Who we are
Benjamin "Zags" Zagorsky
Zags is a systems and architecture wizard. He has led dozens of full-stack software development projects between both the private and public sectors.
Zags graduated from Harvard in 2012 with bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science. He previously worked at Google and Seven Bridges Genomics, and was the CTO and co-founder of BetterFit Technologies. He is also a published game theorist.
Kevin Fan
Kevin is a specialist in building scalable web applications, especially those using Python, Django, SQL, and Amazon Web Services.
Kevin previously worked at Amazon, developing a piece of the software pipeline responsible for building the search index for Amazon.com’s shopping catalog. He also co-founded BetterFit Technologies. Kevin graduated from Harvard with a degree in computer science.
Josh Zagorsky
Josh builds Android and iOS apps, and does Python web development. He also handles company finances.
He previously wrote analytics software at Jane Street Capital, built an e-commerce website at earthCell Batteries, and wrote cost-saving software for steel mills. Josh graduated from Harvard in 2011 with a degree in chemistry and physics, and a minor in economics.
Alvin Siu
Alvin is a full-stack developer and your friendly, neighborhood front-end superhero. He is also the company's travel and logistics expert, training guru, requirements whisperer, internal development maven, and general wearer of many proverbial hats (if we listed all of them, there would be no space for his photo).
Alvin graduated from Harvard in 2013 with a degree in molecular and cellular biology and was previously pursuing an M.D. at University of Michigan Medical School. Alvin can be found passionately advocating for his favorite restaurants around the world, recommendations welcome.
Miriam Farkas
Miriam is a full-stack developer who specializes in managing, organizing, and occasionally wrangling large and complex projects. She is known for her preternatural ability to zap (code) bugs and kill office fern plants, sometimes simultaneously. Miriam also runs Zagaran's recruitment, hiring, and mentorship efforts, which primarily involves hawking squishy animals at career fairs.
Formally trained in linguistics, Miriam has a bachelor's degree from Harvard and a master's degree from the University of Cambridge. She puts her cuneiform skills to good use every day.
Conor Hobert
Conor leads sales and business development for Zagaran's product, RetroacDev.
He also assists with new product development and market validation, interviewing industry experts and prospective customers in the target markets of the new products we're developing.
He graduated from The College of Charleston in South Carolina with a degree in finance.
Sean Esterkin
Sean is a full-stack software developer who can get acquainted with a new codebase almost instantly. We basically just drop him into our thorniest projects and watch the list of bugs disappear.
Sean has a bachelor of science with dual majors in computer science and math from the University of Rochester. He was a software developer at Epic Systems and Battelle before joining Zagaran.
Tucker Jaenicke
Tucker is a full-stack developer who also has extensive experience with iOS and Android development using Flutter.
He graduated from Tufts University with a degree in computer science. Tucker likes sports, rowing, and frisbee because he's from New England.
Daniel Dinjian
Daniel is a full-stack developer with a passion for solutions architecture.
He graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor's and a master's in computer science with a focus in machine learning. In his free time, Daniel likes to play music, read, and do yoga.
Grace Whitney
Grace is a full-stack web developer and a guru of front-end development. She also has experience developing apps in React Native.
Grace graduated from Harvard in linguistics, with a focus in mathematics and a secondary field in computer science. Much of her free time is filled with baking and crossword puzzles.
Noah Houghton
Noah is a jack-of-all-trades programmer with a special place in his heart for full-stack web development and a perhaps-questionable enjoyment of JavaScript. He has a particular affinity for data visualization and web scraping.
Noah graduated from Harvard University in 2020 with a joint degree in history and literature, and folklore and mythology, as well as a minor in computer science. His thesis investigated modern and medieval perspectives on Viking women warriors. Yes, he does want to talk about it. He splits his free time between digital humanities research projects and video games.
Sarah Yoon
Sarah is a full-stack engineer with expertise in blockchain technologies and smart contract development.
Sarah graduated from Harvard in 2021 with a degree in computer science and a secondary in women's and gender studies. In her spare time she likes making music, dancing/choreographing, cooking, and trying new restaurants with the homies.
John Wiltshire-Gordon
A mathematician by training and temperament, John likes making complicated things simple. His favorite number is zero, and his favorite space is CP∞. He has written code informally since childhood, and is a back-end web developer turning full-stack.
John likes gardening, beach volleyball, new ideas, and orchestral music. He can sing two notes at once, but it's pretty loud, so he doesn't do it around the office.
Heemyung Hwang
Heemyung is a full-stack web developer with additional experience in cross-platform mobile app development using Flutter. They also retain a fondness for JavaScript, their first language.
Heemyung graduated from Harvard with a degree in mathematics and a secondary in computer science. They like word games, science fiction, and regularly switching hobbies.
Chris Eberlein-Simonetta
Chris manages the office, HR, and administrative side of things at Zagaran, is always in a hat of some sort (because #Fashion, not because he's losing his hair), and frequently has a quippy pop culture reference at the ready.
Chris graduated from Berklee College of Music in the Stone Age (and until recently held the title as the "Eldest Zagaranian") with a degree in Music Business & Management. He still does some music on the side because it's so financially lucrative. Before Zagaran, he managed entertainment/creative agencies back in Los Angeles which is also where his addiction to caffeinated beverages stems from.
Emily Gheewalla
Emily is a full-stack developer with a passion for learning new programming languages and frameworks. Though she doesn't get to use it much anymore, she has a special place in her heart for functional programming with Standard ML.
Emily graduated from Tufts University in 2021 with a degree in computer science. In her free time, you can find her seeing musicals and playing games (especially of the video, board, and card varieties). Her seemingly never-ending hunger for competition means she will enjoy almost any sport you put in front of her. Specifically, her favorite sports to watch and/or play are softball, rugby, and basketball and, of course, because she's from Massachusetts, she's also particularly fond of cheering on the Celtics, Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Tufts Women's Rugby team (Go Jumbos!).
Lukus Stricker
Lukus is a full-stack developer who also develops mobile apps in iOS and Android. Lukus will be your friend whether you want him to or not, and especially when you don't. He graduated from Harvard, where he was a member of the wrestling team, in 2022 with a degree in applied mathematics in computer science.
When you meet Lukus, your first thought is probably "wow, this is without a doubt the single coolest person I know," but in reality, Lukus is a closeted nerd with a deep love for Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and chess. He's currently attempting to transition into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, making use of his wrestling background.
Theo Yannekis
Theo is a full-stack engineer specializing in complex applications and systems. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in statistics & machine learning. After finishing school he did some teaching before moving into the tech world.
He likes neighborhood parks, soccer, muffins, and strong opinions about things that don't matter.
Akiva Jackson
Akiva decided to leave his long-term stable career prospects as a wandering Jewish educator in Berlin to join the wild west of software engineering. Clearly this was fate: back in college he named his firetruck red unicycle Ada Lovelace.
Akiva is a front-end engineer turning full-stack. His hobbies include last-minute cooking for fifty, reciting German poetry to impatient friends, biking in a t-shirt in winter, and making a fool of himself on a slew of instruments.
Vijaya Vishwanathan Nair
Vijaya is a quality assurance analyst who has a bachelor’s degree in electronics & communication and a master’s degree in business administration.
Vijaya is a meditator and has been meditating for over a decade. She is a member of and volunteer for the Art Of Living Foundation. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, solving Sudoku, and playing tennis and badminton.