Wanna see this on my site and how I'm leveraging native custom elements? Visit and view-source at renoirb.com/notes/2023-06-29-hello-mentee
Hello there! I'm Renoir, a self-taught software developer who’s been working in this field since 2002. Back then, it was known as the "Browser Wars," and I consider myself a survivor, a veteran from that era. Our main challenge at the time was ensuring that websites looked the same on every browser. While the basics remain unchanged, it has become much easier today, believe me!
Throughout my career, I have held various roles such as founder, sole proprietorship business owner, self-employed contractor, and consultant. I have had the opportunity to work with notable organizations including the W3C/MIT, Mozilla on MDN for Compatibility Tables, CAE (an aero simulation software manufacturer) for secure air-gapped deployment complexity, Walmart for deployment consistency, Exxon Mobil, and Ericsson Canada. Additionally, between 2002 and 2008, as well as from 2010 to 2013, I enabled design agencies to offer web services.
From 2002 to 2009, I hand-built over 150 websites. During this time, I became a fan of 'Object Oriented CSS' and the concept of making CSS reusable due to repeating the same patterns frequently. Since 2009, when I started designing pattern libraries, I have constantly contemplated the idea of cascading in CSS, where base styling is combined with themes. This approach eventually came to be known as "Style Guide," "Design Systems," or "UI Libraries." Over the years, I have worked with various frameworks and libraries such as MooTools, YUI, Backbone, Angular, Vue, React, Lit.dev, and FAST. Among them, Vue is my personal favorite due to its simplicity and native Web Components API.
In recent years, I have extensively explored programmatic frontend generation techniques, including Vue's render tree, Backend For Frontends (BFF), Web Components, and even "Microfrontends." My focus has been on finding innovative approaches to enable web applications to support multiple languages effectively. Additionally, I have dedicated time to understanding and implementing proper accessibility practices, as well as adopting techniques that ensure long-term maintainability.
Even before the term "full stack" was coined, I have always considered myself as one. Apart from web development, I also maintain a few Open-Source packages and have made contributions to projects like Nuxt.js, MediaWiki, Mozilla Firefox Accounts, and WebPlatform.org.
When I mention "Constantly Thinking about the Web," it’s just that I have this fascination about it and literally can’t stop thinking about it, how it works, and ideas of how to do things with it. My interest ranges from efficiently tracing Linux kernel services using technologies like MariaDB, Redis, Memcached, PHP, HHVM, Python, and ElasticSearch, to analyzing HTTP traffic, sometimes employing instrumentation techniques like MiTM, Proxy logger, and Varnish. I also delve into how web browsers handle XML/HTML/XSL in their "Object Model" (known as DOM) and how events are handled, as well as the intricate process of CSS painting and how to annotate HTML to add meaning, like Linked Data.
In terms of my personality, I must admit I am a bit quirky. I’m not the typical person, I’m rather energetic and imaginative. Even more so when it involves my passion. Be prepared for an exciting ride!
If you're interested, you can find my resume in JSONResume format on my website. It is available in different forms, including HTML, PDF, and Word, all derived from the same source. Feel free to take a look: Resume on my website, homepage, HTML version, PDF version, Word version.
