I've been described as a "senior" developer - which I took as a compliment as I assumed this was based on my ten plus years experience in building websites, and not because I was born in the mid seventies.
My career goal has always been to create websites that delight the user. Most will think of this as flashy graphics or the latest “design trend,” but for me it’s having the user be in control and empowered regardless of their abilities or the device they’re using. Whizzy visuals, animations, and so on might be part of the experience, but never at the expense of accessibility and performance.
Although my main role these days is coding (I’ve described coding as like playing with Lego), a long time ago I worked as a designer. I still find my design skills, combined with my tech knowledge, can help inform the design and overall user experience. I’ve been called a “design linter” by co-workers.
For the past three years, I’ve been writing single-page JavaScript applications in React. I enjoy using React, as it enables me to compose and build out user interfaces with code that feels solid, and that I can write comprehensive tests against. As you know, validation through testing is an ideal practice in JavaScript development. Before React, writing testable JavaScript code was often too difficult or otherwise impractical.
In my spare time, I illustrate the articles published on A List Apart. I enjoy being able to combine and leverage my drawing and coding skills in a way that boosts engagement with the articles.