GANNON
HUITING
I endevor to make user experiences that are fast, reliable, easy and beautiful. I see webpages everywhere that I want to improve.
When I started my career, I was working mostly with back-end technologies like Java and C#. I actually found front end languages like CSS and JavaScript frustrating, because they were so flexible they were hard to predict and I felt overwhelmed. But working in a professional setting I learned just how important flexibility is. I started to love JavaScript in particular. It was so easy to build with, it was so flexible it could handle radical changes late in development. I found it was much more suitable than C# for addressing the issues I faced.
I found moving code from the back-end to the front-end let me address many issues, like load times, timeouts and caching difficulties. I could add features faster because I was unencumbered by C#'s rigidity and applying changes was as easy as reloading the page. It also let me organize code in a way that would not affect the entire system if something was not right.
Working with clients as a freelance developer let me learn technologies like React and Angular and gain experience developing web applications. It forced me to look at the whole of the development process, and make changes based on direct feedback from users. It is also where I started to understand and master CSS which can be more complex than JavaScript at times.
Now I am looking for my dream job. I want to work on complex user experiences. I want to optimize and simplify code to run reliably, quickly, and flexibly, I want to minimize the clutter and guid users with beautiful layouts. I love working with people, I love sharing different views and coding together to make better applications. I love front-end development
Over the years I have learned these technologies:
- C#
- SQL
- Github
- CSS
- HTML
- JavaScript
- SCSS
- React
- Angular
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Started to work for SSP Innovations as a Software Engineer. I worked closely with clients and coworkers to deliver custom plugins for ARC-GIS. I was able to familiarize myself with GIS as well as Angular JS and Typescript.
DEVELOPER
Worked for Richmond American Homes as a web developer. There I gained the majority of my web development skills. I learned .Net MVC as well as Bootstrap and became fluent in JavaScript.
JUNIOR DEVELOPER
Work at Jeffco involved integrating several different online learning platforms using web APIs. I also learned C#, and SQL
INTERN DEVELOPER
Advise Technologies gave me my first exposure to professional development. I worked on C# applications and also worked on data gathering and QA.
Education
Kansas State University
Graduated a semester ahead of schedule as an Information Systems major from Kansas State University. Participated in coding competitions and hackathons.
React Demo
I made a simple react app (its still in its early stages, but I plan on adding more in the coming weeks) you can view it here.
CSS Art
I found an artist online and really liked his work. I have been turning a few of his pieces into responsive web-pages. Link
A did some animations for a tax management company that worked with people traveling the country in RVs. Link
Here are a few pieces I did that don't really fit into a category Link
I started getting pretty deep into 3d CSS animations. Link
This page was coded in HTML/CSS/JavaScript without any frameworks, plugins or addons.
I styled this paged based on Art by Grant Yun, and I repurposed A demo by Keith Clark to achieve the parallax effect
If you want a look behind the curtain to see how the layering is done you can turn on debug mode:
A lot of work went into adapting Keith's demo into this website. I learned a lot by taking his code apart to see how it worked, as well as adapting it into a functioning responsive web page. I first attempted to simplify his CSS code by removing the "Layer Groups" this let me just add content for each layer as I saw fit. But aligning the layers in a responsive way was next to impossible. So I went back to his original design and added special responsive groups that grew with the content. I used those to hold content of variable height (like the content you are reading now). Then I used the original "Layer Groups" for the titles so they would always align with the content. This approach let me add planets, clouds and titles with positioning I could rely on.
I loved the color schemes and art direction that Grant used, especially his "frame" idea in This piece titled "Marines". And I love the way the light hits the planets from underneath in This piece titled "Pyramid Schemes". Originally I made planets similar to the ones in "Marines", but they were very "loud" and stood out too much. The gentle lighting from below and a shadow the same color as the sky in "Pyramid Schemes" worked nicely.
There are a few features I want to point out: The stars are randomly scattered throughout the sky, with big ones being more rare than little ones, and stars becoming less common as they descend into the sunset (just like real life). My profile picture has a "shape-outside: circle(50%)" which lets text fill in around it, and I think it looks really nice. I also added a blur effect behind the nav bar, this lets the nav bar stay readable without it standing out too much. It is an easy way to get the color to change as you scroll down.