TheCoding Chemist
An erlenmeyer flask with fragments of code superimposed

Learn What I Can Offer You

See an overview of my skills and what I have accomplished
An erlenmeyer flask with fragments of code superimposed

Learn What I Can Offer You

See an overview of my skills and what I have accomplished

>
A close up of a 2+2 ortho photocycloaddition reaction I worked on

Chemistry's Transferrable Skills

A chemical background teaches some surprisingly useful skills.

Meet the Coding Chemist

Hello and welcome to codingchemist.com. I’m Jason Dahl - a former chemistry professor who has turned my passion for technology into a career developing websites. I produce sites that are written in concise, semantic HTML, styled using progressive enhancement techniques, and augmented with highly optimized and thoroughly notated JavaScript.

My scientific background compliments my coding skills through the systematic approaches I use in trouble-shooting technical issues and code optimization. The inquisitiveness and experimentalist nature chemistry has ingrained helps me develop a complete understanding of the problem at hand, which lets me write streamlined, purposeful code.

I look forward to the meeting with you and demonstrating how I can help your team.

Resume

(Download a pdf copy)

Jason W. Dahl

jasonw.dahl@codingchemist.com

Skill Set

  • HTML
  • CSS/LESS
  • JavaScript/JQuery
  • NodeJS with Express
  • DustJS
  • Responsive Design
  • Responsive Design
  • Analytical Thinking
  • Flexible Problem Solving
  • Highly Detail Oriented
  • Thorough Troubleshooting
  • Avid Learner
  • Disciplined
  • Undaunted by Challenges
  • Strong Communication Skills

Experience

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage - Minneapolis, MN Aug. 2012 - Sept. 2013

Loan Document Specialist

  • Generated a series of productivity/capacity reports from an array of data sources
  • Developed and maintained spreadsheet tools that automated report production
  • Identified and corrected systematic errors in data sources to improve report accuracy

Saginaw Valley State University - Saginaw, MI Jan. 2012 - July 2012

Adjunct Chemistry Professor

  • Prepared and delivered lectures, demonstrations, and online supplemental materials
  • Demonstrated proper lab techniques while maintaining safe lab environments
  • Improved laboratory procedures and handouts to make chemical trends more apparent in student data
  • Collaborated with other professors to replace/restructure lab experiments to minimize safety risks and reduce expenses
  • Mentored students to help them realize their career goals and avoid academic pitfalls

Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI Sept. 2000 - July 2009

Research Assistant/Teaching Assistant

  • Designed, synthesized, and isolated a series of previously unknown chemicals to answer fundamental chemical questions set by the lead investigator
  • Analyzed and interpreted spectroscopic data to determine reaction results

Education

Web TechnologiesJan 2014-current

Self-Taught

Ph.D in Organic ChemistryJuly 2009

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

B.A. in ChemistryMay 2000

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN

Professional Bio

I have always been interested in how and why things work - leading to a strong interest in technical fields and a doctorate in organic chemistry. With over a decade of scientific training, I have developed a potent array of skills that help me overcome new and difficult challenges. When combined with a knack for explaining technical issues, I found teaching was a nice fit and became an Adjunct Chemistry Professor at Saginaw Valley State University.

I spent the next two and a half years lecturing general chemistry courses and supervising various chemistry labs. While the work was enjoyable, the low pay and lack of benefits that come with adjunct positions prompted me to change careers and leave Michigan’s depressed job market for Minnesota.

Once in Minneapolis, I began working for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage generating capacity and productivity reports. While there, I discovered my new direction for my skills - I enjoyed using logic and conditionals to create spreadsheet tools and figuring out subtle bugs in them. I saw myself with a future in programming - in particular web and app development.

I began teaching myself various web technologies such as HTML and CSS with a focus on responsive design and fluid layouts. I then became comfortable with native JavaScript and the jQuery library and I'm currently familiarizing myself with the MEAN stack.

Skill Set

While the detailed chemical knowledge from my previous career doesn’t transfer to web development, my scientific training has refined a host of skills that web development does benefit from. Below is a sampling of the skills that I believe are most relevant.

  • Analytical Thinking: Chemical training helps me carve a complex problem into a dramatically simpler ones. Once simplified, I identify potential answers for each problem, vet them against known solutions, and then derive a solution that fits my needs.
  • Highly Developed Troubleshooting Ability and Attention to Detail: When things go wrong, I begin looking for simple, practical issues. Once free of those, I systematically examine each variable and verify that each step is producing just the expected results.
  • Discipline: A working model is not a final solution, rather an excellent starting point to build upon. I always try to full optimize my code and understand/address its limitations.
  • Avid Learner: I keep up on emerging developments and strive to learn multiple approaches to any problem. This gives me flexibility to reframe problems to avoid complications while maintaining a valuable skillset into the foreseeable future.
  • Undaunted by Challenges: The key to solving new challenges is often found in roughly analogous systems or in the fine details of how it works. My steadfast nature combined with my desire to learn helps me solve problems that others give up on.

Portfolio

Bethel United Methodist Church

I was asked to update Bethel's website from their current table based website to a more modern design. They requested a visually subdued site that is easy to navigate, helps promote community events, has directions to help visitors, and can be accessed on mobile phones. A mockup of the revamped site is linked above.

Features of this site:

Bethel United Methodist Church's steeple design
  • A responsive design with fluid layouts*
  • Information is now grouped by theme on longer webpages to improve browsing
  • Menus are constantly onscreen to improve navigation
  • Microsoft Bing Maps were incorporated for mapping services and driving directions
  • Smartphone features:
    • Simplified menus, larger touch targets, and conversion of longer webpages to expanding articles to improve small screen browsing
    • Design choices that reduces JavaScript use
  • Support for IE 8 and newer browsers
Arcana Solarie Guild Website

I was asked to make a small site for a friend's World of Warcraft guild. The design direction was a clean slate aside from the guild logo and colors. I'm currently waiting for content to finish the site.

Features of this site:

Arcana Solarie's Guild Crest
  • A responsive design with fluid layouts*
  • Customizable slider for various transition effects
  • Touchscreen optimized recruitment form
  • Follows responsible progressive enhancement ideals
  • Support for IE 8 and newer browsers

* Responsive design features are restricted to browsers with native media query capabilities. IE8 is psuedo-fixed screen size as a result.