2022 Retrospective
What I learned and did in 2022
Ethan Gardner
Full-stack engineer focused on web performance, platforms, and building systems that scale sustainably.
Latest posts
2023 Retrospective
What I learned and did in 2023
2024 Retrospective
What I learned and did in 2024
2025 Retrospective
What I learned and did in 2025
Academic Motivation in Technology
Setting goals to learn new skills in technology
Adapting a Systematic Process from Healthcare for Web Performance Optimization
Formalizing a process can help guide performance efforts and see where support is needed
The Hidden Quality Risks in AI-Agentic Development
Agentic workflows can hide the cost/quality trade-off rather than remove it, making defects harder to trace back to their source.
AI On-ramp for Curious Developers
My Journey with AI and how you can get started
AI Web Readiness as a Curb-Cut
Applying universal design principles to AI web readiness to make the web better for people
Investigating data transfer cost reduction for AWS S3
Trying to find ways to save on data transfer costs was a side quest to my main mission, but it ended up being worthwhile.
Behavioral Growth
A story of behavioral growth and maturity
What I Do When I'm Approached with a Lighthouse Score
Using Lighthouse as a conversation starter and focusing on what matters
Back/Forward Cache Demo and Debugging
Using bfcache to plug holes in your site's conversion funnel.
Creating relevant technical interviews
Improving the most criticized part of tech hiring
Delivering Value with Web Performance
Every organization sees their web presence a bit differently. Understanding this can help you bring value in various scenarios.
Finding Work When the Job Market is Bad
How I worked through difficult conditions to land a new job in a new industry
Greenfield Design System Planning and Design - Part One
Creating a design system from scratch
Greenfield Design System Planning and Design - Part Two
Component inventory and documentation
Improving the LCP of Brightcove Video Embeds
Fixing a slow Largest Contentful Paint for video poster images
What 10 Minutes Revealed About Web Performance and Organizational Priorities
A 10-minute DevTools audit of a top 10k website reveals heavy pages, poor Core Web Vitals, and a preload list that reads like competing team priorities
My Approach to Continuing Education and Skill Development
How I've managed to keep learning over the course of my career and keep my web development skills sharp
An Objective Analysis of AI's Impact on Page Weight
What has happened with page weight with the adoption of AI?
Performance Problems in Old Features
Unraveling past development work is sometimes the opposite of a quick win
A Quick Performance Win
Google Search Console and RUM data was used to identify and troubleshoot the issue
Reflections on the Behavioral Aspects of Web Performance
A reflection after 6 months of performance work
Reflections on Engineering Management
What I learned as a first-time engineering manager
How I Use ShadowDOM with Web Components in Design Systems
Web components and CSS custom properties can create a future-proof design system with maximum flexibility
What I Learned as a Staff+ Engineer
A reflection of my time as a technical leader in the media industry
Supporting Color Contrast in Design Systems
Using Style Dictionary for design token management and integrating contrast info in the design system documentation
The Fundamentals Behind Core Web Vitals
Understanding browser processes help you truly grasp the core web vitals metrics
Web Performance Archetypes: Using Machine Learning to Identify Patterns
Uncovering four performance archetypes that explain how page composition, network conditions, and JavaScript complexity shape real-world web performance.
Performance is UX: What Web Performance Optimization Can Do for UX Researchers
Understand how web performance metrics connect to UX research outcomes.
Reducing Experience Gaps in Web Performance
Looking at the relationship between performance measurements can help inform performance strategy