Garrett Vargas

I realize results from ambiguous ideas. This is helped by my passionately curious nature with varied experiences across different domains. I have a strong combination of software development experience, people management skills across multiple disciplines, and business acumen including an MBA degree. Visit my LinkedIn profile

Coding Projects

To help me and my teams realize the best results, I research and apply technology to personal side projects to stay abreast of technical trends. This site features a sample of personal side projects that I've developed to full-featured applications.

Blog Posts

Check out some of my blog posts on Medium where I write about some of my observations from my side project coding, featuring a mixture of how-to articles featuring code samples and general tips and observations about industry trends.

Project Gallery

A collection of projects written by Garrett

1. All
2. Websites
3. Alexa Skills
4. Slack Bots

Blackjack

A node application that plays blackjack, including customizable rules and suggested play. Hosted in EC2 with game state backed by Redis.

Song of the Day

Express application listing a different song each day. Utilizes Facebook OAuth2 to allow voting, with a DynamoDB to store song, user, and vote information.

SSML Check

Simple webpage that demonstrates checking for valid SSML syntax using my open source module ssml-check

Blackjack Game

Utilizing the same back-end as the Blackjack website, this Alexa skill allows full-featured playing of Blackjack including tracking of bets, customizable rules, and suggestions

Restaurant Finder

This skill integrates with the Yelp API to find restaurants meeting specified criteria. It also utilizes DynamoDB to store customer location for local search results. Won an award in a Hackster IO competition.

Roulette Wheel

This skill provides an in-depth voice interface for multiple roulette bets - it has been localized into German and Spanish.

Slot Machine

This skill mimicks a slot machine to control gameplay. It features several in-skill purchase options and incorporates the Jargon SDK for German translation.

Casino War

This skill plays Casino War against the user utilizing a number of distinctive sound files.

Craps Table

This skill plays Craps, covering a large number of different bet types.

Alexa Messages

Express application that lets you leave messages to be played via a companion Alexa skill (under development). Utilizes Facebook OAuth2 and Alexa account linking.

Video Poker

This skill mimicks a video poker machine complete with suggested play. It uses S3 and DynamoDB to allow for a progressive jackpot and leader board across all players.

Blackjack Basic Strategy

This Alexa skill provides suggestions for a given hand based on Basic Strategy rules

Casino War Bot

This Slack Bot utilizies Amazon Lex to process commands from Slack and funnel them to the Lambda function underlying this bot and the Casino War Alexa skill

Baccarat Table

Just a fun little skill to play Baccarat; try ordering a martini for some fun effects!

Baccarat Bot

This Slack Bot utilizies Amazon Lex to process commands from Slack and funnel them to the Lambda function underlying this bot and the Baccarat Alexa skill

Blackjack Bot

This Slack Bot utilizies Amazon Lex to process commands from Slack and funnel them to the Lambda function underlying this bot and the popular Blackjack Alexa skill

Blackjack Party

This Alexa skill offers a multiplayer mode of Blackjack, with state saved by player name and optional Echo Button usage.

Party Craps

This Alexa skill offers a multiplayer mode of Craps, for use exclusively with Echo Buttons, which form a core part of the interaction.

Contact Form

Have comments or feedback? I'd love to hear from you!