Hi, I'm Jeff!

Have you ever pondered how wine glasses, guitars, and fourier harmonics all deal with resonance? And why people are universally delighted when they resonate with a story woven by any of these tools?

Yet there's always a somber side when things change over time. In engineering, for example - tech debt. As if the two-ish hard problems in computer science weren't enough, along comes time to ruin your day. Even if your solution was elegant yesterday, today - it's not working. And the more systems with which your solution interfaces, the faster the rate of decay.

And the pièce de résistance - tech is not slowing down. Or maybe I'm just getting older. 😉

This wild, paradoxical space - where humans and tech and time shape each other... This is my playground. I traverse it slowly, purposefully. Not chasing some mirage of perfection, but seeking curiously, learning by doing, understanding empathetically, and maybe solving a few real problems along the way.

I've had the joy of launching a couple companies, exploring countless prototypes, and shipping a handful of impactful products. My story has touched many people along the way, and I'm truly proud of that.

Oh, "what do I actually do?" 😅 Well...

I brainstorm, design, and rapidly iterate on creative interfaces between peoples' needs and companies' values. Of course it's more nuanced than that - I believe that humans come first - their needs, their stories, their value. From there, I love to explore new ways to present UI, structure systems, and leverage concepts across disiplines, to create something truly unique.

I want to create products that matter.

Product Design Philosophy in the AI Era

Human-first product design means building the interfaces that connect a company's value to real-world people facing real-world problems. But getting there is complex - the messy middle. Only teams filled with trust, empathy, and respect will make it. Because teams build products that reflect their own values.

But oh, is it messy! It is one moment customer discovery, the next quiet contemplation, and the next rapid iteration. In all ways, valuing the creators, the supporters, the organizers, the users, the doers... And realizing that these roles are not always static and consistent.

Then along came AI 🤖 - LLMs and image generators and agents... interoperating mathematical models and workflows aimed at mimicking, packaging, and presenting human intelligence and creativity, right inside the products we build.

Like any technological revolution, AI is not without dangers. Specifically:

1. AI technology itself can become the end that justifies any means, and
2. Efficiency gains can become the only consideration.

Background

My technical background has been multi-disciplinary, hands-on, and largely self-taught. I am blessed to be a product of the open-source software era.

I love software and computing systems. I love understanding how they work, from electrical interfaces to distributed databases, from web application deployment stacks and build systems to creativity tools that insprire kids to draw, write, and paint. Since 2005, I've worked with codebases, tools, data, protocols, scripting languages, distributed filesystems, distributed software deploymenet, version control, test and debug frameworks, profiling and benchmarks - honestly, you name it.

I've had the pleasure of working with so many amazing people. If you're one of them - thank you!

And if you'd like to contact me, to connect our stories...

Get in touch

Find me around the web

Technical Skills

• Expertise: HTML, CSS, JavaScript / TypeScript, Ruby, Haxe, Docker, Git, Linux, Bash
• Experience with: C/C++, Java, MongoDB, SQL, NodeJS, AngularJS, VMs, PHP, Apache, Make, OpenGL Shaders, Microprocessors, FPGAs, LLMs, Stable Diffusion
• Architecture: Systems and application planning, cloud-hosted clusters, real-time communication, build systems, test and deploy infrastructure

Career

Principal Software Engineer, Saga Education

• Leads the architecture and development of innovative solutions for real-time, interactive tutoring in math instruction.
• Drives technical excellence and innovation, leveraging expertise in frontend technologies and UI/UX design to create user-centric platforms.
• Mentors and collaborates with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality software solutions.

Co-Founder & Principal Engineer, Woot Math / Simbulus Inc.

• Co-founded and led the development of Woot Math, an award-winning edtech platform focused on helping underserved students excel in math.
• Led UI/UX design and client-side software architectures, driving innovation and delivering impactful learning experiences.
• Successfully navigated the company through acquisition by Saga Education, demonstrating strong leadership and business acumen.

Senior Staff Software Engineer, The Walt Disney Company

• Designed and built creativity apps and large-scale user-generated content systems for Disney's Create web platform.
• Led the development of digital art brushes, ranking algorithms, and mobile apps, contributing to the platform's success and growth.

Principal Engineer, Kerpoof LLC

• Designed and built an award-winning web-based UGC creativity suite for kids, featured in TechCrunch 40.
• Led product UI/UX design, driving innovation and delivering engaging digital experiences for young learners.

Design Engineer, Xilinx

• Designed, verified, and optimized IP cores (parameterizable digital logic solutions) for Xilinx FPGAs

The following projects represent things I've built solo and absolutely loved. They were free-range explorations - sometimes revamping an old idea with new technology, sometimes a fun passion, a new market, or trying a new process.

Everything's on the table, and nothing is perfect - but that's what makes it fun! These ones actually shipped:

PolyStreamer / 2020

Letter Shredder / 2022

What about projects that never say the light of day?

Schema, data, modelling, type systems, codegen, libraries, serialization, networking, systems architecture, games, LLMs, profiling, benchmarking, tooling, scripting, version control, debugging - I've tinkered with all these sub-systems throughout the years. Interested in chatting about it?