It's a pleasure to meet you!

In the mid-2000s, I spent most of my time building the front-end of websites. Using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, I produced the digital identities of a wide range of companies. Through the use of semantic markup and progressive enhancement, and by following usability and accessibility best practices, these sites performed well across browsers, and ranked highly in search engines, at a time when SEO had not yet become nearly as prioritized as it is today. I also first started working with Python and Django on the server during this time, and have long found the language and framework, respectively, to be enormously powerful for certain implementations.

By the end of the decade, and into the 2010s, I had collaborated on several projects where my role shifted more towards server-side technologies. This back-end work brought new challenges, and I rose to meet them. Along the way, I discovered more about how the needs of the user interface (UI) might drive the server infrastructure, and what the limitations the server-side might put on the UI.

Among the types of things I worked on in this period, a few particulars stand out, including:

• HTML5 Canvas
• Drupal, Joomla!, and WordPress
• Responsive Websites
• Angular and React

It was also at this time that I began working with Packt Publishing Ltd. Initially, my expertise and critical eye were essential in the development of a new type of resource – technical books. Between 2010 and today, I've reviewed 6 books during their creation process, and am also co-author of 2 editions to date. You can find more details in my portfolio.

At the moment, I am heavily involved in both server-only and full-stack development on systems involving Node.js and Python, both of which have repeatedly demonstrated their strength and resilience. Subsequently, I continue to maintain certain properties using PHP, and provide expert critique and guidance to a number of colleagues with respect to their technical approaches and software architecture, not to mention their code itself.

While I do not know what lies in store for me next, there are a number of exciting new technologies only now becoming more mature. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are two areas that have long interested me, and I am passively researching. Component-based architecture is something I've worked with through use of React, but I'm also increasing the depth of my knowledge there by diving into standards-based Web Components, a feature that is starting to gain more traction of late.

Every project I take on exposes me to new things, be they people, industries, or technologies. That is part of what I find so thrilling about what I do, even after being at it for over 20 years... Each implementation is a challenge, not only because it has new features, but even more personally it is a challenge to do this one better in some way. I push myself to be more efficient, to improve quality, and to raise my own bar, ad infinitum.