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Julia Cruz
Julia Cruz

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🕳️ Portfolio — The Upside Down of My Thinking.

New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Submission

This is a submission for the New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Presented by Google AI

About Me

I don’t like being boxed into a single role. My path into tech started through psychology and design, driven by curiosity and a constant need to understand how things work. From graphic design to UX/UI and eventually web development, each step pushed me deeper into the IT world. Today, I work with low-code tools in a team that values exploration and experimentation—naturally leading me to this challenge.

Portfolio

This portfolio lives between two layers:
the visible interface, and the hidden reasoning beneath it.

Inspired by Stranger Things’ Upside Down.
This project represents the part of my work that usually stays invisible—how I think, question, and connect human behavior with code. It’s not about being radically different, but about being honest about what I’ve been obsessed with lately: cognition, clarity, and the unseen structures behind good design.

Built with React and deployed on Google Cloud Run, this portfolio includes an AI-assisted thinking layer powered by Gemini, allowing the same work to be explained differently depending on who’s reading it. The goal isn’t spectacle—it’s understanding.

LivePreview

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Deployed on Google Cloud Run with label

dev-tutorial=devnewyear2026

How I Built It

This portfolio was built with a UI-first approach, prioritizing clarity, structure, and cognitive flow before adding complexity. It was developed using Antigravity alongside React, Next.js, and Tailwind CSS to create a modular and scalable interface, then deployed on Google Cloud Run for reliability and performance.

On top of the interface, I added an AI-assisted thinking layer powered by Gemini, which adapts how the portfolio explains itself depending on the audience. AI is used as an interpretation layer, not a replacement for my decisions—helping translate my reasoning with clarity and intention.

What I'm Most Proud Of

I built this portfolio using React with a modular, scalable structure and deployed it on Google Cloud Run for reliability and performance. On top of the interface, I added an AI-assisted thinking layer powered by Gemini, which adapts how the portfolio explains itself depending on the audience.

AI is used as an interpretation layer, not a replacement for my decisions—helping translate my reasoning with clarity and intention.

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