Vania Nettleford

Better Code

Code isn't just syntax — it's communication.

I'm Vania Nettleford, a Staff Engineer focused on building maintainable systems and improving code quality at scale.

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Field notes

Latest writing

  1. 01
    Look at your website the way a stranger would

    Your website gets about 10 seconds. That’s how long a visitor gives you before deciding…

  2. 02
    What if the boring parts of running your business just… handled themselves?

    I used to end every week with a pile of things I hadn’t gotten to.…

  3. 03
    The Engineering Lesson I Learned From Fixing a “Simple” Table

    I thought I was fixing a small accessibility issue. We had tables rendering with only…

  4. 04
    Engineering Lab: A Small CSS Change That Simplified My Layouts

    During a recent code review, a colleague suggested using gap instead of individual margins inside…

  5. 05
    When “Correct UI” Isn’t the Best UX: Rethinking a Login Button

    In theory, UI should always reflect the correct state. In practice, that’s not always the…

Selected work

Proof, not promises.

A couple of things I've built and what came of them.

Client · Nonprofit

Sahel Sage

I rebuilt the WordPress site for a girls' education nonprofit in Burkina Faso. It's now their main donation channel — all traffic and brand promotion runs through it.

Personal project

Find My Next Investment

A rental-property calculator I built to replace my own deal-analysis spreadsheet. It worked so well the spreadsheet became obsolete — I still sell it on Etsy, the tool is free.

See the case studies →

Engineering lab

Don't just read the refactor — play with it.

Enter the lab
Spacing, reconsidered
.stack {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  gap: 1.5rem;
}

The layout owns its spacing.

Out of office

I also shoot.

A street artist crouching over a grid of national flags drawn in colorful chalk on a paved plaza
Photography: Chalk Flag Image
Photography: Bison Image
An American bison standing in tall golden grass, head lowered, with rolling hills behind

The print shop

Take this one home.

He stared me down, then posed. Rude not to share him.

High-res JPEG · Personal license — yours to keep

25

Continue to Etsy

The human bit

About Vania

I'm a staff engineer who loves making complicated things feel simple. I help small business owners untangle the everyday pileup — receipts, tasks, and email triage — and I take on a small number of consulting projects each quarter, from codebase health audits and refactoring sprints to custom website builds. It's the same systems thinking, just pointed at a different kind of problem. I also write about financial independence and living fully now at firecanbefun.com.