JASON PAUL CARTAGENA

I didn't start in code. I started in spreadsheets, Discord servers, and no-code canvases, learning how software actually gets used by building it for real people, under real deadlines.

In late 2025 I started directing Claude Code through a spec-first, AI-assisted workflow. I write the spec, then guide the build end to end: scaffolding, implementation, testing, and deployment, reviewing every line for correctness and design fidelity instead of typing each one myself. It's a faster way to build without giving up the judgment a human brings to the table.

Four-plus years of remote-first operations work sits underneath all of it: community management, systems administration, compliance audits. It taught me to work asynchronously, document clearly, and ship without hand-holding. That's the throughline: understand what a system actually needs to do, then build it well and explain it clearly to the people who'll use it.