Sam
Schmaedeka

I'm a self-taught engineer operating as a generalist at a food-tech startup — doing the work of a data engineer, backend developer, and frontend developer on a small team where wearing many hats is the job.

Before tech, I spent years behind the bar — which taught me how to read a room, adapt fast, and make complicated things feel effortless. I bring that same instinct to engineering.

Currently building ingredient data infrastructure in Rust + PostgreSQL and LLM-assisted pipelines using the Anthropic API.

Data Engineering

USDA Ingredient Pipeline

8-phase pipeline reducing 13k+ raw USDA records to ~2,300 production-ready ingredients using Python and the Anthropic API.

Backend · Rust

Ingredient Seeder

Loco/Rust task seeding a PostgreSQL ingredients table with idempotent logic, UUIDv7 stamping, and multi-table bridge linking.

Full-Stack

Seasonality Engine

ZIP code–based produce lookup tool cross-referencing 180+ fruits and vegetables across 50 states and any date.

Frontend

Recipe Analytics Cards

Reusable React components displaying cook time, difficulty, and nutritional data with integrated consistency checks.

Languages

Backend & Data

Frontend & Tools