Kern Jackson

Kern Jackson

Mobile Developer - Apple Platforms
Spokane, WA · Kerntronics LLC · hello@kerntronics.com

I am a product-focused Apple platforms developer with a proven track record of delivering apps that address complex real-world problems.

I have significant experience in all stages of the software development lifecycle from feature discovery, architecture, defining requirements, scoping projects, design iterations, development, and delivery.

Connect with me on social media!

Experience

June 2021 - Present

Senior iOS Developer

Kerntronics LLC
  • Collaborate with clients such as Envoy and GeoSafe to deliver innovative solutions and push out new features
  • Successfully resolve infrastructure issues, track down flaky tests, and significantly speed up testing suites
  • Investigate and develop solutions for difficult production bugs impacting important customers and the bottom line
January 2014 - June 2021

Mobile Developer

American Fidelity
  • Played a key role in designing and writing iOS and Android apps, gradually transitioning from Objective-C and Java to Swift (1 to 5) and Kotlin
  • Member of the corporate rebranding team and initiative
  • Owned the CI/CD process for iOS and Android, ensuring quality and velocity with tools such as XCTest, fastlane, SwiftLint, Danger, Azure, and Github Actions
  • Achieved substantial growth in app ratings and user base
  • Regularly collaborated with designers regarding comps, user studies, design systems, and rapid prototypes
  • Designed custom controls and components for iOS and Android
  • Designed and developed many features such as form builders, provider lookup using Google and Apple Maps, and receipt OCR and autocomplete with Vision
  • Member of the DevOps initiative team

Education

University of Central Oklahoma

Bachelor of Computer Science
  • Coursework included designing and developing a non-trivial iOS app for a client
  • Released an iOS game that achieved some success on the App Store

Skills

Programming Languages & Tools
Technical Knowledge
  • Expert in Human Interface Guidelines, Xcode, Swift, SwiftUI, Objective-C, and UIKit, Cocoa Touch, Instruments, LLDB, CocoaPods, Swift Packages, git, Accessibility, XCTest, and user testing
  • Experience with various frameworks and tools including Java, Kotlin, JetPack Compose, .NET, RoR, python, *sql, elixir, phoenix, Blender, Material Design
  • Familiarity with CI/CD processes and tools such as fastlane, Azure, Github Actions

Transferable Skills & Personality Traits
  • Experience working across teams and with customers
  • Effective written and verbal communication
  • Presentation Skills
  • Curious and willing to learn
  • Ethical and honest
  • Willing to share credit on accomplishments with teammates

About

I am a product-focused Apple platforms developer with a proven track record of delivering apps that address complex real-world problems. I have designed and built dynamic custom user interfaces that adhere to Human Interface Guidelines. I have significant experience in all stages of the software development lifecycle from feature discovery, architecture, defining requirements, scoping projects, design iterations, development, and delivery.

As a marathoner and triathlete, I bring the discipline and consistency learned in endurance sports to my work. I am motivated by exploring new territory, whether it's learning a new framework, pattern, language, or tackling new challenges in software development.

Media

YouTube Content

Building a SwiftUI app Step-by-Step

In this project, I progressively built a small SwiftUI app that displays the NASA photo of the day. Each video broke down the app into the smallest piece of work that I could imagine at the time. There are 45 videos in this series.

code and image of app
Kern giving a talk
Past Presentations

CocoaHeads OKC Presentations

This is a playlist of talks I gave at CocoaHeads OKC in partnership with Techlahoma. The topics cover the basics of SwiftUI, Apple Watch development, and Augmented Reality.

Community Involvement

  • spokaneOS founder & organizer
  • Longtime CocoaHeads OKC co-organizer
  • Gave many presentations, some of which can be found on Techlahoma’s YouTube
  • Created an educational YouTube series building a SwiftUI app from scratch and without 3rd party libraries

Need App Development Services?

Do you need help with your app or want to build something together?

Shoot me an email and let's get the conversation started!

kernjackson@gmail.com

Or connect with me on social media!