Email:
kvn.jns@gmail.com
Blog:
blog.kjo.ca
Github:
github.com/kevinj
Twitter:
twitter.com/kevinj
I am a UI Developer with many years of experience building powerful web applications. My primary passion throughout my career has been front-end development, but my versatile skills have made me an asset across all areas of web programming.
In addition to software development, I also have a strong interest in human language, and I am slowly working towards becoming a hobby Linguist.
I am an expert in writing web interfaces using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, but I have recently fallen in love with CoffeeScript, Haml and Less. I am also particularly interested in creating interfaces that utilize new features in modern browsers without sacrificing usability and functionality in the older browsers. I have also written mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry 10.
My primary server-side background is as a Perl developer, but I am also proficient in using other languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, etc., and I am always eager to learn new ones. I currently prefer to write server-side applications in JavaScript or CoffeeScript using node.js. I am very comfortable using several flavours of unix and a variety of relational databases, particularly PostgreSQL.
I am easygoing and enjoy working with people, both in person and remotely. I have plenty of experience pair-programming and enjoy the obvious benefits of working together on problems, but I am also comfortable working on projects solo. I believe I am approachable and always welcome constructive criticism. I enjoy helping colleagues learn new skills, and likewise, I am also eager to absorb new information and skills from them. Finally, although I may appear quiet in large groups, I am excellent at communicating and working with my peers.
I have been a member of teams that have used a wide variety of agile development methodologies. At Sophos, I was introduced to agile in the form of scrum and later Industrial XP. At Socialtext, we were faced with the added challenge of adapting agile development practices (particularly Kanban to a distributed development structure.
Along with two friends, I co-created the web site VanTrash.ca in 2009.
Used data from the City of Vancouver's Open Data Catalogue to provide a notification service that helps citizens remember when to take the garbage and recycling out.
Won the People's Choice award in the Apps 4 Climate Action contest in 2010.
We have since renamed the service Recollect.net, formed the company ReCollect Systems and expanded to many municipalities and regions across Canada and the United States.
Built the Socialtext Dashboard as an OpenSocial container, allowing third parties to develop powerful UI integrations using open APIs.
Organically developed a framework for creating reports which notify administrators of mail traffic through the appliance. The framework I developed was also used to create reports in another Sophos product, PureMessage.