About Rem
Profile
Hi! 👋 I’m Rem, a Solutions Architect based in Japan, building for the Web and beyond since 1996.
I’m the author of dress.css and Scrollerful. My experience spans the early Web, from being a webmaster hand-authoring HTML and Perl scripts, saving files to floppy disks with Notepad, to leading engineering teams today, building frontend and backend applications, with some server management.
I also love design, fashion, photography, typography, and colour theory. Strangely enough, my love of print design is what first drew me to web development. I have a few stories to tell. Bits & Bytes is where I occasionally write them down.
You may contact me through social media on the links on the top page turnpike.
Brief Career History
- c. 1986
Got first computer - My parents bought me a Tandy Color Computer 3. Wrote little BASIC programs to play games or help with my homework.
- 1996
Early Webmaster days, built my first website - Had access to a Solaris UNIX server at a university via Telnet. Authored HTML using Pico, and used Pine as my mail client. Soon moved site to GeoCities and edited the site using MS-DOS and Notepad, saving files to floppy disks. Learned Apache, JavaScript, Perl, and PHP.
- 2001
Graduated from Webmaster programme at college - In Dieppe, NB, Canada. I was that annoying student who already knew everything, except ColdFusion, which was part of the curriculum.
- 2002
Started work in call centres - In Moncton, NB, then Ottawa, ON. The kind of job that really helps you build personality. While talking on the phone, I also managed to build tools using JavaScript for me and my colleagues to simplify our work.
- 2004
First job as Web Developer - Worked in a small company with around a dozen employees for various clients. Developed PHP applications and managed Windows and Linux servers.
- 2009
Moved to Japan - Left Ottawa to move to Saitama, Japan. Did some freelance Web development work.
- 2010
First job in Tokyo - Joined a startup founded by two Canadians building a flash marketing e-commerce site similar to Groupon. Then worked at various startups and small companies.
- 2019
Became tech lead - After several years as a Senior Web Developer, I gradually shifted towards technical leadership, helping engineers grow, introducing modern engineering practices, improving developer experience, and coordinating projects across developers, designers, and clients.
- 2025
Joined W3C CSS Working Group - Became a W3C CSS WG member through my company. I’m still finding my footing, but it’s exciting to help shape where CSS is heading.
- 2026
Became Solutions Architect - After years of working across frontend and backend development, application architecture, and engineering leadership, I adopted the title Solutions Architect, which better reflects the breadth of my work.
- Today
Still building - Even now, I’m writing software, mentoring engineers, publishing open source, experimenting with design, photography, and AI, and remaining endlessly curious about where the Web goes next.