Agentic chat with tool use + evals

Tool calls

• get_role

Criteria

• Pass expected_tool_calls · get_role — Should load role data from structured resume
• Pass must_contain · Forvis — Answer should name the employer

Assistant transcript (truncated)

At Forvis Mazars I've been a Full Stack Software Engineer since June 2023, working remotely on production web applications and APIs that serve enterprise users. I own the full stack end-to-end — from React/TypeScript/Next.js UI work through C# and .NET backend APIs, Azure cloud deployments, and production observability with Grafana and Application Insights. Some highlights: I independently architected and shipped a real-time collaborative Planning Poker platform (including WebSocket infrastructure), established component and API integration patterns that were adopted across multiple teams, and built out CI/CD pipelines to keep releases safe and fast — all while mentoring junior engineers and collaborating closely with product and business stakeholders.

Tool calls

• list_recent_shipped

Criteria

• Pass expected_tool_calls · list_recent_shipped — Must call the shipped-projects tool
• Pass must_contain · Planning Poker — Planning Poker is one of the three most recently shipped projects

Assistant transcript (truncated)

Here are my three most recently shipped projects:

1. **Zach.dev Portfolio Assistant** (2026) — The agentic chat you're using right now. A Next.js + TypeScript frontend backed by an ASP.NET Core streaming API, wired up to Anthropic with request validation and abuse safeguards. Source is public at [github.com/Calathea-Z/portfolio_ai](https://github.com/Calathea-Z/portfolio_ai).

2. **Portfolio MCP Resume Server** (2026) — A stdio Model Context Protocol server that exposes the same seven resume tools powering this chat to Claude Desktop and other MCP clients. Parity-tested in .NET so the tool contracts stay aligned across both surfaces.

3. **Planning Poker** (2024, internal at Forvis Mazars) — A real-time distributed estimation platform built from scratch using React, .NET, WebSockets, and …

Tool calls

• list_projects_by_skill

Criteria

• Pass expected_tool_calls · list_projects_by_skill — Skill-to-project mapping tool
• Pass must_contain · Planning Poker — Planning Poker is the WebSocket-heavy shipped project

Assistant transcript (truncated)

Just one project in my resume data that used WebSocket: **Planning Poker**, an internal real-time estimation platform I built at Forvis Mazars in 2024.

The idea was to replace the manual, friction-heavy coordination that distributed delivery teams dealt with during estimation sessions. I shipped it from 0 to 1 — including the WebSocket infrastructure and backend services — and it ended up being adopted across Forvis Mazars software teams for live, distributed planning poker sessions.

The stack was **React, TypeScript, .NET, WebSocket, and Azure**. It's internal tooling, so there's no public demo URL, but happy to talk through the architecture if you're curious — just reach out at zsykes21@gmail.com or on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-sykes/).

Tool calls

• get_metrics

Criteria

• Pass must_contain_any · 5 year, 5+ year, five year, five-plus, five plus, over five, over 5, more than 5, more than five — Resume headline says 5+ years — accept any common phrasing

Assistant transcript (truncated)

**5 years.**

Tool calls

• get_narrative

Criteria

• Pass expected_tool_calls · get_narrative — Career-change story lives in narrative tool
• Pass must_contain · kitchen — Narrative references prior kitchen career

Assistant transcript (truncated)

After a decade in kitchens, I wanted something more mentally demanding — and the work-life balance had genuinely run its course. I quit, sold my car to cover the income gap, and went full-time through General Assembly's bootcamp. The self-directed hours outside of class — docs, tutorials, side experiments — are what actually made it stick. Turns out a lot of the instincts transfer: fast decisions, tight systems, forecasting problems before they blow up. Different artifacts, same fundamentals.

Tool calls

• get_faq

Criteria

• Pass expected_tool_calls · get_faq — FAQ entry explains MCP server
• Pass must_contain · Model Context Protocol — FAQ answer names the protocol

Assistant transcript (truncated)

Great question! I built a Node.js stdio server using the **Model Context Protocol (MCP) SDK**. It exposes the exact same seven resume-backed tools that power this chat — so if you're using **Claude Desktop** (or any other MCP host), you can point it at my server and query my resume data directly from there, no separate HTTP API needed.

A few things I'm particularly happy about with the implementation:

- **Single source of truth** — both this chat and the MCP server run against the same `resume.json` file, so nothing gets out of sync.
- **Schema validation in CI** — the input schemas live in `mcp/schemas` and are checked against C# `ResumeToolInputSchemas` constants, so the wire contract can't drift quietly between the two surfaces.
- Install notes are in the repo's `mcp/README.md`, and t…

Tool calls

• search_resume
• search_resume
• get_role

Criteria

• Pass expected_tool_calls · search_resume — Broad phrasing should map to substring search
• Pass must_contain · Asheville — Kitchen role org is in Asheville

Assistant transcript (truncated)

Let me search both of those for you right now!Here's what my resume data has on those topics:

- **"Restaurant"** as a keyword doesn't surface anything directly — that specific word isn't used in the structured data.
- **"Asheville"** hits one role: **Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company**, where I worked from 2012 to 2022. I came up through the ranks from line cook to Kitchen Manager, running daily operations in a high-volume environment and leading a 40+ person team — everything from hiring and onboarding to scheduling and performance management.

That decade of kitchen leadership is actually a big part of my career story. If you're curious about how it connects to my transition into software engineering, I'm happy to pull that narrative up!

Tool calls

(none — model answered without calling a resume tool)

Criteria

• Pass must_contain · zsykes21@gmail.com — Canonical email from resume / system prompt
• Pass must_not_contain · zachsykes@gmail — Should not invent a name-mangled alternate Gmail
• Pass must_not_contain · noreply@ — Should not substitute a placeholder address

Assistant transcript (truncated)

The best email to reach me at is **zsykes21@gmail.com** — feel free to drop me a note there for any hiring conversation. I'd also be happy to connect on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-sykes/ if that's easier. Looking forward to chatting!

Tool calls

(none — model answered without calling a resume tool)

Criteria

• Pass must_not_contain · Redux — Out-of-scope ask should refuse generic framework advice, not teach Redux
• Pass must_not_contain · Zustand — Same for other popular library names as generic recommendations

Assistant transcript (truncated)

That one's outside the scope of what I can help with here — this assistant only covers Zach's portfolio and resume-backed facts, so general tech opinions and ranked comparisons aren't something I'll tackle.

If you're curious about React specifically as it relates to Zach's work, you could ask something like: **"Which of Zach's projects use React, and how did he apply it?"** — that I can dig into with real data.

Tool calls

• list_recent_shipped
• get_role

Criteria

• Pass expected_tool_calls · get_role, list_recent_shipped — Needs role context plus shipped work for the year
• Pass must_contain · 2024 — Answer should anchor on the year asked

Assistant transcript (truncated)

Let me pull that up from my resume data.The standout 2024 ship at Forvis Mazars was **Planning Poker** — a real-time estimation platform I built from 0 to 1 for our distributed delivery teams.

One concrete outcome: it was **adopted across Forvis Mazars software teams** as the standard tool for real-time distributed estimation sessions, replacing the manual coordination we'd been doing before. Under the hood I architected the full thing — WebSocket infrastructure, backend services, and a React/TypeScript front end — independently, on top of internal infrastructure.

Tool calls

• search_resume
• search_resume
• search_resume
• search_resume
• search_resume
• search_resume
• list_projects_by_skill
• list_projects_by_skill

Criteria

• Fail must_contain · clarify — Ideal behavior: ask what kind of database or role context before claiming expertise
  ↳ Assistant text does not contain "clarify" (case-insensitive).

Assistant transcript (truncated)

Let me pull that from my resume data.Honestly, the resume data I'm pulling from here doesn't surface explicit database technology entries — no specific mentions of PostgreSQL, MongoDB, SQL, Prisma, or similar tools come back from any of the searches. That doesn't necessarily mean I haven't worked with databases, but I can't make a claim about it that isn't grounded in what the tools return.

If you're evaluating fit and database experience is important for the role, I'd encourage reaching out directly — I'm happy to talk through the specifics in a real conversation:

- **Email:** zsykes21@gmail.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-sykes/