Really? Kinda plain site to be a web developer.
Why did you make it so plain and boring?
I was in the middle of another rewrite using a new framework when I decided to toss it out.
Stopped and thought about why, what's the purpose of adding so much complexity to this again. I found inspiration in simpler designs and web development.
So I branched the last portfolio and re-did it like this. Killed off all the JavaScript, the trackers, images, all that.
I want to guide onlookers through an experience different than a bombardment of visuals and colors and interactions.
Not getting a lotta 10xer vibes here.
So you're a web developer, where are all the examples of your work?
I don't see any images though.
But how will I know you're any good if there aren't any images of your work and this site is plain?
Buut how will I know if you can leetcode?
Buuuut how will I know if you can write highly scalable, high performing, tested, thoughtfully designed JavaScript?
What about GitHub or Gitlab accounts? Can I see your work there?
Ok then at least tell me a little about yourself then.
Sure! I love building things. I have a bunch of projects in the works all serving different purposes, some of them are activist related, some are new tech related, some are just plain old making the web fun.
I also love building physical things, like building my body through physical work outs, or rebuilding motorcycles, or assembling a large cake :)
I realize this answer is a little shallow, but ya know it is a static site, not Instagram.
What have you made professionally?
I am currently building and maintaining the tools used by satellite operators to command and maintain our satellite constellation at my employer.
There are a lot of tools needed to operate a satellite constellation and keep it running smoothing. I build those tools. Some of it is data visualization for telemetry, or reviewing contact passes over ground stations, or changing parameters on satellites.
I work on a small team, I am the only front-end-person. I work intimately with the satellite operators in this role. It's my goal to make their job as smooth and efficient as I can because that keeps our constellation operating smoothly.
It is quite fun working in this constrained situation because I know all my customers personally and I am aware of their needs. I know there are risks to every deployment, a bug here can ruin an expensive satellite so the stakes are a little higher than usual.
I didn't always work on internal tooling. At my previous position I built interactive data visualization tools for an AWS service called QuickSight.
At AWS I worked in a much larger team. The code had to scale to work with AWS traffic levels. The complexities of working with multiple teams across multiple orgs were all part of the typical responsibilities us developers have there.
Before that I worked at smaller web agency where I worked on a live streaming application for Android set top boxes and built a few mobile apps for our agency customers.
Aaaand before that I worked at Emory University in the Bioinformatic department to aid researchers there in building data visualization tools to assist in their research. I was not a student there.
I also did a bunch of stuff completely unrelated to programming or web development, or the internet before that but you probably didn't come here for that. In fact, most people who come here just want to see that AWS clout I have.
That's cool but how's your leetcode game?
It's the leetist.
So ya cool but about your actual skills in web development?
I mean what do you want me to tell you? I use the same stuff as every other web developer. I work mostly in React, Nextjs to be more specific. I also spent a lot of time working with Polymer Web Components, and building lots of pure JavaScript tools for performance. I don't really want to turn this into a big ass list of brand names so I'll leave it there.
What are you learning about now?
Well that's hard to answer on website which I won't touch again for another year probably but I love keeping up with JS trends and CSS trends. Always working on something, even if my GitHub profile doesn't look like it ;)
So you do web development and that's it?
Nah not really. I also work on Python backend services and have been honing my designing skillset, although not doing a great job of convincing anyone of that by pointing them here uwu. Always trying to become more well-rounded without losing focus on my main goal of writing more web code in whatever medium that may be.
Cool sounds great, I made it all the way to the end, and I swear I didn't skip to the bottom to see where all this was going. Now how do I contact you?
Email works good. Reach me@[thisdomain].com or Linkedin if that is your thing, although I can't promise I'll see or respond on there.
dang you made it all the way to the end, good job, I'm proud of you