Kensio Software Freelance Development Blog | Kensio Software

The setup I use for keeping documentation websites up to date with new releases for all of my open source packages, using GitHub Actions and AWS.

The previous post was about making it easy to set up test state inside each test case, to prevent the complexity of the whole test suite growing out of control.

As far as I can tell, the test suites in most if not at all software projects with a team working on them gradually descend into “fixture hell”.

Version v0.42.0 of the @kensio/yulin npm package includes a simulated Secrets Manager for local development and isolated testing, with secret values encrypted through simulated KMS.

Version v0.38.0 of the @kensio/yulin package adds a simulated KMS service for local development and isolated testing.

The @kensio/colophon package generates the social meta images for the posts of a static website, driven by each post’s own frontmatter.

Version v0.34.2 of the @kensio/yulin package adds a simulated Lambda service for local development and isolated testing.

Version v0.34.2 of the @kensio/yulin package adds a simulated IAM service for local development and isolated testing.

How to use the Yulin local AWS simulator for Node.js to simulate website hosting, including Route53, S3, CloudFront and CloudFront Functions, provisioned via simulated CloudFormation.

Version v0.24.0 of the @kensio/yulin npm package adds a simulated Route53 service for local development and isolated testing.

As of v1.27.0 the @kensio/smartass npm package now exports ESLint config rules to encourage use of a more specific assertion when one is available.

Version 0.18.0 of the @kensio/yulin package adds simulated CloudFormation.

Version 0.16.0 of the @kensio/yulin package adds ESLint config and typing support for CloudFront Functions JS2 syntax.

Version v1.15.0 of the @kensio/smartass package improves type refinement for assertion functions and composable matchers.

Version v1.10.0 of the @kensio/smartass package introduces composable type narrowing matchers.

The @kensio/smartass package provides TypeScript-first test assertion functions with precise type narrowing.

The @kensio/yulin package is an AWS simulator for Node.js TypeScript applications.

The @kensio/part-factory package provides a minimalist object factory pattern with strong TypeScript typing.

I passed the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional exam (DOP-C02) on 23rd April 2023 with a score of 862/1000.

In June 2025 I joined Fanalysis as a Staff Software Engineer.

I worked with HOA Mailers on their AWS infrastructure, back-end systems and front-end software.

I provided software engineering services to ElseWhen on a contract basis.

I provided software engineering services to Omnipresent via YLD, on a contract basis.

I provided software engineering services to KrakenFlex on a contract basis.

I passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam (SAP-C02) on 23rd April 2023 with a score of 836/1000.

I passed the AWS Certified Developer Associate exam (DVA-C02) on 29th March 2023 with a score of 885/1000.

I provided software engineering services to Hyperobjekt on a contract basis, working in TypeScript on Google Cloud Platform.

After manually setting up several static sites with AWS, Hugo and GitHub Actions, I got round to putting together CloudFormation configuration to do it automatically.

I provided software engineering services to X2X Media on a contract basis.

During my career as a software engineer so far, I’ve tended to err on the side of caution when writing tests, taking the view that “more is more”.

I’ve been helping to build Doozy’s product as a freelance Software Engineer, using GCP, Firebase, TypeScript and serverless technology.

I’ve been providing software engineering services to Bulb via YLD, using Kubernetes, Terraform, GCP, TypeScript, Node.js, Python, MySQL, PostgreSQL and other technologies.

There was an interesting Twitter thread yesterday about the tradeoffs of going serverless.

Moment Wall Art needed a fast and efficient e-commerce search solution for their online sales system.

Moment Wall Art sells art pieces on its custom e-commerce website as well as via Etsy.

Hacking Chinese is a Mandarin language education website.

As well as its bespoke e-commerce software, Pop Robin Cards also sells its 3D pop up cards via Etsy.

I developed a customised e-commerce system for Moment Wall Art.

I developed a custom education website for Chinese Boost.

I developed a tailor-made, custom e-commerce system for Pop Robin Cards.

I provided conversion of a WordPress website into a fast and cost-efficient static website for East Asia Student.

Entities Entity modelling, including entity relations.

I was Principal Software Engineer at Freetrade, primarily working on the platform but also some client-side work.

I was a back-end Software Engineer at uMed in 2018.

From 2014 to 2018 I worked at LoveCrafts, first on the e-commerce platform and then on the Social API team.

I was the sole developer on China Checkup from 2013 to 2014, working on the front end, the back end and the server.