WESLEY
PIPER
Front End Developer
About Me
About Me
Converse
Portfolio
Future of Money
Portfolio
Election
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Portfolio
About
Me
I am a maker,
a builder,
a devotee to craft.
I am currently a staff developer at Foreign Policy Magazine. For years before I ever wrote my first line of Javascript, I worked in publishing. It’s always been a dream, or even an obsession of mine, to contribute to a larger conversation with the public in a meaningful way. It’s why I originally chose to work in publishing, and why I moved on to this job at Foreign Policy. It’s a beacon of light in what has become a pretty dark turn of media. Foreign Policy doggedly pursues the truth, an ethos I share.
From 2016 until 2021 I had the honor of getting to serve as Oxide Design‘s lead front end developer. With Oxide, I’ve really grown as a developer. Oxide specializes in civic design and civic tech where we’ve helped shape the digital public infrastructure for elections around the country. Through our partnerships with organizations like the Center for Civic Design, I’ve been lucky to work on some of the most cutting edge civic tech projects going on right now. As you can see from my portfolio pieces, civic tech is the work I’m most proud of.
Our guiding principle at Oxide had always been to use design and tech for good. In January 2021, Oxide merged with Rule29 Creative out of the Chicago area. We get to bring our devotion to civic design and civic tech to a like-minded — and larger — design firm that also happens to be a Certified B Corp.
I have spent the better part of the last decade always learning and growing as a developer. I love building websites and tools that are accessible for everyone. My mantra is to ask how a product can be improved so it can be used by anyone. How can I help make the digital world easier for someone whose vision makes tech challenging, or mobility challenges make tech difficult? Tech and design should be for everyone. There should no barrier of entry.
Over the years I’ve found my way in many crafts. I even married a woman with the last name Kraft! Before I ever wrote my first line of Javascript, I spent a few years in Northern Ireland getting a degree in Irish lit and being an amateur writer. I eventually found work in the book publishing industry back in my home state of Nebraska. But that wasn’t close enough to the craft — not my calling.
I took a chance to find a calling in a new craft. Code has been my craft for the last decade. I’ve always loved to build things, and coding is my way to practice that. Web development is creating and building. Just like building anything else, in web you build a strong foundation, some sturdy walls, adorn it all with some thoughtful design, and make it all accessible.
I’m even a builder in my free time. Most weekends you’ll probably find me making sawdust in my small garage woodshop cutting dovetail joints on my router. Otherwise my wife and I spend most of our time with our two beloved dogs, Penny (pictured above) and Ruby (Ruby never stays still for long enough to get a good photo).