torchCSS
A utility-first CSS framework that somehow manages to be smaller than Tailwind while supporting more features. 4.2KB gzipped. The fake internet loves it.
View project →The person behind the keyboard
Background
Tim grew up in Portland, Oregon, taught himself HTML at age 12 using a library copy of Teach Yourself Web Design in 21 Days, and never really stopped. He studied Computer Science at Oregon State University (B.S., 2009) and completed a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon (2011).
Philosophy
Tim believes the web's greatest strength is its radical accessibility — the idea that anyone with a browser can reach anything. He builds with that ethos in mind: performance first, accessibility always, JavaScript only when it genuinely earns its place on the page.
When Not Coding
You'll find Tim rock climbing at Smith Rock, arguing about mechanical keyboards on Reddit, roasting single-origin coffee beans in his garage, or losing badly at chess against his eight-year-old daughter.
Credentials
- B.S. Computer Science — Oregon State, 2009
- M.S. Human-Computer Interaction — CMU, 2011
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Pro)
- Google Developer Expert, Web Technologies
- W3C Invited Expert — CSS Working Group
What Tim's good at
React & Next.js
Deep expertise in the React ecosystem, server components, RSC patterns, and Next.js App Router architecture.
Rust & WebAssembly
Writing performance-critical modules in Rust and compiling them to WASM for blazing-fast in-browser computation.
CSS & Design Systems
Architect of multiple cross-platform design systems. Loves custom properties, container queries, and cascade layers.
PostgreSQL & Redis
Query optimization, schema design, and caching strategies that make DBAs cry tears of joy.
AWS & Cloudflare
Serverless architectures, edge computing, Lambda@Edge, Cloudflare Workers, and D1 databases.
Accessibility
WCAG AAA auditor. Screen reader testing, ARIA patterns, focus management, and color contrast obsessive.
Proficiency
Work history
2021 — Present
Principal Engineer
Fictive Systems, Inc. — Remote
Leading a distributed team of 14 engineers across three time zones. Architected a complete platform rewrite from a monolithic PHP application to a Rust API layer with a Next.js front-end, reducing p95 response times by 87% and cutting hosting costs by $42k/month.
2017 — 2021
Senior Front-End Engineer
Pretend Digital Agency — Portland, OR
Technical lead on 30+ client projects ranging from e-commerce platforms to government accessibility audits. Established the agency's design system, reducing new project setup time from 3 weeks to 2 days and achieving WCAG AA compliance across the entire client portfolio.
2014 — 2017
Full-Stack Developer
Imaginary Startup Co. — San Francisco, CA
Early employee (#4) at a SaaS startup. Wore approximately every hat that exists: built the marketing site, the onboarding flow, the admin dashboard, the REST API, and once fixed the office printer. Company was acquired by a larger fictional company in 2017.
2011 — 2014
Junior Developer
Made-Up Media Group — Seattle, WA
First professional role post-grad. Maintained a WordPress multisite network serving 18 regional news outlets, wrote a lot of jQuery, learned what "technical debt" truly means, and survived a full IE6 support requirement.
Things Tim (allegedly) built
recall.dev
A spaced-repetition learning app for developers. Fake-used by 40,000 fictional developers to memorize regex patterns and CSS grid syntax.
View project →packwatch
A CLI tool that monitors your npm bundle size over time, yells at you when it grows too much, and generates beautiful (fake) historical charts.
View project →Trailhead Maps
An offline-first PWA for hiking trail navigation, built with MapLibre GL and a custom Rust tile server. Works where there's no signal — which is the whole point.
View project →Let's work together
Tim is currently open to senior/principal roles and interesting contract work. He will not build your NFT platform. He has been asked.
Say hello →