let name = "Jax DesMarais-Leder"
let pronouns = "he/him/his"

var title = "Tech Lead / Staff iOS Engineer"
var location = "Remote in Oak Park, IL, USA"
var interests = ["swimming", "University of Michigan sports", "home renovations", "coffee", "tattoos"]

Before moving into tech, I worked for a decade in the specialty coffee industry as a trainer and educator. I went to University of Michigan on a swimming scholarship (500 and 1,650 freestyle were my events), but eventually dropped out of school for personal reasons (story for another time). I love helping mentoring other developers from non-traditional backgrounds as I do not come from a CS background and am self taught.

My wife and I own a 1920s dutch colonial revival home in Oak Park, IL that we are lovingly renovating/restoring mostly ourselves. We have a little one (5) as well as 1 dog (Sadie) and 3 cats (Wednesday, Pugsley, and Bonnie). When we aren't working on our house, we can be found gardening, walking around Oak Park admiring the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, visiting the Shedd Aqaurium, hanging out with friends, or traveling.

Typically 8am - 4pm Central. I tend to take lunch right around noon and work out from 4-5 after work before our daughter gets home and am very protective of my time to work out. I tend to do my deepest work in the morning and enjoy starting with a high level of focus right after our daughter goes to school.