Engineering + Cinematic Storytelling

Software Engineer & Web Designer. Video Producer & Photographer. I bridge product-grade engineering with cinematic craft.

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I build things that look good and work beautifully.

I’m Alden Gillespy — a full-stack engineer and creative storyteller. I bridge software development and visual art through thoughtful systems, cinematic visuals, and intentional UX.

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Featured Work

Ancestry DNA Kit Activation

React-based consumer activation flow handling millions of daily users.

engineering

Timeshare Sales & Rentals Platform

Full PHP + MySQL real-time listing engine for vacation ownership.

engineering

SHADOWCATpictures

Cinematic YouTube channel of choreographed water performances.

cinematic

Portfolio Website

Next.js + TailwindCSS platform uniting engineering and cinematic craft.

hybrid

Latest Articles

February 2020

Say Hello to Shadowcat Pictures, my video channel on YouTube!

Let me introduce you to my video media company, Shadowcat Pictures. Over the past two years, I have developed rich video content for distribution on YouTube. Today, I announce my project to you all.

October 2018

What killed Toys “R” Us? It wasn’t Amazon

Amazon kills. Its sale-prediction technology is the queen, its logistics infrastructure the king. To their competitors, they are not merciful. But, strong as they are, this isn’t another death-by-Bezos.

March 2018

How I use Chrome’s Lighthouse to improve site performance

The more effort we put toward fixing a bug, three others appear. This week, as I was improving my site’s performance, Google’s Lighthouse became my new best friend.

March 2018

Why you need React for your site’s UI: contextual awareness

To provide a truly context-driven experience, we need a context-driven interface. React delivers that in spades. But what are the costs? And how do we make the case for it?

November 2017

Why TDD? It takes the guesswork out of debugging

Hate debugging your code? Then do yourself a favor: test your code before you write it. You won’t have to guess anymore, if you take the test-driven approach.

November 2017

A new reason why you should ditch email

Every time you open a piece of email, you may inadvertently, quietly, very accurately tell the sender a lot about you.

October 2017

Does location privacy exist anymore?

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether warrantless seizure of a person’s cell network usage records violates the Constitution. What’s really at stake? Hasn’t the Constitution and court already addressed the issue?

October 2017

What creates net neutrality — market forces or the FCC?

You know the reasons why net neutrality is a good thing — but do you know how in(significant) the FCC’s rules have been? Do you understand the real threat?

August 2017

Begin using OpenType Variable Fonts! Full support in Safari 11

Resurrected from the era of the Font Wars, the Variable Fonts spec now enjoys full support from Apple devices in Safari 11, and brings irresistible improvements over the predecessors.v

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Interested in working together or have a question? Send me a note and I’ll respond soon.

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