About Me

Hi 👋 I'm Blake Brandon, a backend developer based in Brooklyn, specializing in Python, Django, and Flask. I’ve built and deployed many full-stack applications from the ground up—integrating APIs, managing databases, and handling deployment. I prioritize clean, maintainable code and practical solutions.

Technical Skills

Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Django, Flask, SQL, Git, Docker, Heroku, AWS, RESTful APIs

CRM System

This CRM features campaign scheduling and offline data collection, built for teams working both online and in the field. Test out this app in read-only mode.

Client-owned Project Live Demo

Skills Demonstrated:
  • Django: Built views, models, forms, and user authentication for role-based access.
  • Mailgun Integration: Automated email sending with support for custom templates.
  • Heroku Scheduler: Triggers daily background tasks for email automation and campaign progression.
  • Email Template & Scheduling System: Users can create reusable email templates and schedule sends based on birthdays, anniversaries (from the database), or custom dates.
  • Offline-to-Database Flow: Built a pipeline to upload forms collected offline and parse them into the database.
  • Client Intake System: Designed a detailed intake form with over 140 fields to capture comprehensive client data.
  • Pagination & Filtering: Developed search and filter functionality for large client datasets.
  • Bootstrap 5: Responsive UI for form pages, dashboards, and mobile views.
Challenges and Solutions:
  • Challenge: Supporting offline data collection in the field.
  • Solution: Built an upload system to parse structured offline form data into the database.

Groove Hub

Groove Hub is a real-time music-sharing app where users share YouTube videos, build collaborative playlists, create public or private rooms, and watch together in sync.

Private Repo Visit Groove Hub

Skills Demonstrated:
  • Flask: Designed custom logic for turn-based video queues, public and private room creation, moderation tools, and real-time state management.
  • WebSockets: Built synchronized chat and video playback across rooms using Flask-SocketIO.
  • Frontend-Backend Sync: Maintained consistent queue order and playback time across all users.
  • Responsive UI Development: Created a mobile-friendly layout with tabbed chat/queue and embedded video.
  • Client-Side Event Handling: Used JavaScript to handle video events (play, pause, end) and emit updates to the server in real time.
  • Database Integration: Used SQLAlchemy to store user accounts, chat history, and video queues for persistence across sessions.
  • Deployment & Debugging on Heroku: Deployed the full-stack app and resolved real-time sync and video playback errors.
Challenges and Solutions:
  • Challenge: Preventing race conditions when multiple users added videos to the queue at the same time and keeping playback perfectly synced.
  • Solution: Moved queue storage to the database with server-side ordering for consistency and used Flask-SocketIO events to broadcast state updates in real time.

Ongo the Art Collector

AI-powered app that generates humorous art critiques and voiceovers based on uploaded images.

Code Live Demo

Skills Demonstrated:
  • Flask: Orchestrated image uploads, SSE streaming endpoints, and routing logic for real-time critique delivery.
  • Replicate API: Integrated GPT-4o-mini for image captioning and persona-driven critique generation.
  • ElevenLabs TTS: Implemented ElevenLabs streaming API to convert text critiques into lifelike audio.
  • JavaScript & SSE: Consumed server-sent events to render streaming text and audio cues in the browser.
  • Bootstrap & Responsive UI: Built a mobile-friendly interface with dynamic image previews, critique panels, and audio controls.
  • Pillow (PIL): Validated and re-saved uploaded images to ensure consistent formats for downstream processing.
Challenge & Solution:
  • Challenge: Ensuring synchronized streaming of text and audio over SSE without blocking the UI.
  • Solution: Used non-blocking event loops in Flask and the Fetch API’s ReadableStream to interleave critique text and audio events seamlessly.
Certifications
  • AWS Cloud Practitioner – Demonstrates foundational knowledge of AWS cloud concepts, services, and solutions.
Courses
  • Python Data Structures & Algorithms – Essential data structures and algorithmic strategies in Python.
  • Python OOP: Object-Oriented Programming in Python – Fundamentals and practical applications of OOP.
LeetCode
  • 65+ Problems Solved – Practice across data structures, algorithms, and problem-solving.