Professional Development & Contract Work
Duration: January 2023 - Present
Status: Contract Engineer / CS Student
The Context
After FightCamp, the market for frontend engineers had shifted out from under everyone. The post-pandemic correction hit tech hard, and connected fitness, which happened to be my most recent domain, was contracting fast.
Instead of grabbing the first offer that came along, I used the stretch to stay sharp on contract work, formalize my CS education, and build a portfolio that shows where the craft actually is today.
Contract: Logistics Dashboard (May - August 2023)
Client: Xander, former CEO at Winc
Duration: 3 months
Outcome: Venture folded before launch
A seed-stage logistics startup needed an MVP dashboard, so I built the frontend infrastructure:
- Next.js + React + TypeScript application architecture
- AWS Cognito integration for authentication
- Role-based access control for the different user types
- Visualization-ready components ready to wire up to the API
The backend hadn't been built yet, and my side was ready to integrate when the venture folded over funding. It didn't ship, but it kept my skills current and kept me connected to someone who'd valued my work years earlier.
Contract: Non-Profit Website (September - December 2023)
Client: Loved Again Pets
Duration: 4 months
Outcome: Completed but not deployed by the client
A small non-profit needed a website redesign, and I took the whole thing end to end:
- Discovery and wireframing
- Figma designs
- WordPress implementation
- Deployment and handoff documentation
The client decided in the end not to deploy it, an internal call that had nothing to do with the quality of the work. Not everything ships, but this one stretched a different muscle: working straight with non-technical stakeholders on design and UX, not just writing the code.
Education: WGU Computer Science (May 2025 - Present)
Expected graduation: October 2026
Credits completed: 14+
After years of learning on the job, I enrolled in Western Governors University's CS program to put the formal foundations under the 8+ years of production experience I'd already built.
WGU is competency-based and self-paced, which suits how I actually learn. I put 3 hours a day into the coursework and treat it like any other professional commitment.
Completed coursework:
- Web Development Foundations
- Introduction to Computer Science
- Network and Security Foundations
- Version Control
- Scripting and Programming Foundations
Portfolio Rebuild (July - September 2025)
URL: danieljoffe.com
Duration: 3 months initially, now ongoing
I rebuilt my portfolio from scratch, partly to show current practices and partly to prove to myself I hadn't gone stale:
- NX monorepo architecture
- Next.js with App Router
- Full testing infrastructure: Jest for unit tests, Playwright for E2E, Lighthouse for performance
- Storybook documentation for every component
- GSAP animations: scroll-triggered, page transitions, infinite loops
- Quality automation: Husky pre-commit hooks enforcing all the checks
- AI-assisted development: leaned on Cursor to move faster while keeping ownership of the code
This was never just about having a portfolio; it was about proving to myself, and to a future employer, that I could still build at a high level after time away from full-time work.
What This Period Taught Me
Not every stretch of a career is about climbing. Sometimes it's about consolidating: filling the gaps, formalizing what you know, and staying close to the craft.
I could have taken a role I wasn't excited about just to keep a clean resume. Instead I spent the time becoming a more complete engineer. The CS degree fills in the theory I'd picked up ad hoc, the portfolio proves I'm current, and the contract work kept me getting real-world reps the whole time.
So I'm ready for what's next.
Tech Stack
Logistics Dashboard: Next.js, React, TypeScript, AWS Cognito
Non-Profit Site: WordPress, Figma
Portfolio: Next.js, React, TypeScript, NX, GSAP, Jest, Playwright, Storybook, Tailwind CSS, Vercel