Work history and portfolios only tell someone so much. So here's some info about what I'm doing right now.

Coding

I'm working at AgileSix, a civic tech company that makes digital solutions for the United States federal government. I focus on the front-end and making the final products stylish, responsive, and accessible with tools like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, UI libraries like React, pattern libraries like Storybook, and likely more. I have experience working on applications backends with Ruby on Rails, and I still enjoy writing Ruby and object-oriented programs sometimes. But my heart still lies with the front-end, me being the visual person I am.

My broader career goals are to keep learning more about JavaScript, Ruby, and the larger architecture of the web and websites. My more specific ones are around WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards and the different ways sites can meet those standards, like with progressive web apps and pattern libraries. I also play around with SVG, but mostly for fun and to show of my random drawings on this site.

See the Pen SVG Coordinate-based Generative Art by Maxwell Antonucci (@max1128) on CodePen.

One of the best ways I'm learning things is working them into the personal site you're reading right now. I'm trying to get my hands dirty with more new code and not limit myself to reading books and articles about code without actually using them.

Writing

I try to have at least one blog post in the works at any given time. They focus on everything from JavaScript, web accessibility, career lessons, personal reflections, random facts observations, or anything else. I enjoy the freedom to post anything I want on my website for any reason I want.

I don't have any long-term goals for my blogging. I do it because it helps me build on and retain knowledge, and it helps share this info with others. Plus, when I do it right, it's just fun.

When I do it wrong...that's another matter.

Reading and Listening

Like so many people, I have a giant backlog of articles, podcasts, and fiction and nonfiction books I know I'll never get through. But this ensures I'll never have an excuse to be bored in the future, and I can accept this tradeoff.

For coding knowledge, I try to follow lots of different sources. These include publications like CSS Tricks, A List Apart, Smashing Magazine, and some prominent writers in those same spheres like Adrian Roselli, Heydon Pickering, Laura Kalbag, Brad Frost, and Jeremy Keith. I also subscribe to several front-end newsletters including CSS Weekly, A11y Weekly, ZenDev, and Responsive Web Design Weekly. As for books, my favorite resources are A Book Apart, The Pragmatic Bookshelf, and Smashing Magazine Printed Books. I've also started using the Anki flashcard app to better remember all this knowledge.

A selection of shelved coding books from A Book Apart, Smashing Magazine, and The Pragmatic Bookshelf.

When it comes to news as a whole, I've become a major fan of several NPR programs. Some of my favorites are Code Switch, Throughline, Short Wave, Life Kit, On the Media, and most of all, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. For more "off the beaten path" podcasts, I enjoy Darknet Diaries and Factually! I also have a longtime subscription to Blinkist for reading summaries of nonfiction from history to psychology to self-improvement.

For books I read more for fun from stores or libraries, I've got far too long a list to share here. The ones I enjoy range from thrillers, fantasy dystopias, creative nonfiction, comforting romance novels (mainly Nora Roberts), and political satire.

Playing

The COVID-19 pandemic has limited my playtime quite a bit, as you, dear reader, have likely dealt with yourself. My main leisure activity these days is reading, since the Libby app makes it easy to check out a wide variety of eBooks from my library whenever I want. Free books you can get without needing to leave your home are a pandemic survivor's best friend. When I'm not doing that, I'm eating out at new restaurants, catching up on new television, and drawing and doodling like I have since high school. If you hadn't noticed already, you can see random dawings in some of my post headers.

Every now and then, I find time to visit MakeHaven to worked on craft and art projects. Most involve laser and vinyl cutting, and are nice ways to escape the computer screen for a while. The MakeHaven community is also amazing and supportive to all its makers.

Smuggling

I'm not telling if you're not asking. I'll only say the bunny isn't late yet.