Frontend Developer
& Product Thinker.
Self-taught since 2018. From retail operations to shipping products at HYRE and SEA-WATCH. Now building Goodsomeday, a career storytelling platform for people with non-linear paths.
Melbourne → Berlin → Amsterdam → Melbourne
Hi, I’m Mel Jones
In 2018, a conversation about tech diversity sparked a career change. I remembered loving CSS from high school, found an intro JavaScript workshop online, and was immediately hooked.
Explored everything at first (React, Vue, Flutter, Python - all of it). Learned what I actually care about: accessibility, performance, clean components, and building products that work for everyone.
Retail operations management → self-taught developer → product roles → building my own platform. Non-traditional path = different perspective on user needs.
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Frontend: React, Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
Backend: PostgreSQL, Node.js
Tools: Git, Linear, Figma, n8n, Claude Code
Focus: Accessibility (WCAG), Performance, Component Architecture -
2025-now: Building Goodsomeday
2023-2024: Skill development, Career exploration, Community building
2020-2023: HYRE & SEA-WATCH (Frontend Developer & Product Roles)
2018-2020: Self-directed learning, first web development projects
BEFORE TECH: Operations management, leading teams 30+, Melbourne & Berlin -
Accessibility (WCAG)
Performance optimisation
Component-driven architectureAI-assisted development
Clean, maintainable code
WORK
CURRENT
GOODSOMEDAY
A platform for people with non-linear career paths to transform barriers into transformation narratives.
PAST
HYRE (HR Tech Startup)
Led frontend development and cross-functional collaboration
Built web application in 2 months solving critical onboarding abandonment, expanded platform from iOS-only to cross-platform using existing Firebase backend
Ran weekly office hours and created self-serve guides, empowering non-technical teams (marketing, ops, sales) to use internal tools (Canva, Webflow) independently and reducing engineering support requests
Led CRM requirements gathering and vendor evaluation with COO and ops team, identifying Airtable as solution for data-driven job matching workflow
SEA-WATCH (Humanitarian NGO)
Led frontend development and technical coordination for volunteer team
Designed and launched three accessible websites (WCAG AA) for humanitarian search and rescue operations, ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies for global audiences
Built reusable component library reducing development time by 25%, enabling rapid deployment of campaign sites during crisis response periods
Established centralized documentation system for high-turnover volunteer developer team, reducing onboarding time from weeks to days