Don't pretend you're not a nerd!

I traded freight manifests and pallets for a code editor and browsers.

My front-end journey started in the autumn of 2018. After years of working in logistics and warehousing, I decided to change fields and pursue a more creative line of work. I was already familiar with some HTML and CSS basics, so I decided to leap into the front-end world. As a perfectly timed coincidence, Frontend Masters organized a boot camp pretty much the week after I decided to become a front-end developer. It was meant to be! From that boot camp on, I was off to the races.

The front-end grind

I spent the next few years learning how to build websites by... You guessed it... Building tons of websites. Everything from revamps of older, dated sites to building sites based on existing designs. And, of course, I also brought to life plenty of my own zany, off-the-wall websites. This kind of repetition has proved to be invaluable to me. During this year of grinding, I also soaked in as much front-end knowledge as possible from so many awesome front-end resources on YouTube, magazines, blogs, and books, along with a handful of paid tutorials.

"Ok... I think I can put together a decent website now!"

After completing my own intensive and self-constructed front-end boot camp, I've built a handful of sites as a freelancer for some great clients. However, my ultimate goal has always been to land a full-time job at a Finnish agency. In 2023, I enrolled in a fantastic Media and WordPress Development vocational program to gain experience working in front-end with WordPress while being immersed in a Finnish-speaking environment. From this program, I was able to land an internship and eventually a job as a front-end dude! Career reboot successful!

What's my favorite part of being a front-end developer? Hint: I C(an't) S(top) S(tylin')

I love CSS to an absurd degree. Even to the extent that when I see something beautiful in the wild, I can't help but wonder if I can recreate that beauty in CSS. Whether building a site for a client as a freelancer or conducting geeky experiments in my 'labs' folder, I always have so much fun with CSS that I'm prone to losing track of time. So yeah, I can't identify with the "CSS = can't stop swearing" crowd!

What do I do and enjoy aside from bringing pixels to life?

Aside from web dev, I live for cats, vegan junk food, sugar highs, and fast metal. Especially death metal. My favorite video games are Stray, NetherRealm Studios fighting games, and The Talos Principles 1 and 2. I'm also a huge fan of the Westworld series (RIP). For a bit of adventure, I occasionally try my hand at parkour and floor acrobatics. I'm not good at either, but both sports make for fun exercise.

As for my family life, I operate as a full-time door opener, scritch giver, and living heating pad for a couple of perfect brown tabbies that I dub "The Catkinens." Here are my adorable girls, assisting me while I learn and work.

Thanks for reading about me. "You stay classy." Or do you prefer "Thanks for stopping by?"