Hi there

I’m Peter Kallai, a Senior Software Engineer at Shutterfly based in Erie, Colorado. I created this website to showcase my tech skills and accomplishments, but there’s more to me than just code. I’m also an avid runner and recently started a blog to document my journey. Please check out “Run, Peter, Run”.

Through my blog, I want to share my experiences, connect with other runners, and inspire others to lace up their shoes and hit the pavement. Running has become a big part of my life and has helped me in many ways and I want to spread that message.

Thanks for checking out my website. I can’t wait to connect and share my passions for tech and running with you!

Cheers!

Resume

RESUME

SOFTWARE ENGINEER ABOUT

I’ve been building software for 18 years, and the past year has been the most exciting of my career — not because of a promotion or a big launch, but because of what it now feels like to solve hard engineering problems with AI.

I’m a Senior Software Engineer at Shutterfly, where I’ve been operating at staff/principal level for years — owning features end-to-end, making architectural decisions independently, and keeping large-scale distributed systems running smoothly through a major replatforming initiative.

Recently I’ve been shipping AI-native features in production using Claude Code. Building with LLMs isn’t a side experiment for me; it’s become central to how I work.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

AI / LLM:

Claude Code, Anthropic API, AI integrations, GitHub Copilot, prompt engineering, LLM-powered feature development

Languages:

PHP, Java, Node.js, JavaScript, Python, Bash, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Perl, React, React Native, HTML, CSS

Cloud & Infra:

AWS (EC2, ECS, RDS, Aurora, S3, SQS, SNS, ElastiCache, DynamoDB, CloudFront, CloudWatch), Terraform, Docker

Databases:

MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, ElasticSearch / OpenSearch, DynamoDB, NoSQL

Frameworks:

Symfony, Laravel, Zend, MVC, OOP, REST, JSON-RPC, SOAP, AJAX

Observability:

Grafana, Kibana, Splunk, AppDynamics, APM

Dev Tools:

Claude Code, Anthropic API, AI integrations, GitHub Copilot, prompt engineering, LLM-powered feature development

Methodologies:

Agile / Scrum, API Design, Cloud Engineering, Start-up experience

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Jan-2021
to present

Jan-2021 to present - Shutterfly LLC

Senior Software Engineer II

San Jose, California (remote)

– Further developing and maintaining the Photos Services APIs, written in PHP, Java, and node.js.
– Improve scalable, async infrastructure supporting 80 million users and 100k API requests per minute during peak season.
– Serve as Stand-In Manager and Scrum Master, leading Scrum meetings and ensuring eﬀective communication and coordination within the team.
– Dockerized infrastructure, transitioning from an EC2 environment to ECS.
– Lead efforts to migrate our search data from ElasticSearch to AWS OpenSearch.
– Interview, onboard, and train new engineering team members.

www.shutterfly.com
Oct-2016
to Dec-2020

Oct-2016 to Dec-2020 - Insight Designs Web Solutions LLC

Senior Programmer

Boulder, Colorado (hybrid)

– Designed and developed a wide range of web applications.
– Developed several custom Magento extensions and WordPress plugins
– Server/environment setup for new clients, administration and maintenance of infrastructures (AWS, DigitalOcean, Pair) for existing clients.
– Set up, customized, and maintained company internal wiki page.

www.insightdesigns.com
Dec-2012
to Sep-2016

Dec-2012 to Sep-2016 - Shutterfly Inc.

Senior Web Engineer

Redwood City, California (remote)

– The ThisLife journey continues at Shutterfly!
– Further developed and implemented ThisLife API endpoints now part of Shutterfly.
– Further improved async, distributed processing workflows.
– Identified and addressed scaling concerns within the application in preparation for the migration of the Shutterfly user base.
– Developed Photos-API email framework with scheduling capabilities.
– Release Engineer of the ThisLife-API team.
– Designed and implemented headless API test client.

www.shutterfly.com
Feb-2010
to Dec-2012

Feb-2010 to Dec-2012 - ThisLife (Acquired by Shutterfly)

Senior Developer

Palo Alto, California (remote)

– Developed a highly scalable cloud application using Zend Framework utilizing a wide range of Amazon Web Services products.
– Integrated with several third party applications/services.
– Developed features including; video and image processing and enhancing, face recognition, geo locating, duplicate detection, distributed processing, etc.
– Developed and implemented “Story” feature.
– Developed and implemeted file storage feature “Icebox” using Amazon Glacier.
– Implemented Amazon Dynamo extension to the relational data base layer.

www.thislife.com
Jun-2008
to Feb-2010

Jun-2008 to Feb-2010 - EZYield

Web Developer

Winter Springs, Florida

– Lead developer for web service integrations.
– Developed and maintained web service integration scripts with international travel sites using REST, SOAP, and site scraping scripts.
– Served as a consultant and worked closely with many development teams.
– Developed additional applications/modules in custom PHP framework extending Zend Framework.
– Wrote documentation and specification.
– Directed other programmers in development of web service integrations.
– Involved in the interviewing and hiring process of the Tech Department.
Feb-2007
to May-2008

Feb-2007 to May-2008 - Business Space Inc.

Web Developer

Winter Park, Florida

– Developed additional applications/modules in an existing custom PHP framework.
– Developed communications center for email and fax.
– Developed several additional features for the document management center, web site builder, customer management tool, business management tool, customer sign up.
– Created and implemented new website templates in web site builder.
Sep-2005
to Nov-2006

Sep-2005 to Nov-2006 - Webmasters College

Education and following internship

Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany

– Web marketing / E-Commerce and project management
– Web design and image manipulation using Adobe Photoshop
– Code websites with XHTML, CSS, JavaScript
– Adobe Flash with ActionScript
– Audio and video editing for web (Adobe Audition & Premiere)
– Unix/Linux administration (DHCP, NFS, DNS, BIND 9, Apache, FTP, SSH)
– Database design & SQL (ER-Model, Rational Database Model)
– Dynamic websites with PHP 5 & MySQL
– Assisted Webmasters Akademie instructors with training the 2006/2007 class
– Imported existing web site content into a Xoops CMS
– Imported existing shop system into a xt:Commerce shop system including migrating the data base.

www.webmasters-college.de
1998
to 2006

1998 to 2006 - German Army

Army, Staff Sergeant – OR-6

Kastellaun, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

– Team / Platoon Leader in a satellite communications company
– Instructor in satellite communications systems, communication security, video conferencing systems and computer networking
– Instructor in Boot Camp and Special Basic Training
– Paratrooper training
– Several tours in multinational missions (Bosnia, Kosovo, US CENTCOM)

www.bundeswehr.de