Hi, I'm Maurice Johnson.

Senior Software Engineer

8+ years building scalable Java & Spring Boot systems, currently supporting a health portal used by millions of Veterans. I ship my own products, run a home lab, and make content about all of it.

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01 · About

Who I am

I'm a Senior Software Engineer with 8+ years of experience building scalable Java enterprise solutions. Right now I'm at Oddball, building and maintaining backend services for MyHealtheVet, the VA's primary health portal serving millions of Veterans. Before that I spent seven years at The Hartford, working my way up from Junior Developer to Software Engineer on the Enterprise Risk Management team.

Outside of work I ship my own products, including Offrrd, an AI-powered job search assistant live on the App Store. I self-host a full home lab on Ubuntu Server and Raspberry Pis, and create content as nullpointerbro (160K+ likes on TikTok, 174K+ views on my top YouTube tutorial). I finished my M.S. in Computer Science at CCSU in Fall 2025.

Tech I work with

JavaJavaScriptPythonHTMLCSSSpring BootMavenHibernateReactReact NativeExpoFlutterjQueryBootstrapOracleSQL ServerMySQLDockerOpenShiftAWS ECSApache TomcatJenkinsGitHub ActionsNginxGrafanaSeleniumKarateUbuntu ServerRaspberry Pi OS

Some experience with

TypeScriptPostgreSQLRedisFlywayPrometheusZustandTanStack QueryStripeRevenueCatClaude APICloudflare R2 + Tunnel

02 · Resume

Where I've worked

Download resume (PDF)
Oddball logo

Oddball

McLean, VA

  1. Aug 2025 - Present

    Senior Software Engineer

    • Build and maintain Java/Spring Boot backend services for MyHealtheVet, the VA's primary health portal serving millions of Veterans.
    • Led Java and library upgrades across backend services: dependency compatibility, security patch compliance, long-term maintainability.
    • Instrumented backend services with Grafana metrics, enabling data-driven performance monitoring in production.
    • Expanded unit and integration test suites across critical Veteran-facing workflows in a federally regulated codebase.
The Hartford logo

The Hartford

Hartford, CT

  1. Jun 2022 - Aug 2025

    Software Engineer, Enterprise Risk Management

    • Designed backend services in Java/Spring Boot supporting enterprise risk models, improving system throughput by 30%.
    • Refactored monolithic logic into microservices, cutting deployment risk and improving feature delivery speed by 25%.
    • Automated data refreshes, usage stats, and alerting with Python, eliminating 10+ hours/week of manual monitoring and helping reduce MTTR by 40%.

  2. Sep 2019 - May 2022

    Associate Software Engineer, Enterprise Risk Management

    • Built backend microservices in Java/Spring Boot powering risk management workflows for critical internal systems.
    • Contributed frontend work in React, JavaScript, and jQuery for internal dashboards; wrote JUnit and Selenium test suites.
    • Shipped in a high-velocity DevOps workflow with CI/CD across GitHub, Jenkins, uDeploy, and OpenShift.

  3. Feb 2018 - Aug 2019

    Junior Developer, Enterprise Publishing Management

    • Delivered backend Java modules for internal publishing tools supporting Personal and Commercial Lines.
    • Maintained xPression xDesign policy document templates, accelerating document generation.
    • Coordinated with QA, Performance Testing, and Production Support to triage issues and drive down defect resolution time.
HAI Group logo

HAI Group

Cheshire, CT

  1. May 2016 - Aug 2016

    Information Technology Intern

    • Managed end-user support requests for the Help Desk, resolving desktop and printer issues to improve user productivity.
    • Administered users and resources on Windows Server 2012 with Active Directory and Group Policy.
    • Used Dell KACE for software distribution, inventory, and patching, ensuring consistent updates and minimal downtime.
    • Configured and installed hardware and software for office relocations, supporting seamless transitions for employees.

Education

Fall 2025

M.S., Computer Information Tech - Computer Science

Central Connecticut State University

Fall 2017

B.S., Computer Science

Eastern Connecticut State University

03 · Projects

Things I've built

Offrrd

AI-powered job search assistant, live on the web and the iOS App Store. Find matching jobs, generate AI-tailored resumes and cover letters, and track every application.

Java 21Spring BootPostgreSQLRedisClaude AIReact NativeExpoStripe
Case study →

Monster Tag

Kids' peek-a-scare timing game for ages 6-12: collect monsters, build loadouts, and pull off the perfect scare. React Native + Expo with a server-authoritative Spring Boot backend.

React NativeExpoTypeScriptJava 21Spring BootPostgreSQLRedis
Case study →

brainzzy.com

Cross-platform trivia game with a Flutter front-end, Spring Boot API, and MySQL, self-hosted end to end.

FlutterJavaSpring BootMySQL
Case study →

nullpointerbro.com

The home base for my content brand: tutorials, guides, home lab projects, tech reviews, and shop-my-setup.

HTMLCSSJavaScriptSelf-hosted
Case study →

This Website

The site you're looking at: a modern developer portfolio built with Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and Framer Motion.

Next.jsTypeScriptTailwind CSSFramer Motion
Case study →

Eazyweather

Full-stack weather application built with Java, Spring Boot, Thymeleaf, Bootstrap, and jQuery.

JavaSpring BootThymeleafBootstrapjQuery
Case study →

04 · Home Lab

Infrastructure I run myself

Six nodes, 50+ containerized services, and real production workloads: Offrrd's backend, the Monster Tag API, and nullpointerbro.com all serve the public from this rack. Everything is monitored in Grafana, and it's the subject of most of my content.

6

servers & Pis

52

services running

23ms

avg response time

ubuntu-server-public

Production node where my public-facing apps are hosted, behind Nginx and hardened with CrowdSec and Cloudflare Tunnel

ubuntu-server-home

Internal services: Home Assistant, Grafana, Jenkins, Gitea, and the smart home stack

ubuntu-media-server

Jellyfin media stack with the full *arr suite (Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Bazarr, Jellyseerr)

garage-pi

Relay-wired Raspberry Pi Zero exposing my garage door as a secure API

matrix-pi

Drives an RGB LED sports scoreboard via a custom Sportsmatrix UI

og-pi

The Pi that started it all: network utilities and monitoring agents

Running in the lab

Observability

GrafanaPrometheusUptime KumaBeszelcAdvisorGoAccessMetabase

Network & Security

Nginx Proxy ManagerWireGuardAdGuard HomeCrowdSecCloudflare Tunnel

DevOps

JenkinsGiteaNexusPortainerCode-server

Smart Home

Home AssistantZigbee2MQTTZ-Wave JS UIMQTT Explorergo2rtc

Media & Files

JellyfinSonarrRadarrProwlarrJellyseerrNextcloud

AI & Production Apps

Open WebUIOffrrd API + Postgres + RedisMonster Tag APInullpointerbro.com

What it's taught me

  • Running real production apps from my own rack. DNS, SSL, reverse proxying, intrusion prevention (CrowdSec), and uptime are my problem, and I like it that way.
  • A full self-hosted DevOps loop: code in Gitea, builds in Jenkins, artifacts in Nexus, mirroring the enterprise CI/CD stacks I've worked in professionally.
  • Observability as a habit: Grafana + Prometheus dashboards across every node and container, with Uptime Kuma and Beszel for alerting, the same tooling I use at work.

05 · Content

I also make videos

I create tutorials, home lab builds, and self-hosting content as nullpointerbro, teaching the same stack I use professionally.

160K+

TikTok likes

9.5K

TikTok followers

174K+

views, top YouTube tutorial

2K+

YouTube subscribers

@nullpointerbro on YouTube @nullpointerbro on TikTok nullpointerbro.com

Create your FIRST CRUD RESTful API

Java, MySQL, Spring Boot, JPA & Maven. My most-watched tutorial.

YouTube174K views

Java Tutorial Series

From Hello World to methods, classes, and objects. A five-part beginner series.

YouTube5 episodes

Home lab shorts as @nullpointerbro

Home lab builds, self-hosting guides, and shop-my-setup, short-form.

TikTok160K+ likes

06 · Contact

Get in touch

Questions about something I've built, ideas worth building, or just want to talk shop about home labs? My inbox is open.

maurice.johnson9911@gmail.com