MJ

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Maya Johnson

Staff EngineeratNetflix
Frontend Architecture & Performance

Obsessed with building delightful user experiences at scale.

As a Staff Engineer at Netflix, I lead frontend architecture decisions that impact how 200+ million users experience streaming content. My expertise lies in performance optimization, design systems, and building scalable React applications. I'm a bootcamp graduate who proved that non-traditional paths can lead to senior technical roles, and I actively advocate for diverse hiring practices in tech.

My Story

I discovered coding through a Tumblr theme customization rabbit hole in high school. What started as wanting to make my blog look cool turned into a career passion. I spent hours tweaking CSS and learning HTML just to get the perfect aesthetic. When I graduated, I didn't have the money for a four-year CS degree, so I worked as a barista for two years while saving for a coding bootcamp. Those 12 weeks changed my life.

After bootcamp, I worked my way up from junior developer at a small agency to staff engineer at Netflix. The journey wasn't linear—I was laid off twice, dealt with imposter syndrome constantly, and had managers who didn't believe in my potential. But I kept building, kept learning, and kept showing up. Now I lead a team that builds tools used by millions, and I make sure to pull up other bootcamp grads along the way. The tech industry told me I didn't belong; I proved them wrong.

my EXPERIENCE

Architected Netflix's next-generation streaming player interface

Reduced initial page load time by 60% through innovative code-splitting strategies

Created internal design system used by 200+ engineers

Founded the Black@ Netflix ERG engineering mentorship track

my SKILLS

ReactTypeScriptPerformance OptimizationDesign SystemsWeb APIs

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