Jessa Mae: the frontend developer who treats discomfort as fuel
Jessa Mae is a Frontend and Full Stack Developer on Full Scale's Philippines team, five years into a career that started as a terrified trainee presenting simple apps to senior developers. Today she owns client projects end to end, including one built with Cursor AI as her daily coding partner. In her own words: what changed, and what she'd tell someone starting out scared.
From a university project to owning production
Jessa Mae graduated in Computer Technology from the University of San Carlos in 2019. Her first shipped app was a university team project; by the time she joined Full Scale in 2022, she'd already spent a year debugging a proprietary platform with no documentation to lean on.
ExploreHub, university team project (2019)
Her first shipped software: a four-person team built a tourism booking app with Ionic, Angular, and Node.js, then published it to the Google Play Store and deployed the web app on Vercel.
DNA Micro Software Inc., Developer (2021–2022)
Troubleshooting errors that weren't documented anywhere on a proprietary React and GraphQL platform, then expanding into Node.js API work.
Full Scale, Frontend/Full Stack Developer (2022–present)
Now owns projects end to end: architecture, database setup, deployment, and production debugging, not just the frontend layer.
"There were seasons in my career where I had to start over. New environments, new challenges, unfamiliar situations. Each time I felt unsure. I doubted myself. I wondered if I was actually good enough."
— Jessa Mae, on what growth actually felt like
Real projects, real stack
Eight projects into her time at Full Scale, Jessa Mae has gone from frontend contributor to the person who owns a build end to end, including reaching for Cursor AI on a client project when it made her faster, not because someone told her to.
A community platform for outdoor enthusiasts
Sole full-stack developer: authentication, onboarding, real-time messaging, event organization, Stripe payments, and admin dashboards, built with Next.js, React, and Supabase.
An AI-powered platform generating roofing quotes
As the only frontend developer, she used Cursor AI to interpret specs and move faster, while consulting directly with the client's CTO to stay aligned.
Wayroo, an e-commerce admin portal
Built the admin interface for a direct-selling platform alongside a senior developer and another React developer.
Two mobile apps for a MedSpa client
Her first mobile/Ionic project, with no prior mobile experience: a booking app with real-time geolocation tracking of service providers.
Full Scale put her through a Playwright workshop she didn't ask for
Outside client work, Jessa Mae went through a four-week internal QA Automation Workshop on Playwright, hands-on exercises and all, well outside her core frontend lane. It's a small example of a bigger pattern: Full Scale invests in skills its engineers haven't been asked to use yet.
"The thing that sets me apart is that I'm committed, I'm hardworking, and I'm genuinely, stubbornly willing to grow. Full Scale gave me the space to discover that about myself."
— Jessa Mae, on what sets her apart
"The remote setup meant I could balance my work life with the things that charge me: dancing, singing, time with people I love."
— Jessa Mae, on what the remote setup gave her
"You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to be willing to learn, adapt, and step outside your comfort zone. Because growth often requires you to let go of something, even if it's a place you once called home. But what you gain, you gain yourself. I am living proof of that."
— Jessa Mae, Frontend Developer, Full Scale