As many people in this world do, I have bills to pay, and feeding myself costs money. I need to work to make money, and I need money to live. Unfortunately, I've been struggling with finding/maintaining employment over the last several years. I'm hoping this post can both highlight why I might be a good candidate for you, and also explain why I have a bit of a gap on my resume for the last few years.
A Bit About Me
I go by xyhhx or sheesh online. I do have a real name, but you can learn that if you want to hire me. I've been a software developer professionally since 2009, and I've been touching computers for as long as I can remember.
I started as a web developer, and have done unholy things with jQuery before other frameworks like React hit the scene. I've always had an interest in DIY ethos (even outside of software), so I started dabbling in system administatrion early on, too. This later extended to things that could be described as DevOps, cloud/site reliability/platform/etc engineering, too. I have a strong interest in open source tools, obviously including Linux.
I've built websites and web apps for some of the largest brands in the world, and contributed to some pretty cool open source projects, too.
Outside of my professional life, I am keenly interested in environmental sustainability, mutual aid, bicycling, music, and anime/manga (in no particular order). I'm vegan, I have a dog and a cat, and I make really good ramen.
What I'm Looking For
I'm looking for work that makes me feel good. I am happy building web apps that are pleasant to use and accessible. I want to build tools that help people.
I want to build websites that are lean, accessible, and leverage native APIs more than overengineered frameworks when I can.
I want to build web apps that are easy to use, secure, and manageable.
I want to write software for your server that requires few resources, has small attack surface, and is easy to manage and deploy.
I want to write software for your computer that has a sane set of dependencies, can be built reproducibly, and works how you expect it to.
I want to build infrastructure that can be run on modest requirements, is defined declaratively, and deployable idempotently.
What I'm NOT Looking For
I think it's important for people to have opinions; strong ones, ideally. Tech can't be decoupled from politics nowadays, and that becomes more true every day.
I don't want to work for military or police. I don't want my work to hurt people.
I don't want to feed the industrial slop machine. I don't like LLMs, and I don't want to help shovel more slop into the world. I won't help you build your next chatbot.
I don't want to use tools built by genociders. Unfortunately this represents a lot of the industry, but I won't be able to live with myself. I see the images coming from you-know-where whenever I think of these companies, and I couldn't live with myself knowing I'm contributing to that.
A Bit About You (Maybe)
There are a number of qualities in my ideal prospective employer that I can think of, so I'll just list some of them off:
You use or build open source software. I'm always thrilled to work in an open source shop. I am not unrealistically picky, but I'll take vim over IntelliJ, and Linux over Windows. If your product itself is open source, even better!
Your product is in the cybersecurity space. I'm enthusiastic about information security, and opportunities to get deeper into this space are instantly short listed. I actually know what supply chain security is, I know the difference between compliance and security is, and I know what theater looks like (usually). If you know what I mean, let's talk!
You're work supports disenfranchised groups, or your product is for those who do. DEI is good, actually. The world can be better, and if you're working on that, I want to work with you!
Your work is for a good cause. Environmental sustainability, human or animal rights, fighting surveillance capitalism, etc are good examples of what I'd like to contribute to!