About

Thanks for stopping by. Read below to learn more about myself and my background.

Another beautiful image of Kenny Howard

Background

Before transitioning into software development, I worked in finance — a role that, over time, began to feel like I was simply pushing buttons. Once I had mastered my responsibilities within the first six months, I sought out ways to challenge myself, trying to automate various tasks but even those challenges were short-lived. The work became routine, and I found myself craving something more — something that required deeper problem-solving and creative thinking.

I realized I wanted to stop just consuming technology and start creating it. That realization led me to software development, where I gravitated toward JavaScript. The ability to build, break, and refine solutions in a constantly evolving space was exactly what I had been searching for.

Since making the transition, I've thrived in an environment where I get to solve complex problems daily. Whether it's optimizing performance, creating a challenging feature, or collaborating on innovative projects, I truly feel engaged and challenged every day. Working in tech has given me the intellectual stimulation I was missing, and I'm continuously excited to push my skills further.

Education

Utah Valley University 2007 - 2011

Bachelor of Science in Business Management - International Business

DevMountain 2015

Development Certification

Skills

Frontend Development

  • JavaScript (Expert)
  • React (Expert)
  • CSS (Expert)
  • HTML (Expert)
  • Responsive Web Design (Expert)
  • Sass (Expert)
  • React Hooks (Advanced)
  • Redux (Advanced)
  • TypeScript (Advanced)
  • Material UI (Advanced)
  • Prompt Engineering (Advanced)
  • Astro (Intermediate)
  • Next.js (Intermediate)
  • Tailwind CSS (Intermediate)
  • Web Vitals (Intermediate)
  • Angular (Novice)
  • React Native (Novice)
  • Storybook (Novice)

Tools & DevOps

  • Git (Expert)
  • Docker (Intermediate)
  • Kubernetes (k8s) (Intermediate)
  • kubectl (Advanced)
  • Phusion Passenger (Advanced)
  • Elastic (Observability) (Advanced)
  • New Relic (Advanced)
  • Grafana (Advanced)
  • Vite (Intermediate)
  • Jest (Intermediate)
  • Playwright - E2E Testing (Novice)

Backend & Databases

  • Node.js (Intermediate)
  • OAuth (Intermediate)
  • Firebase/Firestore (Advanced)
  • New Relic Query Language (Advanced)
  • Query DSL (Elasticsearch) (Advanced)
  • MongoDB (Novice)
  • PostgreSQL / pgAdmin (Novice)

Other Expertise

  • A/B Testing (Expert)
  • Collaborative (Expert)
  • Slack (Expert)
  • Trello (Expert)
  • Jira (Advanced)
  • Microsoft Teams (Advanced)
  • Asana (Intermediate)
  • ADA Compliance (a11y) (Intermediate)
  • Cloudinary (Advanced)
  • Video Editing (Novice)