Kara Johnson

Notable Contributions:

• Designed and implemented a central interface program connecting motion capture software and game engine, reducing calibration time by 50% per actor and enabling instant database updates during stage captures
• Increased performance and speed for database applications across Windows and Linux systems by adding support for pooled connections, improving data class structure, and refactoring Python UI elements
• Integrated notification tool with Slack, Jira, and studio database APIs to automatically send scene status and delivery information across virtual production, animation, and cinematic teams
• Created downloadable console binaries pipeline with build engineers to connect local tools with remote servers, removing 3 GB from editor packages and reducing studio-wide daily sync time by 75%
• Implemented gameplay tag, empty metadata, and asset status validators for pre-submit and build validation, preventing over 2,000 invalid and deprecated assets from being included in shipped content
• Create application to visualize and format package settings to enable local cook development, allowing for users to save presets and rapidly edit command line arguments

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop features for a modular animation database tool, integrating semantic tag search, viewport previews, and timeline editing into a single window for faster animator iteration
• Develop automation scripts to save character poses during real-time shoots and migrate old scene data into new folder structures without disrupting existing file hierarchies and organization
• Collaborate with over 25 internal customers, gathering technical requirements for new tools, developing scripts to improve workflow efficiency, and resolving an average of 3 support issues per week
• Write documentation for over 10 tools and mentor end-users on third-party plugin integration processes, minimizing support requests and empowering teams to independently manage external connections

Notable Contributions:

• Developed and tested data mapping pipeline to transform HL7 messages into NEMSIS standards, enabling bi-directional data exchange between hospital EHR systems and EMS agencies
• Supported post-launch stability of healthcare systems for 3,000 agencies by leading bi-weekly version and hotfix releases of Insights web application with minimal disruption to live clinical workflows
• Identified and resolved workflow inefficiencies by integrating Sonar code analysis into build pipelines across 16 repositories, reducing technical debt and improving long-term codebase reliability
• Designed, proposed, and implemented an automated testing pipeline for development, staging, and production environments, enabling nightly validation checks and reducing QA validation time by 80%

Primary Responsibilities:

• Designed and executed end-to-end test plans for large EHR client accounts, ensuring accuracy across Snowflake database and user dashboards for over 2 million electronic health care records
• Configured New Relic monitoring dashboards and alerting rules to detect API failures and data inaccuracies in real-time, enabling the team to identify and respond to data integration issues impacting clinical operations
• Served as engineering liaison between 4 cross-functional teams including EHR, Patient Registry, Fire Incidents, and Insights, coordinating data integration and improving workflow transitions between applications
• Supported agency upgrades to NEMSIS 3.5 standards by writing SQL queries and validation scripts to ensure accuracy and HIPAA compliance of data transformations in over 600 dictionary elements