Leon Pahole

About me

I started my career 7 years ago as a backend developer. Because the company I worked for was still in early stages of growth, I was soon given the opportunity to expand my work to full-stack, covering frontend, backend, mobile, devops, and cloud on various different projects. I was also able to build and improve processes in the company that helped us grow.

After completing a few projects, I began taking on architecture and devops roles, where I designed solutions and implemented them together with my team.

I then became a project manager and a tech lead, overseeing multiple challenging projects. This experience enhanced my understanding of business aspects of engineering, leadership, and improved my communication. I also learned the importance of health and setting up smart productivity systems.

I then returned to engineering, focusing on full-stack development, advising, mentoring and leading.

On top of engineering, I've recently began working in people management, where I conduct meetings with other engineers, help them with their career growth, and provide feedback.

I led my company's academy program, where I served as a technical lead, lecturing and mentoring up-and-coming frontend developers. I've also represented my company as a public speaker.

In May 2024, I joined Amazon as a front-end engineer. I'm working on accessible and delightful front-end advertising experiences that receive hundreds of thousands of views.

Throughout my 7-year journey, I've evolved not only as a software engineer, but also as a team member, leader, mentor, public speaker, communicator, and a healthier person. I truly believe that my work has a positive impact on other people's lives, as well as mine. And this is why I love my job.

Career overview

1. Amazon

   1. Frontend engineer

      (May 2024 - Present)

      React•Accessibility•Writing

      Building accessible and delightful front-end advertising experiences that receive hundreds of thousands of views.

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      • Frontend development with focus on accessibility and customer experience.
2. Povio inc.

   1. Devops engineer and architect

      (May 2023 - May 2024)

      Backend architecture•Frontend architecture•AWS•Estimations•Writing proposal documents•Strapi

      Helping improve cloud deployment processes, estimating and architecting solutions for new projects, solving problems on projects to get them back on track, improving internal processes.

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      • I'm learning from senior architects on how to approach problems, and how to architect solutions.
      • Currently working on a frontend initiative that will help all frontend developers in the company work more effectively.
      • Delivered estimates and proposals for multiple projects, which helped the company gain new clients.
      • Helped solve problems on a project, which was in a bad state, and got it back on track.
   2. Frontend academy lead

      (April 2023 - September 2023)

      Mentoring•Lecturing•Public speaking•Providing feedback

      Designing a curriculum for a frontend academy, performing lectures, providing feedback, and mentoring students on a comprehensive internship, resulting in more positive exposure of the company, and new team members.

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      • Communicated with the recruitment and marketing team to promote the academy.
      • Promoted the academy in two public speaking events, which granted us more applicants.
      • Worked with the recruitment team to assure the academy was a good experience for the students.
      • Performed lectures, which focused not only on technical skills, but also on soft skills.
      • Reviewed homeworks, provided feedback for students on 1:1 meetings, and helped them improve.
      • Together with my team, designed the internship to mimic a real-life project and provided students feedback during the project.
      • Chose the best students to join the company.
   3. POD lead

      (November 2022 - May 2024)

      Working with people

      Conducting 1:1 meetings with other frontend engineers in the office, talking about tech and non-tech topics, collecting and providing them feedback, making sure their requests and wishes are being heard, and improving their well-being in the company.

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      • Working with other departments to solve problems that my team members have.
      • Helped my team member push forward a technical issue on the project.
      • Conducting and organizing team meetings
   4. Frontend developer

      (October 2021 - May 2024)

      React•NextJS•Svelte•TypeScript•Team leadership

      Writing clean, optimized frontend code in various technologies for multiple projects.

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      • Set up a React project from scratch, and led a small frontend team.
      • Spent a lot of time learning how to optimize React code, and how to optimize Lighthouse score in Next.js.
      • Communicated with the client directly, and helped them understand the technical side of the project.
      • Provided feedback to the client on how to improve the product.
      • I learned Svelte in 3 hours, and was able to deliver the value to the client on day one.
      • Currently working on an external project, where I communicate with the client directly. I save them time by using written communication, and by understanding the requirements without the need for a meeting.
3. U-centrix

   1. [Confidential project] mobile app developer

      (February 2023 - May 2024)

      React Native•Frontend architecture

      Taking ownership of developing and delivering a mobile app in React native for a large project.

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      • Set up the app from scratch, and working alone on it, while communicating with over 7 other team members.
      • Saved time of several team members by understanding the requirements without the need for a meeting.
      • Despite being fully remote, the team trusts me with the delivery, because I diligently and independently communicate in written text.
      • The app is functional on both iOS and Android.
      • My full-stack background allows me to brainstorm solutions with my team members on the backend.
   2. Technical mentor, advisor, and architect

      (October 2021 - May 2024)

      Frontend architecture•Backend architecture•Mentoring

      Providing guidance on finding solutions to technical and non-technical problems, and doing hands-on assistance whenever needed.

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      • 1:1 mentoring, pair programming and debugging, while passing on my knowledge.
      • Jumped into code of multiple projects to help solve the most urgent bugs and pressing issues and put them back on track.
      • Architecting solutions at the start of the project, which helps the team start the project.
      • Providing feedback and improvements suggestions for team allocation and company structure, which optimizes efficiency and saves money.
   3. [Confidential project] Backend developer

      (December 2022 - April 2023)

      Writing proposal documents•Backend architecture•.NET Core•Angular

      Helping architect a solution and kickstart a microservice backend project for a large enterprise.

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      • Architected the backend solution from scratch and wrote a detailed proposal doc, which helped the client gain trust in our company, and provided the team with a specification to lean on.
      • Broke down tasks, which allowed the client full visibility into the project.
      • Implemented the backend solution in .NET., adapting my code to the company's coding standards and template.
      • Onboarded new team members after I delivered the initial solution.
      • Implemented a quick prototype of the frontend in Angular.
   4. Project manager and team lead

      (November 2020 - June 2021)

      Mentoring•Team leadership•Frontend architecture•Backend architecture•Client communication

      Taking the responsibility for 4 projects, communicating with the clients, delegating tasks, and architecting solutions.

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      • Stepped up and took ownership of a project, which was in a bad state, and led it to a successful delivery.
      • Initially I made a lot of mistakes, but with the help of my kind teammates, I reflected, learned and improved.
      • Earned the trust of my team, and we started working together well.
      • Expanded to manage other projects, and eventually led 4 of them, with the largest one having 7 team members.
      • Served as a tech lead for all of the projects, architecting solutions, helping my team members, and writing code.
      • Participated in meetings with clients, where I learned how to communicate with them, and how to manage their expectations.
      • Learned about business side of engineering, and the cost vs. benefit of certain decisions.
      • After nearly burning out, I decided to step down from the role, as the company was out of hard times, and I focused on my health, productivity and slowly transitioning back to a more technical role.
   5. [Omniopti] Full-stack web developer

      (August 2020 - April 2023)

      .NET Core•Angular•React Native•Client communication•Backend architecture•Product demos•Product ownership•Docker•Xamarin•Estimations

      Architecting and implementing multiple logistics products, communicating with the end users, collecting their feedback, and launching the products to production. Advising the company on architecture and deployment.

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      • Architected solutions for all products, and wrote the code for them.
      • Collected feedback from end users, and implemented it into the products.
      • Participated in product demos, where I learned how to communicate with end users and show the value that the product brings.
      • Wrote user instructions and answered product related questions.
      • Advised the company on how to streamline the deployment process, which saved the team multiple hours on each deployment.
   6. Devops and cloud engineer

      (March 2018 - September 2021)

      Docker•Ansible•Traefik•Terraform•AWS•Azure•Bash

      Optimizing and streamlining deployment processes of the entire company, saving all the developers countless hours on deployments. Simplifying cloud infrastructure to optimize costs.

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      • Researched and implemented a new deployment process, which saved the team time on each deployment.
      • Researched and implemented a new cloud infrastructure, which saved the company money.
      • Came up with my own solutions for devops problems, which suited the company's needs.
   7. Full stack web developer

      (October 2017 - September 2021)

      NodeJS•Spring Boot•Angular•Java•Kotlin•ArangoDB•PostgreSQL•Backend architecture•Frontend architecture•Technical interviewing

      Writing full-stack code on multiple projects, which spanned various domains and technology stacks.

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      • Onboarded on a complex project and eventually took ownership of it.
      • Architected backend and frontend solutions, and wrote the code for them.
4. FERI Maribor

   1. ASP.NET developer

      (June 2017 - October 2017)

      ASP.NET MVC 4•C#•JavaScript•CSS•HTML

      Developing a full-stack web application using ASP.NET, JS, CSS and HTML for tracking records, articles and books.

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      • I worked in a team of three.
      • I took ownership of developing a full-stack web application, which allowed other team members to focus on their respective tasks.
      • I saved our client's time by coming up with the design of the application.