Hello there
I'm Jon, and I'm a Full Stack Developer. My path to becoming a developer wasn't exactly smooth, but then, I think that is true for so many developers and would-be developers! Keep reading and I'll tell you a little more about myself and my journey thus far!
What I do and what I do it with.
I love to build things. Useful things, and not-so-useful things. I like building amazing things for amazing people and amazing companies. I've been programming with JavaScript since 2017 when I set out to become a Full Stack Developer.
I made a career change from finance to the tech sector, because that was where my heart was. I started with Vanilla JavaScript and tried to learn the fundamentals. Then I pivoted to libraries and frameworks, like React and Gatsby. I really enjoy working with the various tools to bootstrap a project quickly and then scale it for larger datasets, users, etc. After making smaller static projects, I really wanted to tackle applications that would, in my mind, be far more interactive, fun, progressive, and dynmaic.
That's when I started learning backend technologies like NodeJS, Express, Mongoose, Firestore, and MongoDB. I quickly fell in love with the MERN stack and was amazed at how flexible JavaScript could be. Of late, I have been enjoying working with various headless CMS options like Strapi and Shopify. The tools are ever changing, but it is a lot fun trying to keep up!
Maybe we could work together? If you got here independently and didn't come from my portfolio page, be sure to head over there and check out some cool projects I built. There is also a contact form where you can get in touch with me.
Click to head there now!
Why I started this developer blog.
I could tell you that I am an accomplished writer and that this blog serves a very important function of putting my, very well thought out, ideas out into the interwebs. But, that would be a lie. If anything, my hope is that this blog will help me develop, and nurture my writing skills. As a developer, having facility with languages, understanding complex syntax, and being able to organize abstract structures are all really important. But just as important are the "soft skills", like communication.
I'll do my best to try and cover a wide range of topics and to also post as regularly as I can. I also think there will be value (not just in my crazy ideas/theories) in documenting my (mis) adventures as I learn new technologies, develop new projects and applications, and just generally make my way through the new career path I've set myself on. I can't guarantee the content will be riveting, or that I will keep you coming back with great tech tips and walkthoughs. But I can promise I'll give it my best shot.
Finally, I built this blog because I very much wanted to play around with a static site generator like Gatsby, while using a decoupled CMS like Strapi. The idea was to create a project that would showcase the strengths and speed of Gatsby (fast project startup/scalablity) with the power of a content managment system. A blog works very well for this. I was able to design the frontend using my own frameworks, libraries, design aesthetics and templating. Meanwhile, I can simply inject markdown "articles" into my decoupled CMS on the backend. A few magical webhooks later, and content is posted and templated. It's been a fun project to create, and I was astonished at how quickly I was able to get it all off the ground.
At the end of the day, I feel a good developer is one that is always learning. And it is my goal and my hope that you and I can tackle this learning journey together.