Code, canvases and commitment to accessibility: A chat with Jason Gill, Senior Software Engineer

You're currently focused on frontend development. What’s taking up most of your focus?

In terms of tech stack, it’s React and on top of that, Typescript and JavaScript. I primarily work on our consent management platform, focusing on client-side JavaScript more than UI elements. It's been interesting because it's very different from typical frontend work – there is a UI component, but it's just the tip of the iceberg compared to everything happening beneath the surface. It's really challenged me to dust off my core JavaScript skills.

We're also in the middle of migrating our design system from Chakra UI to Ant Design. I previously led a migration to MUI at another company, so I've been able to call on that experience to help guide this transition.

What's been your biggest technical challenge so far?

One of my most satisfying projects was improving our debugger logging in the FidesJS product. The logging was scattered and abstracted in a way that made debugging difficult, so I reworked the entire system to make it more transparent – ensuring logs clearly showed their source file and line number. It was great to be able to do that. Any little pebbles you can take out of the shoe of a developer is a good thing!

My biggest sense of achievement so far has probably just been wrapping my head around and understanding the Fides project as a whole. I’ve worked on a bunch of different small projects that have exposed me to the whole, to where I finally have a broad understanding and can become more of an expert in the project.

That's what's really unique here. The product is a lot more complex than anything I've worked on. And that’s because of the complexity of the problems Ethyca is trying to solve. That's what gets me excited. I literally couldn't imagine this not being my full-time job and having to tackle these problems at the same time! I think that’s one of the big selling points. Developers at other companies do not want to be hassled with all of this. It’s just too complex a problem to solve when you have a whole other bunch of things to work on.

You've become a strong advocate for accessibility in software. What drove that focus?

Direct experience, really. Working alongside people with different needs. Early in my career, I sat next to a developer who had a degenerative eye disease and only had peripheral vision — he used a giant monitor with large text and had a clock that would announce the time hourly. I got to experience his experience a little bit secondhand.

In another role, I worked with someone who was mostly deaf and relied heavily on lip reading, and then later I had corrective eye surgery, and for the healing period of about a month I experienced firsthand how important accessibility features are.

I really leaned into accessibility then. A lot of us, when we think of accessibility, we think of permanent ailments, right? These experiences really drove home that accessibility isn't just about permanent disabilities. It's about making technology usable for everyone in all circumstances.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

Oh, I'm a gamer. I play with friends every Tuesday night, usually the latest Call of Duty. But those are pretty high intensity, you know? They can ramp the anxiety up a bit! So I also love switching gears and I’ve been enjoying more strategic games like Hitman and Cyberpunk, where you can methodically move through maps. It's a nice way to unwind.

Ethyca’s mission is to solve the most challenging technical problems in data privacy and protection. We want to help companies build well-governed data clouds to create a new foundation for trust on the internet. Find out about our open roles here, or to learn more about what Ethyca can do for your business, please request a demo.