I have built many JS apps, both the front-end and back end. On the front-end I started with Jquery, but I've also used Backbone, Spine, Knockout, React, CycleJS, Yolk, and other front-end frameworks.

I started building web-apps as soon as Gmail proved that front-end apps were real, and that client-side templating was the way of the future.

I understand the box model thoroughly, and have done my best to keep up with CSS3 (although it still surprises me sometimes when new features appear!) 

I am proficient in Less, and have been using it for all of my sites for many years.

I reluctantly used Java for several years, but I got pretty good at it. Before I quit using it, I understood class-loaders, and could write multi-threaded server-side code.

With that said, I am no fan of Java or classical inheritance.

I built a few apps with Winforms and ASP.Net back in the day, but most of my C# experience lately is in Unity.

Although I'm not a big fan of classical inheritance, C# in Unity is pretty nice, because it uses an Entity/Component pattern, so the components feel a bit more functional and a bit less "classical".

I still find myself wishing I had first-class functions and simple JS objects when I'm coding in C#, though.

Most of my SQL experience is in Microsoft SQL Server, with a bit of DB2 over the top. I can write a pretty decent query, and I know enough to not write terrible queries.

I'm not a big fan of SQL databases. I have used CouchDB for most of my recent apps that are backed by a data store.

I built my first Node.js app for a Hackathon many years ago, and I was instantly hooked. I love the simplicity of Node. I was never a fan of the errorback pattern, so I'm glad to see promises making up for lost time and really improving a lot of the APIs out there.

I have deployed a few live node apps over the last few years, some of which are still running today.

Like a lot of web developers, my first few front-end apps were basically bowls of Jquery soup. I eventually graduated to Javascript MVC, Backbone, and Spine, and now on to React and others, but I kind of miss Jquery.

Lately I've been working on a prototype library that would allow Yolk/CycleJS-style binding of streams to DOM elements that uses Jquery.

I used Github for a while for side projects, and didn't really get what the fuss was about. SVN seemed to work fine at work. Then I switched jobs and ended up using the Github Flow. I was instantly hooked. Now I am one of the main Git evangelists at work.

I am no git expert, but I know enough to push/pull/rebase/cherry-pick, and I'm generally the guy who does repo maintenance and cleans up old branches. I have even successfully cleaned a few `node_modules` folders out of the repo. ;)

I have used semantic-release and ghooks and other git integrations.

I still have a lot to learn to become a true git master, though.

Like a lot of web developers, I spent time hovering around Backbone, Spine, Knockout, and other frameworks of the day. I attended the Throne of JS conference and met the authors of several of those frameworks, which was really cool for a JS nerd like me. :)

I have built a few good-sized apps with Backbone, some of which are still in production today. It's been a while since I messed with those old MVC frameworks, though.

I have built mostly test apps and Hackathon projects with MongoDB. I have used CouchDB more extensively, but many of the principles related to document-oriented DBs are the same.

I'm no MongoDB expert, but I've used it and Mongoose to build small Node apps.

I have always been passionate about creating quality code. Although I didn't start doing proper unit tests until a few years into my career, I always had test code lying around that I used to shorten my feedback loop. I know a lot of tricks, and have used most of the major testing frameworks out there. My favorite JS testing framework is Tape.

I love the idea of continuous integration and continuous delivery. I won't work on a team project without an automated build and tests on a CI server. I have used several different systems for CI, including Jenkins (blech), Gitlab CI, Travis, Codeship, and Unity Cloud Build.

I am generally the lead on my teams to set up linting/building/testing/deploying via CI.

I started making my teams do automated builds and CI back when Jenkins was still called Hudson.

I am a firm believer in an automated lint/test/build/deploy process, and implement it on all of my projects, even my personal solo projects.

I got really interested in React when I first started learning about RxJS and functional programming, and realized what React was really trying to do. I have since become a bit disillusioned with React, as it's object-driven props model doesn't seem to play as nicely with streams as I would like. 

I have built production apps with React and Yolk, and smaller apps with Cycle. I believe that functional programming is the future of front-end development, but I'd be surprised if React isn't replaced by something more functional in the next few years.

Personal details

Chris J.

Summary

Technical skills