Oil for the Journey
I built a calm publishing workflow with draft states, secure admin controls, and readability-led UI for long-form content.
Next.jsSupabaseDrafts
⚡Software Engineer · Full Stack and Mobile
Joshua HilarionBuilding modern products with clear engineering ownership and smooth, intentional experiences.
I build full stack web and mobile products that solve practical workflow problems. I usually own delivery end to end: schema and API design, responsive UI, integration, testing, and deployment. Recent work includes Oil for the Journey, my personal Reliability Layer API, the Reliability Project with my STABL team, Application Command Centre, and Side Hustle Matcher.
Full stack web · mobile
API design · data modelling · testing
Next.js · Spring Boot · React Native
Featured Project
Oil for the Journey
Reflective writing platform
I designed and built the draft-to-publish workflow, authentication boundaries, and readability-first UI for calm long-form publishing.
Next.js · SupabaseDrafts · AdminReadability first
Featured projectScroll to section↧
Featured Project
Oil for the Journey
Oil for the Journey solves a real product gap: most writing tools optimise for speed and attention, not reflective long-form work. I built this to support calm drafting, intentional publishing, and a cleaner reading experience.
I owned architecture and delivery across the stack: Supabase auth, draft/publish data flow, admin-only controls, responsive layout, and deployment hardening. It taught me how strong UX depends on good engineering decisions behind the scenes.
Tech stack & responsibilities
Platform
- Next.js App Router
- TypeScript codebase
- Tailwind styling
Auth and data
- Supabase authentication
- Drafts and publishing
- Admin access controls
UX focus
- Readability first layout
- Paper style content cards
- Mobile friendly spacing
Deployment
- Vercel deployment
- Environment variables
- Repeatable releases
Journey
Through the vortex: how I got here
A quick tour from my first tiny experiments during lockdown to full stack products and a mobile app that shaped how I think as an engineer.
2020 · Lockdown
First lines of code
Started exploring Python and small scripts. Debugging went from frustrating to strangely satisfying, and I realised I wanted to build real things, not just follow tutorials.
PythonFoundationsDebugging
Early project · Streamlit
Church Directory (Prototype)
Built a simple Streamlit app to list church members. It was my first attempt at replacing messy spreadsheets with something cleaner and more useful.
PythonStreamlitReal problem
Early project · Streamlit
Accountability Tracker
A lightweight tracker for habits and check-ins. Helped me think about data, people, and encouragement rather than just UI on its own.
PythonData & forms
Training arc
Makers Academy
An intensive bootcamp where I learned to work like an engineer. I practised TDD, pair programming, Agile, and building full stack apps with a team and real workflows.
TDDPair programmingAgile
Capstone · Makers
Makers BnB Project
Final project at Makers: an Airbnb style booking platform with authentication, listings, and booking flows. Built test first in a cross functional team.
Full stack webAuth and bookingsTeam project
Team reliability · STABL
Reliability Project (STABL)
Reliability work where my team STABL improved a fragile HOSP backend without changing app code. We used ALB access logs and Athena to find failing routes, then allow listed valid paths and returned 404 for everything else.
STABLALBAthena
Real client style app
VBCI Church Directory
Evolved the original Streamlit idea into a proper full stack app with Spring Boot, React, and Tailwind. Branded around VBCI and built to be genuinely useful.
Spring BootReactTailwind
Mobile UX
SoulAnchor App
A React Native app for spiritual encouragement, using animated gradients, swipeable cards, and an emotion based content engine focused on how people actually feel.
React NativeAnimationsProduct thinking
Featured project
Oil for the Journey
Built a reflective writing platform with Next.js and Supabase, focused on calm reading, private drafts, and intentional publishing.
Next.jsSupabaseFull stack web
Product launch
Side Hustle Matcher
Built and shipped a practical quiz product that maps role family, tasks, tools, and constraints into realistic side-hustle recommendations with clear commercial next steps.
Next.jsScoring engineProduct strategy
Premium SaaS build
Application Command Centre
Designed and delivered a premium job application CRM with pipeline management, reminders, templates, analytics, and secure multi-user data controls using Supabase RLS.
Next.jsSupabaseCRM
Personal platform build
Reliability Layer API
Built a backend-focused gateway that standardises timeouts, bounded retries, circuit breaking, caching, rate limiting, and observability for upstream API calls. It is designed to be tested through behaviour, metrics, and failure handling rather than a glossy UI.
FastAPIDockerPrometheus
Projects
Selected work
Product-led builds with clear ownership: problem framing, data modelling, API and UI delivery, testing, and production-minded iteration.
Side Hustle Matcher
I built a weighted scoring engine with friction penalties that ranks viable side-income paths and explains each recommendation with practical next steps.
Next.jsTypeScriptRecommendation Engine
Application Command Centre
I designed and shipped a premium job CRM with a clear data model, secure access boundaries, and one workflow for pipeline, reminders, and follow-up.
Next.jsSupabaseCRM
Reliability Layer API
I built a backend reliability gateway that centralises retries, timeouts, circuit breaking, caching, and observability for upstream APIs.
FastAPIDockerPrometheus
Reliability Project (STABL)
In STABL, I helped push reliability to 99.99% by using ALB/Athena evidence and allow-listing valid routes without fake success metrics.
STABLALB rules99.99%
Makers BnB Project
In a one-week team build, I implemented key backend routes, booking availability checks, and session-based authentication for listings and requests.
Full stackBookingsTDD
VBCI Church Directory
I rebuilt a spreadsheet workflow into a full-stack directory, owning Spring Boot endpoints, data model, and typed React UI integration.
Spring BootReactCRUD + Search
SoulAnchor App
I designed and implemented an emotion-based mobile experience with structured content, saved anchors, and calming interactions.
React NativeAnimationsEmotions Engine
Accountability Tracker
I built a data-focused Streamlit dashboard to track habits and weekly trends, making personal progress easy to review quickly.
PythonStreamlitData visualisation
Engineering depth snapshot
Serious engineer moment: reliability under hard constraints
In the STABL reliability project, we had to improve availability on a fragile system without editing application code, scaling the service, or faking success responses. I used ALB log analysis in Athena to isolate failure paths and helped implement an allow-listed routing strategy that blocked invalid traffic early.
Problem
A single fragile instance was receiving noisy traffic and producing real 500 failures.
Constraints
No app code changes, no autoscaling, and no fake 200 responses.
Decision & trade-off
Allow-list valid routes and return fixed 404 for unknown paths, accepting stricter edge behaviour for safer backend protection.
Outcome
STABL reached 99.99% success with reliability improvements that reflected real system health.
Fun Lab
TARDIS Runner mini game
A quick break section with a lightweight TARDIS-through-space game and a local leaderboard. It is fast, mobile-friendly, and designed for a bit of fun between project reviews.
Skills & Tech
How I build
Three clear tiers so recruiters can place me quickly: what I am strongest in now, what I can contribute with immediately, and what I am actively developing.
Strong in now
Technologies I can be hired to use immediately.
TypeScriptNode.jsNext.jsReactSpring BootSQL / PostgreSQLREST API designTailwind CSS
Can work with
Technologies where I contribute well and keep strengthening.
React NativeJavaPythonExpressSupabasePostmanGit / GitHub
Learning now
Platform engineering areas I am actively building stronger depth in.
DockerAWS fundamentalsCI/CD workflowsPlatform reliability patternsMonitoring and observability
Practices
How I write and organise code.
TDDPair programmingAgile workflowREST API designCode reviews
Soft Skills
The human side of engineering.
- Clear and confident communicator.
- Strong problem solving mindset.
- Collaborative and team focused.
- Growth focused and adaptable.
About Me
My journey into tech
How I moved from curiosity to shipping reliable, user-facing products with clear engineering ownership.
I started coding during lockdown and quickly got drawn to the problem-solving side of engineering. Debugging went from frustrating to genuinely satisfying once I learned how to break problems down systematically.
Joining Makers Academy gave me the engineering discipline to turn that interest into delivery: TDD, pair programming, version control, and building production-style workflows as a team.
Since then, I've shipped full stack and mobile projects where I regularly own schema/API decisions, integration, and UX quality from first build to deployment.
I care most about building products that are useful, reliable, and maintainable, not just visually polished.
Outside of coding, I draw inspiration from anime, modern techwear, and Doctor Who. The colours, the energy, the motion. That’s why this portfolio has lightning accents and vortex style gradients.
I’m driven by growth. Whether it’s learning platform tooling, refactoring for clarity, or improving test coverage, I treat each project as a chance to raise my engineering standard.
My long term goal: become an engineer who ships meaningful products, contributes strongly in collaborative teams, and keeps compounding technical depth.
Contact
Let's build something together
Actively seeking junior software engineer, full stack, and platform-focused roles in London or hybrid environments, with openness to UK remote teams. If you need an engineer who can own features and ship cleanly, I'd love to connect.
Or reach me directly at joshuahilarion@hotmail.com
Built with Next.js & Tailwind CSS · Inspired by lightning, time vortices, and stories that move people.