Boris Liao profile

Hi there 👋

A full-stack developer at Vanguard that builds sites, tools and automations that manage IRA accounts. (ex. inherited-rmd-calculator, rmd@vanguard)

As a generalist, I pick up frontend, backend, devops, or product roles as needed. I find shortcuts, build internal tools, spot process bloat, tech debt, and misaligned incentives from a mile away.

I’ve seen systems fail by being attuned to edge cases, useless design abstractions, brittle dependencies, and I’m not afraid to call out them out.

A typical day for me would be: researching technical feasibility for micro frontends, designing and building a component to display account stock and mutual fund holdings, modifying my roadmap based on technical findings and building consensus with leaders on timeline.

I value: progress, autonomy, building things that matter. I thrive in environments where I can collaborate with designers and product teams to align technical with business. Novelty is what stimulates my brain; don’t ask me to do the same thing day to day, I will automate it so I can focus on real problems!

Love to: 3d print, explore GenAI (Cursor, v0, bolt, Claude), city photography, foodie, biking.

Favorite resources: pointer.io, The Pragmatic Engineer, The Diary Of A CEO

Projects:

Strength Training Music Box

Navigate to:

My Photography (HDR) Page Visit Stats Storybook GitHub LinkedIn

FIELD NOTES