let name = "Jax DesMarais-Leder"
let pronouns = "he/him/his"
var title = "Engineering Manager - Mobile SDKs"
var location = "Oak Park, IL, USA"
var interests = ["swimming", "University of Michigan and Detroit sports", "home renovations", "coffee", "tattoos"]Before moving into tech, I worked for a decade in the specialty coffee industry as a trainer and educator. I went to University of Michigan on a swimming scholarship (500 and 1,650 freestyle were my events), but eventually dropped out of school for personal reasons. I love mentoring other developers from non-traditional backgrounds as I do not come from a CS background and am self taught in mobile development. While my bread and butter has been iOS (Swift/Objective-C) I have also built a number of features on Android (Kotlin/Java) and enjoy working cross platform.
My wife and I own a 1920s dutch colonial revival home in Oak Park, IL that we are lovingly renovating/restoring mostly ourselves. We have a daughter (6) as well as 1 dog (Sadie) and 2 cats (Wednesday and Pugsley). When we aren't working on our house, we can be found gardening, walking around Oak Park admiring the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, visiting museums, hanging out with friends, at Disneyland (way too often), traveling, or making homemade pizza.
Typically 8am - 4pm Central. I tend to do my deepest work in the morning and enjoy starting with a high level of focus right after our daughter goes to school. I typically line my time off up with when our daughter is out of school, typically this means 1-2 weeks off a quarter to reset. I also believe everyone should have their birthday off work!
This is a living doc and as my management style is developed I will update this page.
- Relator: I enjoy close relationships with others. You find deep satisfaction in working hard to achieve a goal.
- Discipline: You enjoy routine and structure. Your world is best described by the order you create.
- Strategic: You create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, you can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
- Consistency: You are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same. You crave stable routines and clear rules and procedures that everyone can follow.
- Achiever: You work hard and possess a great deal of stamina. You take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive.