Company: EasyKnock

Role: Lead Engineer | 2022-2023

Description: EasyKnock is a modern-day alternative to home equity loans. In July 2022, I took over managing a team halfway through a site overhaul while the head of technology was out on paternity leave. Talk about being thrown into the deep end! This was an incredible opportunity for me to lead by example, lead with empathy, and let my coding skills shine. I quickly ramped up on our tech stack (Next.js, Prismic, Styled Components) to steer us to a successful deployment of a spiffy new website, enhanced security, worked closely with our Product team to define roadmaps and with Marketing to provide analytics support (Segment, Google Optimize, HubSpot), and managed and mentored an amazing group of engineers.

Career Highlights:

• Increased sales leads by fixing a very old bug predating my tenure at the company
• Improved our TypeScript usage, tests, a11y standards, and documentation
• Member of the company's Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee and championed updating our branching nomenclature from "master" to "main"
• Helped another team on an as-needed basis working with NestJS, TypeORM, GCP and AWS.

Company: Pluralsight

Role: Full-stack Software Engineer | 2018-2022

Description: Online, on-demand training and team development made easy. At Pluralsight, I started out leading frontend initiatives with React on our Skills Development Leader product. I also learned Python to develop APIs that communicated with a Postgres database and RabbitMQ's messaging services. On the Content Assessment Tools team, I relished the opportunity working closely with our customers, building solutions to their delight. I also worked on the Search team where I learned more about a11y standards and broadened my skill set with TypeScript.

Career Highlights:

• Tech lead for Content Assessment Tools 2020-2021, ensuring data clarity across bounded contexts and quick response times to team inquiries
• Pared down a 2-week estimate into a 2-day turnaround for a CSS dashboard
• Mentored a software apprentice from co-op to full-time hire through goal-setting, code-review training and pair programming

Company: BzzAgent (pronounced, "Buzz Agent")

Role: Web Developer | 2011-2018

Description: Using products and writing reviews...ahhhhh the tried-and-true method of getting free stuff! At BzzAgent, I worked very closely with our Account Managers to deliver each "BzzCampaign", often with same-day turnaround. This role was packed with CSS work. The language became my wheelhouse as I worked closely with our designers to beautify our site, but I also provided updates to our JavaScript code and ended up writing the entire suite of unit tests for our Angular 1.x application before leaving.

Career Highlights:

• From zero to fully functional web app, single-handedly produced a B2B site in 3 weeks
• Lead front-end developer on our final site redesign (prior to company acquisition and what we see now at BzzAgent.com)
• Team SME for responsive HTML email templates across browsers, platforms and multiple email clients

Company: Joint Council on international children's services

Role: Volunteer Web Developer | 2011-2014

Description: Upon completion of a 3-week practicum project to complete my Web Development Cerftification through Boston University's Center for Digital Imaging Arts, I continued to serve Joint Council on an as-needed, volunteer basis. The company and site no longer exist, but it was a custom WordPress site based on designer mockups.

Project: Take a quiz; get results

Status: In Progress - view it on GitHub

Stack/tools: Python with FastAPI, Docker, PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy and Alembic

Description: I wanted to learn some new tech (FastAPI) while brushing up on old skills I haven't used in a while (Python, Docker). Currently a backend application with plans to build out the frontend using Next.js and TypeScript. Users can sign up/sign in and choose between three quizzes (movies, sports, music). After selecting subtopics (e.g. hockey or baseball), the app will generate a test with 5 questions based on their choices. Plans for building out achievements on both sides of the stack will likely come later.

Project: Groceries

Status: Completed January 2021 - use it here or view it on GitHub

Stack/tools: Entirely frontend; bootstrapped with Create-React-App and uses local storage

Description: I was happy enough using the ColorNote app on my phone for keeping a grocery list, but I wanted to give it my own flavor. I frequent Wegmans and Costco the most, so this allows me to filter by store (or alphabetically), and gives me that nerdy, terminal-style dark/bright-green theme with some hot magenta thrown in. If you enjoy it, by all means use it! Just remember, it uses local storage. If you clear history on your device, make sure groceries.jaimefarnan.com is on your list of sites to exempt from being cleared.

Project: EMOM / Tabata Timer

Status: Completed March 2021 - use it here or view it on GitHub

Stack/tools: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS

Description: Tabata: Typically, it's 20 seconds of intense exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat the cycle for a total of 4 minutes. But really, you can customize the intervals however you like. If you enjoy finding hidden gems in The Legend of Zelda, give it a try!

Project: Merchant Mill Arcade

Status: In Code Purgatory as of July 2022

Stack/tools: Node.js, fastify, TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Postgres, Slonik, goober

Note: Because I never finished this before taking on my role as Lead Engineer at EasyKnock, there are so many things I'd update if I ever return to this project:

• Use Styled Components or Emotion to create more declarative code
• Build my own custom components and organize them using Atomic Design principles
• Use React Testing Library for frontend testing

Description: Being spread out from family is hard. As a way to stay connected, I'm building the Merchant Mill Arcade - a place for us to log high scores from our favorite arcade classics. We'll be able to see who's on the leaderboard for each game, add new games to the arcade as we play them, and talk trash to each other (a v2 feature). Keep it honest...or you're outta the family! View it on GitHub here, but please understand that while I'm pretty pleased with the backend, the frontend was far more quick and dirty with the expectation I'd get around to the changes above 😬

Well, hello there! Do you like Valentine's Day and coasters? Because the graphic in this section is the 2022 installment of custom valentines I create and mail out each year to family, friends and coworkers. What started as a crude, college-humor joke turned into a tradition I look forward to every February.

So what else about me?

I love what I do. I'm passionate about software engineering, belonging, and enjoy the process of bringing ideas to life! I probably enjoy it because it's a form of creation; I LOVE creating. Outside of being a nerd...well...I'm still a nerd, but outside of the software world, I love creating music, poetry and comedy.

Lastly, doing life with people and relationships are EVERYTHING to me. My friends and I partner with a family in the Dominican Republic. We set up a giving fund through a 501 (c)(3) in order to provide monthly financial support for them to serve Santa Lucia, a community that sprung up on the city garbage dump. Aptly nicknamed, La Mosca ("fly" in Spanish), we've been making annual trips there for over a decade to love and serve alongside our friends. Really though, they're family.