Hello,

I'm Brett

But you can call me Jack.

Having built lots of unique products on the web & mobile, from idea to customers, I’ve worn a wide variety of hats. I’m a full stack developer, a UI / UX designer, a systems administrator, and a
product manager.
I'm a

Jack of All Trades

 
 
 

Red Foundry

Red Foundry is an award-winning mobile application design and development consulting firm. As a mostly mobile shop, they brought me on as a Lead Software Engineer / Consultant to consult and build web projects that complement the products of their clients. On one such recent project, Vacations By Rail, North America's leading supplier of train vacations, I took over the development of a Laravel project and helped bring the product to launch.
 
 

BMW Championship Ticketing - TicketTapp

At Babylon Technology, I worked with a small team of developers to design, develop, and maintain the ticketing site for the PGA Tour's BMW Championship. The site was responsible for over 40,000 orders and 500,000 scanned tickets. My responsibilities on the project included design of the frontend ticketing interface and of the backend interface used by the event organizers. I also developed multiple embeddable ticket interfaces using Laravel and Javascript.
 
 

Vail Systems / Persephony

As Senior Product Manager at Vail Systems, I led a team of developers to complete the web interface for the Persephony product. My responsibilities included conceptualizing new product developments and writing user stories. I was brought on mid-project to help complete the launch and develop marketing strategies for the product.
 
 

RentMonitor

Along with my cofounder, I participated in the Techstars program with a company called RentMonitor. Solving the problem of renters still writing paper checks, RentMonitor processed over $2.5 million a month in rent payments. We forged relationships and built integrations with multiple payment processors, including Stripe and Dwolla, in order to charge flat rate fees for ACH and low percentage fees for credit cards. RentMonitor connected to a number of APIs for payment processing and to run Know Your Customer (KYC) checks on applicant landlords. It was built in Laravel.
 
 

CharityWatch

CharityWatch is America's most independent, assertive charity watchdog. They provide ratings and analysis for a wide variety of charities. I worked with them to build a frontend website with donation capabilities and a backend database system for storing and maintaining donor and charity information.
 
 

PingMap

Pingmap is a mapping and analytics tool for ecommerce stores, blogs, and SaaS apps. Making heavy use of the Google Maps Javascript API, Pingmap gives a visual representation of where a site’s customers, readers, or users are in the world. Integration is super simple: copy and paste a line of Javascript and you’re good to go. I designed and built Pingmap from the ground up using Laravel, MySQL, and jQuery. I also built a secure API for sending customer data directly.
 
 

CLO Connect

CLO Connect is a software application built for multi-tenant shopping centers. Used by shopping centers across the country, CLO Connect allows administrators and managers to post sales, update center tenancy, manage their social media, and more. I designed and developed the templates used for each center as well as participated in the development of the backend administration software.
 
 

Evolution Collect

Evolution Collect is a leading software solution for the debt collections industry. At Babylon Technology, I was part of a team of developers to design and implement this software solution processing millions in debt collections. My responsibilities included frontend design and development of the software as well as product strategy and marketing.
 
 

KiMM

KiMM is a mobile app I built that allows people to save and share their favorite places. I designed and built the app in React Native, built an API in Laravel / MySQL, and launched the app live to the Apple App Store.
 
 

Birdbell

Birdbell is a customizable wedding registry that lets you include products from any store on the web. Items from all different product categories are hand-picked for each different couple "type". Users can easily add or remove products by simply clicking through the available items. If a desired product isn't available, simply provide a link to the product and it will be immediately imported. Birdbell makes extensive use of screen-scraping with both Javascript and PHP to gather product information from a variety of sites. I designed and built Birdbell from the ground up using Laravel, MySQL, and jQuery. I also setup a blog using the Ghost blogging framework.
 
 

Bundle

Bundle is 1 email address for your entire group. Select an address or use your own. Simply send an email to that address and it will be copied to all members in the group. Bundle uses the Sendgrid Parse API to extract information from the email for storage and forwarding. It is also integrated with the Stripe API for payment.
 
 

Tweet the People

Tweet the People is a dashboard for viewing tweets from all government officials. It uses the Twitter Phirehose to consume tweets from members of the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Executive branch. Aggregated stats are displayed and it's easy to reply and retweet right from the interface. Tweet the People makes extensive use of the Twitter API.
What I do. I am passionate about building great products. I excel at defining business problems and developing intuitive solutions to them. My experience includes everything from meeting with customers for requirements gathering to UI / UX design to programming and server management.
Alone or with a team. As a UI / UX designer and full stack developer, I'm able to take a product from idea to implementation on my own. I've also held many positions, both full-time and contract, working in small and medium sized teams.
I'm a human first. I pride myself on being able to explain technical details to non-technical stakeholders. I enjoy discussing business logic and the technical solutions to those problems. When working with me, you won't feel like you're speaking with a computer.
 

Skills

 

PHP

I've been building web software with PHP for over 16 years.

Laravel

Laravel has been my PHP framework of choice for over 5 years.

MySQL / MariaDB

I've been using MySQL for as long as I've been programming PHP.

Javascript / jQuery / Vue

Javascript is an essential tool, jQuery a trusted standard, and Vue a great enhancement.

HTML5

I write clean HTML5 often using a framework like Bootstrap.

CSS3 / Sass

I use Sass to build clean CSS and compile it with Webpack.

UI / UX Design

I love building beautiful interfaces that are simple and highly functional.

Hosting / Servers

I understand how to put a site live and keep it running securely.

Wordpress

Wordpress is often my go-to for frontend marketing sites and blogs.

Mobile Apps

I design beautiful user experiences for mobile apps.

React Native

I develop apps in React Native to work cross-platform.

APIs

I build responsive APIs for mobile app data and interactions.

 
 

About Me

When I'm not working in front of my computer, I enjoy spending time with my family. My wife, Deanna, and I have a 7 year old daughter, Eleanor. We love to travel and have visited over 18 countries, most of them as a family. I enjoy music and have played the guitar for over 20 years.

I have also been involved in raising money for cancer research. Unfortunately, my father passed away from melanoma in 2011. Along with my mother and brother, we hosted a golf tournament once a year for the next 5 years and raised over $100,000. The funds were donated to the University of Iowa Foundation for Melanoma Research.