Hi, I'm Jon Muller.
Front-end of the frontend.
I build web user interfaces so that full-stack developers don’t have to.
As a frontend developer with over 25 years of experience, I have a long and proven track record of delivering complex web applications that delight users and simplify developer workflows.
I like short lists, Oxford commas, and the rule of three. I love HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
I am a frontend developer.
I write a lot of
JavaScript.
I’ve worked in Vue for the last 4 years, before that I worked in React for 2 years, and way back when there was a decade of jQuery and plain old vanilla JS.
But I am especially fond of the other two: HTML and CSS.
I enjoy the challenge of writing markup that is accessible, semantic, and elegant, as well as stylesheets that are robust, maintainable, and scalable. I love building the tools that enable engineering teams to ship products without compromising quality, time, or cost.
Happy designers, happy engineers, happy managers.
Experience
I wish I had a complete Git history of my career.
I want a Spotify Wrapped for my quarter-century:
You are in the top 0.01% of console.log users! You used
pseudo-elements 11,235,813 times!
Frontend developer,
Safe Will Pty Ltd, 2021 - ongoing
SafeWill is Sydney-based start-up scale-up providing an
online legal platform that helps customers secure their legacy by
planning for their end-of-life.
The platform includes web applications for:
-
consumers, providing:
- a guided will-writing flow
- a guided powers of attorney-writing flow
- a digital vault for storing notes, contacts, and files
- administrators
- business partners
- managing marketing website content
As well as marketing websites for:
- Safewill
- Safewill Legal
- Safewill Cremations
Highlights:
- Moved to an atomic design system shared by multiple frontend applications
- Combined five separate Git repositories into a single monorepo
- Currently leading migration from Vue 2 + Javascript to Vue 3 + Typescript
Technologies:
All client-facing applications are built using Vue, communicating with a GraphQL API.
Additionally, I have been closely involved in:
- monorepo build system
- internationalisation
- code quality testing
- unit testing
- end-to-end testing
- A/B testing
- user tracking
- error tracking
- code linting
- asset optimisation
- stylesheet compilation
- enforced code styling standards
Senior frontend developer
4mation Technologies, 2018 - 2020
Based in Sydney, 4mation is one of Australia’s leading custom software development agencies.
I had the opportunity to work with clients including:
- Network 10
- Kennards Self Storage
- The Athlete’s Foot
- Travelex
- Integrity Life
Highlights:
- Lead 10play.com.au UI team
- Built 4mation company showcase website
- Won Employee of the Year (and a trip to SXSW in Texas!)
Technologies:
The key skill at agencies is versatility and adaptability to unfamiliar technologies. In addition to working on new projects with current versions React and Vue, I also maintained legacy projects written in AngularJS and MooTools.
Senior frontend developer, managing director
pi-squared, 2003 - 2016
Based in Cape Town, South Africa, pi-squared provide a range of custom software development services to clients in the UK.
Working with UK agencies I was lucky enough to work with an amazing roster of clients, such as:
- Ernst & Young
- Bausch + Lomb
- Nestlé
Highlights:
- Built award-winning websites for Ogilvy UK
- Maintained a number of client relationships for 15+ years
- Grew agency from a 2-person operation in a spare room to ongoing 12-person software delivery team in company-owned premises
Technologies:
It was the 2000s, and browsers were limited and inconsistent. Back in 2006 jQuery was an absolute game-changer. Bootstrap arrived in 2012 and for a while it was everywhere. It’s been a wild ride, we’ve come a long way, and I’m still having fun.
Skills
As a human speaking to a human, I care about:
- Lean, accessible, and semantic HTML
- Smooth, responsive, and extensible CSS
- Elegant, robust, and high-performance JavaScript
- CSS, SVG, and Canvas web animations
- Atomic, reusable, and scalable design systems
- Patient, respectful, and nurturing leadership
Tools
As a human speaking to a search engine, I've prepared an A-Z of technologies I can think of that I have used in the course of my gainful employment. I'm not saying you should employ me to do any of those. I'm just saying I've been doing this for along time and I'm good at figuring stuff out.
If you require work in technologies starting with the letters I, Q, or Z, please get in touch.
- Angular, AngularJS, ASP
- Backbone.js, Bootstrap
- Chart.js, ColdFusion, CSS
- D3.js
- Eleventy
- Foundation
- GraphQL, Grunt, Gulp
- HTML
- ... IIS? 🤔
- Javascript, Jest, jQuery
- Knockout.js
- Lit, Lodash
- Material-UI, MongoDB, MooTools
- Next.js, Node, Nuxt.js
- OAuth
- Pinia, Playwright, Python
- 😔
- React
- SASS, Storybook, SQL, Svelte
- Tailwind, Turbo
- Underscore.js
- Vite, Vue.js, Vuex
- Webpack, WordPress
- XML
- YAML, YUI, Yarn
- 😞
Testimonials
Tom Somerville,
Head Of Engineering at FLKitover“I am happy to recommend Jon as he has been a fantastic developer to work with. He is truly a genius when it comes to frontend development and I have learned much working with him. He would be a massive asset to any team.”
Mark Edgington,
CEO at Incendiary Blue“I've employed Jon for his outstanding front-end development skills and excellent communication. The projects he has worked on for me have been varied but include Nestle, Orrick, Vincent and Elkin, Pfizer, EY, and Unilever, utilising Jon’s best-in-class work as a user experience developer specialising in HTML, CSS and JS.”
Edward Wong,
Head Of Strategy at 4mation Technologies“Jon is a sensational front end developer, dedicated to getting the job done right the first time. He deeply believes in the welfare of his team mates and has an infinite amount of patience when helping and mentoring junior developers. Jon would be an asset to any organisation.”
Joe da Silva,
CEO at Product Anywhere“Jon is extremely well respected by the web development community and the designers and developers that he has worked with. I have no hesitation in endorsing Jon as a domain expert who has a very unique and highly sought after set of skills, and he is great to work with.”
Hamish Songsmith,
Team Lead at Optiver Asia Pacific“Jon is a superstar; not just an exceptionally talented UI dev, but the teammate who will go the extra yard to add that final piece of polish to any project. What I appreciated most about Jon was his ability to give, receive and discuss difficult feedback. Jon has the skills to succeed both in a technical role and as a leader.”
Adam Sheik,
CEO at Celerity Design“Jon has been a vital part of our team — whenever we have had work that requires high-end responsive web templates, advanced Javascript, or front-end data integration, Jon has been our developer of choice.”
Dane Eldridge,
Founder & CEO at 4mation Technologies“Jon is a dedicated and multi-skilled team member. As a UI developer he demonstrated excellent technical skills and provided pragmatic, considered advice. As a team leader and manager Jon developed strong relationships with his direct reports, and created a genuinely committed, tight knit team.”
Cath Hughes,
Product Manager at Sherpa“Jon is truly a front end master. He approaches every project as an opportunity to apply his ever-evolving skill set, and always adds value to projects, with an inherent understanding of design fundamentals. Jon has been a pleasure to work with and he would be an excellent asset to any team.”
Janice Goodman,
Project Manager at AMP“Jon is not only an absolute wizard at what he does, but he is incredibly patient and able to explain complex technical concepts in a way that is easy to digest and understand. Jon is passionate and cares so much about his work, that it’s easy to see how he is revered and loved across the business as well as by our clients.”
Sam Hodges,
Lead Software Engineer at Total Selling Solutions“Jon is an amazing UI developer that has taught me a lot over the years. Having spent years myself doing UI work I thought I knew what I was doing... until I met Jon. I have seen him tackle incredible difficult designs with ease and he has helped me countless times to fix UI issues I couldn’t solve. I would recommend Jon to any organisation.”
Roger Marley,
Senior Software Engineer at Learnosity“Jon is a wizard.”
Contact
I live in the inner west of Sydney, Australia, home to the world's greatest Vietnamese pork rolls. No, they don't deliver. Yes, the queue is outrageous. No, you can't make alterations beyond "extra chilli" or "no chilli". Yes, it is worth it.
Anyway, I was early enough to snag jon.muller@gmail.com and that's my preferred method of communication.
And I'm on LinkedIn, connected to every recruitment agent that's ever been to Sydney: www.linkedin.com/in/jonza/
Appendix
No frameworks were harmed in the making of this website. I asked
three AI models for a Fermi estimation of the
carbon footprint of Tailwind CSS and
the answer that best suited my narrative purposes:
38,745,600kg CO2 per year.
It's an HTML page, a CSS file, and a light sprinkling of vanilla JavaScript. Because there aren't any dependencies this site works as a CodePen, and all of it's tricky bits started out as experiments on Codepen.
I designed the whole thing in Figma. The design file is available for you to reverse engineer the design evolution. Reverse evolution. Design engineer. Revolution!
Addendum
I have friends and I care about their backlinks.
I am enormously lucky to work at Pay Later Travel, who are on a mission to make travel accessible for everyone by providing a more responsible way to finance travel experiences without the need for burdensome debt.
Before that I worked at Safewill, who are on a mission to help Australians (and New Zealanders) secure their legacy by planning for their end-of-life.
My mate Farhan is brilliant and he runs the Sydney-based but super-international web development agency Mage2. We worked together at 4mation, who help Australian companies digitally transform through strategy, design, development, and AI.
Codicil
Personal websites used to have links to things the maker found interesting. It was the original Customers who bought this item also bought list. I know you're busy and I've made you read a lot already, so here are five Youtube videos.
- Sneezing baby panda (30s)
- Ajax 2 - 3 Spurs (2mins)
- Hurray for the Riff Raff - Buffalo (4min)
- Stewart Lee - All Things Bright & Beautiful (5min)
- David Foster Wallace - This Is Water (9min)