Welcome

My name is Tara Larsen

I believe in lifelong learning., people., kindness., collaboration., determination., the power of technology.

About Me

"Every activity worth doing has a learning curve." - Seth Godin

What I Bring to a Company

I love being where tech and coordination meet—where I can help move projects forward, keep teams in sync, and turn challenges into real progress.

I bring a strong track record in technical project coordination—keeping teams organized, timelines on track, and projects moving forward. As a tech generalist, I’m comfortable working across a range of technical environments, from DevOps to cybersecurity, and I enjoy finding practical solutions that support both team efficiency and business goals.

In past roles, I’ve supported incident response, analyzed logs, and improved monitoring systems through automation. My hands-on experience with tools and frameworks like NIST CSF has given me practical insight into cybersecurity, which I bring into coordination efforts to help teams manage risks and improve system reliability.

I’m most energized by working in environments that value transparency, learning, and collaboration. Whether supporting infrastructure teams or aligning stakeholders across projects, I’m focused on driving clear communication and scalable outcomes. If you’re looking for someone who can bridge technical depth with strong coordination, I’d love to connect and contribute to your team’s success.

Projects

About:
An issue/bug tracker that helps visualize a team workflow with a main kanban board. Users are able to create teams, create and modify issues via a modal.

My Part:
I implemented the profile user flow, navigation bar, and choose a team drop down.

What I would change next time or add:

  1. The modal does not scroll to show the comments. The background needs to freeze so the modal can scroll.
  2. The avatar images on the profile pages do not render in a perfect circle. I need to reshape/resize the imported images to a square.
  3. Add form validation to the user registration page
  4. Add accessibilty-A11y.

What I learned:

  1. Managing a team repo on GitHub
  2. I enjoyed collaborating with my team on this project. It is important to proactively communicate your team and even more so while working remotely.
  3. I didn't know much about Java before starting the project, but now I understand the concept of DTO's(data transfer objects).
  4. Our team did initial planning of our app at a very high level in the beginning of the project. When we started to build, we used Figma to visual how the api calls would be made to the backend which proved to be useful to refer back to as needed.

About:
A dashboard that renders data from a particular wildfire, a topo map of the area(GoogleMaps API) and the current forecast for one fire at a time(OpenWeather API).

What I would change next time or add:

  1. Test driven development is powerful. I learned about TDD towards the end of the project and wish I had implemented it from the start.
  2. I would like to go back and add more styling to the navigation.
  3. Add a login page and authentication.

What I learned:

  1. Always be a little generous in estimating the time it will take to complete a project. I had six weeks to complete the MVP.
  2. When encountering a tricky part or a bug, set a timer for ~ 30 minutes. If I can't find the solution when the timer goes off, Then read the applicable documentation. If I still can't find the answer reach out to someone who may know the answer.

About:
A responsive reusable, scalable portfolio template.

My Part:
I implemented the hero, about me, and education sections on the landing page. I also implemented the Google Maps locations page.

What I would change next time or add:

  1. Build a blog page to add to the portfolio.
  2. Add more styling to the template and resize images.
  3. Add accessibilty-A11y.

What I learned:

  1. My team worked well while working remotely. We set up zoom meetings to touch base and resolve blockers.
  2. How to create and locally deploy a Flask app in Python
  3. Using Jinja to create dynamic content for websites and serving data from Python data structures
  4. Incorporating the Google Maps API into the profile page to customize markers for specific coordinates



Cybersecurity

About:
Supported live incident response by analyzing server logs and assisting engineers in identifying root causes during high-severity incidents.

My Part:
Performed log analysis, helped document incidents, and contributed to refining detection methods through better alert configuration.

What I would change next time or add:

  1. Ensure all members of the team are committed to using the automated incident response documentation application.

What I learned:

  1. How to prioritize logs for effective root cause analysis.
  2. The importance of clear communication during incident coordination.

About:
Created a Python script to automate security alerts from log files and send real-time notifications to Slack channels.

My Part:
Designed and coded the script, tested it with mock data, and integrated it with Slack's webhook system.

What I would change next time or add:

  1. Add logging for alert delivery success/failure.

What I learned:

  1. Improved Python scripting for real-world automation tasks.
  2. How to align monitoring controls with ISO 27001 requirements.
  3. Value of real-time alerting in reducing response times.

About:
Refactored monitoring dashboards and alerts in Datadog and Grafana to improve system observability during incidents.

My Part:
Customized dashboards, optimized alert thresholds, and collaborated with engineers to align monitoring with key risk indicators.

What I would change next time or add:

  1. Set up user feedback loops to refine dashboards.
  2. Automate report generation from dashboard data.

What I learned:

  1. The role of observability in proactive incident management.
  2. How to use Datadog and Grafana for security-focused monitoring.
  3. Collaborating across teams to improve monitoring effectiveness.

About:
Led the enhancement of the Learning From Incidents (LFI) program to foster a culture of continuous improvement through blameless retrospectives and actionable insights.

My Part:
Refined the LFI workflow, integrated incident data into reporting dashboards, and collaborated with stakeholders across teams to ensure consistent participation and adoption company-wide.

What I would change next time or add:

  1. Introduce automated post-incident data collection for efficiency.
  2. Provide training on root cause analysis techniques to all teams.

What I learned:

  1. The impact of blameless retrospectives in improving team trust and learning.
  2. How standardized processes can drive org-wide engagement and adoption.
  3. The value of accurate data in identifying trends and preventing future incidents.

Design Portfolio

Testimonials

Ms. Larsen is the consummate professional...She was immediately accepted by her peers due to her high level of professionalism, and willingness to always go the extra mile for both her students and her colleagues.
Tara is a true team player and always goes over and above the call of duty. Students, teachers and parents can always depend on her.



Contact Me

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

San Francisco Bay Area, CA

talarsen74@gmail.com