karina chow

engineering & design consultant

Hello World, I'm Karina! ��

I'm a creative technologist exploring the intersection of art, psychology, and technology—through products, museum exhibits, games, interactive clothing, or whatever else might make someone smile.

Professionally, I help early-stage startups ship products—whatever that takes. Sometimes it's frontend code, sometimes it's a pitch deck, sometimes it's UX research or animation. I've run my own small software contracting agency, KACHOW! LLC, since 2020 and occasionally rope in some old colleagues to work with me on larger projects.

I also work part time as a New Media Exhibit Technician at the Exploratorium, an interactive science museum in San Francisco.

Prior to that, I worked as a software engineer for over a decade in San Francisco: as a data engineer at Yammer, a frontend engineer at Honor, and a frontend infrastructure team leader at Patreon. I've spoken at conferences on frontend infrastructure and design systems, as well as on disability, accessibility, and mental health in tech.

I hold a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University and a Masters of Professional Studies in Interactive Telecommunications at New York University.

Interdisciplinary in nature

Starting something? Chances are, I can help.

creating wireframe UI designs
making interactive prototype demos
consulting with startups on their UX
auditing products for UX improvements
conducting UX research with potential users
developing product design systems from scratch
illustrating for physical merchandise

building webapps from scratch
making delightful CSS animations
leading frontend infrastructure teams
communicating technical concepts to the layman
mentoring budding junior engineers
designing frontend interview processes
advocating for web acessibility

...and easy to work with

(Or so my old coworkers and clients say!)

Karina is pure talent. It is unbelievably rare to find someone as equally skilled in engineering, product, and design as Karina. The fact that she can drop into a project and manage every aspect is remarkable and extremely valuable. I am really grateful to have worked with her on previous projects, and I am excited to continue working with her on new projects and initiatives.

Alex KlarfeldCEO & Founder at Supergood

Karina is an exceptional developer who consistently goes above and beyond. She doesn't just complete the work, she brings thoughtful improvements to the table and invests in the project in a way you rarely see from contractors. Hardworking, communicative, and proactive, she makes a meaningful impact every step of the way.

Ashley ClarkHead of Marketing at Arc

Beyond her collaborative spirit, Karina is a highly skilled engineer who played a pivotal role in two separate redesigns at Patreon. These projects were immense in scope, affecting every aspect of the user experience. With a small team, Karina executed her responsibilities flawlessly, leading to a seamless go-live experience during the latter redesign. We launched in the evening to minimize user impact, and to our delight, the complete redesign went live without a single flaw. Karina's leadership, technical expertise, and creativity have been invaluable to our team. I wholeheartedly recommend her as a remarkable engineer and a wonderful teammate.

Ben BayardFormer Staff Engineer at Patreon

Karina joined our fintech startup as one of the first team members and helped shape the UX direction for our trucking payment platform. Her ability to translate complex payment flows into simple, driver-friendly interfaces was invaluable.

Michael MorrisCEO & Cofounder at ONRAMP

Even in my free time, I'm always making things...

KACHOW! Digest

Sometimes I write things, and no, I don't use AI. I write about mental health, web accessibility, technical recruiting, and about the tech industry in general. Sometimes I even write about random topics, too.

You can view all my articles and follow me on Medium.

MoMD

Museum of Modern Dribbbles

I'm almost always working on graphic design, animation, and/or illustration projects. If you'd like to see what I've done for my own projects or for clients in the past, this is the place to look.

View on Dribbble or Instagram