Jill: 16 years of code, one open mind
Jill is a Senior Full Stack Developer on Full Scale's Philippines team, more than 7 years into her tenure there and 16 years into a career that started testing scanners at Lexmark. In her own words: the mid-pandemic pivot that rebuilt her whole stack, the promotion she had to earn twice over, and the four dogs waiting for her after work.
From scanner test scripts to insurance platforms
Jill graduated from the University of Cebu with a degree in Computer Engineering in 2010 and has held a diverse set of roles since, from automation test engineer to full-stack web developer.
Lexmark, Software Test Engineer (2010–2011)
Started her career building a Linux scanner-testing automation tool, first in bash, then rewritten in Python as the tooling matured.
Tieto Global Oy, Nokia project (2012–2015)
Built CLI tools using the VMWare vSphere API and Ruby for a 15+ person computing-platform team, extracted a reusable gem from that work, and kept it at 100% RSpec test coverage.
Full Scale, Rails to Full Stack (2018–present)
Joined as a back-end Ruby on Rails developer on an insurance technology platform, then rebuilt her own skill set into a full-stack role as the client's needs changed.
"When the pandemic caused a client to discontinue Full Scale services, I embraced the challenge of transitioning to a Node.js developer role with an open mind and heart. I learned Node.js on the fly."
— Jill, on rebuilding her stack mid-career
Every pivot, self-taught
Jill's proudest achievement came about a year before this video: a promotion from Software Engineer 1 to 2, earned by demonstrating a complex implementation involving multiple file downloads from a different service, then passing both technical and management panel interviews.
Trained her own replacement, twice over
When her Nokia project moved to India, Jill ran the knowledge transfer herself and trained two junior developers to full independence in under three months.
Rebuilt her stack mid-pandemic
When a client paused Full Scale's services, she moved from Ruby on Rails to Node.js, learning it on the fly, then expanded into AWS SNS, SQS, and Terraform.
Automated a manual insurance workflow
Built a background worker that auto-processes policy applications arriving from multiple third-party insurance platforms, and covered it with Capybara integration tests wired into CircleCI and Sauce Labs.
"Working from home allows me to reclaim the time I spent commuting, which I can now dedicate to more meaningful activities like running, yoga, and workouts. I'm a firm mom with four dogs, so helping the dog rescue center really resonates with me."
— Jill, on what remote work gave back to her
Asked to sum up her Full Scale journey in five words, Jill said: