About me

Hello, I'm Tanner — a Senior Software Engineer based in Greenville, NC. I build things for the web, write and play music, and can usually be found running, traveling, or spending time with my family.

My domain name, j12es.com, is a shortened version of my name (Joel Tanner Jones) in the same style as internationalization (i18n) or Kubernetes (K8s). As you may be able to guess, j13s was taken so I had to settle for j12es. I still like it.

What I Do

I’ve been writing code for over 20 years, and for the past decade-plus my work has centered on Ruby on Rails. I’m currently a Senior Software Engineer at Azenta Life Sciences, where I work on a large-scale Rails application.

Before that, I spent years as a Technology Specialist at East Carolina University, where I designed and built the full-stack application powering the College STAR Grant — handling everything from conference management to content delivery to user authentication. It’s the kind of project you grow with over time, and I’m proud of what it became.

I care a lot about code quality. I’ve rewritten broken test suites, migrated codebases to Docker-based development environments, and championed test-driven methodologies throughout my career.

On the credentials side, I hold AWS Cloud Practitioner and AWS AI Practitioner certifications, and I’m comfortable across the stack: Ruby, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, React, Docker, Nginx, and more.

Outside of Work

Music is a big part of my life. I write and perform my own music. Lately, I’ve been learning drums and recording some of my original songs.

I also love to run. I recently completed my first marathon. It was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, but through the process, I proved to myself that I am capable of doing difficult things. I can’t wait to run my next one!

And when I’m not doing either of those, I’m probably tinkering with some piece of electronics. My son and I recently got FPV drones and I’m loving building and fixing them when they crash.

Background

I studied Art with a focus on Animation and Interactive Design at East Carolina University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. That foundation in design and visual thinking still influences how I approach building interfaces and user experiences today.

Get in Touch

I’m always happy to connect — whether it’s about a project, a collaboration, or just to talk shop.