Joel Kang

Joel Kang is currently the Co-Founder and CTO at Dala. Prior to this, they were a software engineer at TQ Tezos from May 2021 to July 2021. Before that, they were a senior software engineer at Metomic from November 2019 to September 2020. Joel has also worked as a staff / lead software engineer at Frame.io from November 2017 to August 2019.

At Frame.io, Joel rebuilt the asset management features of the app in React, Redux and Redux-Saga, creating new patterns for optimistic UI, infinite scroll pagination in a dynamically sizing grid, permissioning, and context menus. This work allowed other teams to build their features faster by reusing these patterns. Joel also did this with the architecture of the whole app in mind, ensuring that new and legacy code could exist side-by-side. Architectural changes for stability, scalability and performance that Joel established include inverting the component tree to reduce re-renders, prioritising the fetching of key data needed for main user flows, connecting components to the redux store in a way that prevents unnecessary renders, implementing a system-wide SVG solution to make using SVG icons easier and more flexible, and batching socket events to prevent excessive DOM trashing.

In addition to their engineering work, Joel also helped establish and iterate on process for working with the Product and Design teams, helping to develop product direction and execution strategy. Joel also mentored other engineers through code review, architectural and technical discussions, and coached them on both engineering praxis and operational process. Lastly, Joel collaborated with company leadership on workflow improvements, improving the developer experience and clearing technical debt.

Joel Kang has an A.B. in Cognitive Science from Brown University and a B.A. in English Language from the University Scholars Programme of the National University of Singapore.

Joel Kang reports to Haroun Hickman, Co-Founder & CEO.