Encounter: Nolan Miller, Front End Web Developer

Learn more about the people behind DevelopmentNow by following our new Encounter series, where team members offer glimpses into their roles, backgrounds, and hobbies. In this first installment of the series, Nolan outlines his day-to-day work at DevelopmentNow, shares his thoughts on the future of front-end development, and describes some of his furniture restoration projects.

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What is your at role DevelopmentNow?
Front End Web Developer.

What does your job entail?

  • Building out UI from designs using HTML and CSS.
  • Working with UX to create interactions on the page.
  • Writing a lot of Javascript to interact with the data and make REST calls to the backend server.
  • Researching frameworks and libraries to use on projects.
  • Discussing and planning features with the team.

What aspect of your job do you enjoy most?
Working on different projects gives you a change of pace every so often. For example, switching from a large application with complex logic to a design heavy website rebranding project allows you to stay fresh and learn new skills.

How do you see front-end development evolving over the next five years?
I think front-end development will continue to grow. There will be a continued use of new JS frameworks with a few popular/useful ones rising to the top, alongside a heavy focus on reusable, component based frameworks. Open source libraries will continue to become more complex, allowing developers to easily gain features without having to write the code from scratch.

Before working at DevelopmentNow, what was the most unusual or interesting job you’d ever had?
Product Assistant at PBS TV station.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Paleontologist.

What do you like most about DevelopmentNow?
Working in small, focused teams allows you to have more control over the choices you make while coding. You get to be the one to make decisions on technologies and libraries to use.

Do you have a hobby that would surprise your fellow coworkers?
I like building and restoring furniture for the house. Last summer, I restored a kitchen table and built two mid-century modern night stands along with remodeling some IKEA dressers to match. My next project is to build a bar-top arcade cabinet using a Raspberry Pi.

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Written by Ian Harris -- July 8, 2016

Ian recently graduated from the University of Oregon. As our Marketing Intern, he coordinates and writes blog posts, creates content for our social media channels, and pursues others ways of promoting our company. When he’s not in the office, Ian can be found in a kitchen or at the movies.