Utonomy

The role

At Utonomy I work as a full-stack developer on Upods: personal online data stores that hand privacy back to the user. Instead of being tracked across the web by invasive big-tech technologies, people store anonymized data in their own Upod, which companies can use with consent instead of surveilling them directly.

What I did

• Full-stack feature work across a React, TypeScript and CSS front end and a Prisma/PostgreSQL/Redis back end, with Better Auth handling authentication
• Built a web extension with WXT that ships to Chrome, Firefox (Desktop & Mobile), Edge (Desktop & Mobile) and Safari
• The extension automatically handles cookie banners according to the preferences stored in a user's Upod, so consent decisions get made once instead of on every site
• Designed and worked with Linked Data/Solid schemas: custom vocabularies, existing standards, and SHACL shapes to keep the data stored in Upods valid
• Communicated directly with external clients and partners on integrating with our product: demos, integration support and schema/API design discussions

What it taught me

Utonomy is a small startup, which means responsibility doesn't stay in one lane. I've learned to take ownership across constantly shifting contexts, from backend architecture to Linked Data design to talking directly with partners, and see each one through.