Hey Hackers! I’m John Jardin and I’m the CEO of Agilit-e.
First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2021 Noonies award! I’m nominated in the following categories…please do check out these award pages and vote (soon!):
- Microservices: https://noonies.tech/award/2021-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-microservices
- Performance: https://noonies.tech/award/2021-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-performance
As a someone in the Full-stack and Integration industry, I believe that the most exciting technology of the present is the MERN Stack (Mongo, Express, React, Node) because it is a battle-tested, extensive full-stack development environment that makes use of widely adopted runtimes and scripting languages . Learn more about my thoughts and opinions on the MERN Stack and my journey in the tech industry via the interview below.
1. What do you do and why do you do it? (tell us your story)
I am the CEO and co-founder of a company and product called Agilit-e: a microservice middleware platform that reduces technical debt in applications and services by providing functionality as a service.
Over the past 21 years, my profession has been primarily software development on various platforms using various languages including Javascript, Java, VB, SQL, etc.
I’ve had the privilege of developing solutions for over 350 projects, spread across multiple industry types, for various SMB and enterprise companies around the world.
My vision is to use my skill and experience to create solutions and solve problems for people, businesses and communities. I want to help make the world better in my own weird way.
2. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build!
Through my 21 years as a developer, I’ve managed to design enterprise back-office systems for various companies. From end-to-end HR and CRM systems, to production management systems that provide realtime reporting and analytics.
I’ve developed client applications, web applications, native mobile apps, cloud services and a number of other weird apps that would be used for IoT.
The solution I’m most proud of is my “Agilit-e Platform”, which is a microservice middleware platform that is used to reduce technical debt in one’s applications by replace pro-code with functionality as a service. I created this product because I became frustrated with designing the same apps that required the same functionality.
3. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it?
How I got here is an insanely long story. I’d rather explain why I chose to design Agilit-e and specialise in Integration and Automation.
Basically, I grew tired of reviewing my code and cringing at the techniques and practices that I used due to my limited knowledge at the time. I promised myself that I would find a way to centralise functionality that would be platform agnostic, remove duplication of logic and be constantly maintained upgraded to use the best practices and standards…eliminating technical debt. I now have a team of developers who share my vision.
And yes, I absolutely LOVE what I do :)
4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why?
Other than what gets used for the MERN Stack, I’m really excited about Rust, Deno and the Blockchain.
I’m excited that Deno will eventually help make developing server-side JavaScript applications more seamless and secure, using standards that most would agree with.
For Rust, I love the idea of writing code that runs closer to the core, that eliminates most potential bugs, works on the web, and is blazing fast.
With Blockchain leading the way for Web 3.0, it’s a no brainer that developing solutions on the Blockchain cannot be ignored.
5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why?
Not really worried about any tech specifically right now. I’m more worried that young blood get roped into legacy systems and programming languages….i.e. being taught the old ways.
6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?
This can be a very long list, but some quick decisions would be:
- Real estate (A safe investment with long term rewards if you know what you’re doing)
- Anything that generates passive income
- A spread between Low, Medium and High risk investments
- Crypto Trading (Extremely high risk and volatile, but exciting and challenging)
- Expanding my company “Agilit-e” (A no-brainer)
- Investing in initiatives and community projects
7. What are you currently learning?
- Advanced DevOps automation using GitLab, Google Cloud, Azure and AWS
- Ethereum Smart Contracts using ConsenSys Quorum
- How to be as efficient as possible (work and personal life), making the best use of my time that improves mine and my family’s future
8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone?
- Perfection is the enemy of good
- Understand the 80/20 Rule (Pareto’s Law) and use it everywhere
9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
- Worry is interest paid on trouble before it becomes due
10. Please give us the links to all your relevant social media profiles so we can use them to promote this interview! (Twitter and LinkedIn would be a huge plus)
About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards
The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.
The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: bybit, Dottech Domains, and Avast. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.