriptes6
backdrop/backdrop
Feb 2011 - Jan 2015
Backdrop core code repository.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:59 commits, 1 PR in 3 years 11 months
Contributions summary:David primarily focused on enhancing the Views module within the Backdrop CMS core. They modified the existing code to refactor settings, improve the user interface by reordering links and adding a "cancel" button, and refine code comments. A substantial amount of work was focused on refactoring and reorganizing the filter criteria groups within the Views interface, fixing related bugs, and improving the display of the view. They implemented modifications to the views add wizard.
cmsbackdropphpcode-repository
Find and Hire Top DevelopersWe’ve analyzed the programming source code of over 60 million software developers on GitHub and scored them by 50,000 skills. Sign-up on Prog,AI to search for software developers.