Erik Peterson

Erik Peterson has a diverse work experience spanning over two decades. Erik began their career as a Design/Technology Assistant at Peterson Advertising/Design in 1996. From there, they worked as a Webmaster/Building Technologist at McLean County Unit 5 Schools and later as an Instructor at Champaign Unit 4 Schools. During their time in education, they developed custom learning and behavior plans for students and integrated assistive technology devices into their learning.

In 2004, Peterson started their own development and design business called Electric Pineapple Design. Erik developed a custom real estate content management system, provided non-profit assistance with web presence and online branding, and collaborated with a design firm.

In 2008, they joined The Iona Group as an Interactive Developer. Erik worked directly with high-profile clients, building highly interactive installations and applications. Erik also consulted with Fortune 100 companies and developed interactive experiences for Chicago area museums. Additionally, they designed database solutions and developed mobile learning experiences on native iOS, Android, and mobile web platforms.

In 2010, Peterson worked at Float Mobile Learning as a Mobile Developer. Erik brought contextual learning to mobile device users across multiple platforms and designed mobile learning experiences using human interface guidelines and best practices.

From 2011 to 2016, they worked at State Farm Insurance as a Mobile Developer, before joining Ibotta, Inc. in 2016. At Ibotta, they served as a Senior Mobile Engineer and later as an Engineering Manager, overseeing software development and managing engineering teams.

In 2020, Peterson joined Guild Education as an Engineering Manager, leading engineering teams and contributing to software development efforts. Erik was later promoted to Senior Engineering Manager, before transitioning to their current role as Director of Software Engineering at Samaritan Ministries International in 2023. In this role, they lead software development engineers and managers and spearheads the transformation of software development practices, emphasizing frequent delivery and adopting agile best practices. Erik also strategically allocates budget resources to prioritize and fund high-impact projects. Additionally, they establish and executes a strategy for tracking key metrics and driving continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the software organization's health.

Erik Peterson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Springfield, which they obtained from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, they also completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Illinois State University between 1999 and 2003. In terms of additional certifications, Erik obtained the Certified SAFe Agilist (SA) certification from Scaled Agile, Inc. in 2015. Erik has also completed the AWS Essential Training for Developers and Learning Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Developers courses, both offered by LinkedIn, although the dates of completion for these certifications are not specified.