A little about Jeff

Jeff on the beach, Pacific City OR

I have been blessed with a great many loves in my life. My current profession is the result of a passion discovered at 13 years of age with a Timex Sinclair 1000. From the Sinclair I quickly graduated to a Commodore 64, C-128, BASIC, IBM PC, C, and finally internet development. I enjoy my work a lot. I love the creative process that it inspires. Graphic design, coding, data modeling - I enjoy all of it.

I am proficient in a number of technologies including PHP, CSS, AJAX JavaScript and others that you can find in my resume. But I believe that my greatest skill is not technical at all - bridging the gap between technology and the end user.

Heather on the beach, Pacific City

You see, I'm primarily a web application developer. Many of the projects I build are used by people on a daily basis as part of their jobs. I believe that the user should not be forced to conform to an app, but that an app should conform to the user.

Achieving this takes more than a deep knowledge of user interface design. It also requires empathy, patience, the ability to listen, a willingness to discard "great" ideas in favor of workable ones, and a strong desire to hear your client say, "This is exactly how I thought it should work." I love that!

Addy & her new sister, Sylvie
September 2008

I founded UpStart Productions in November of 2000 with the desire to help small businesses build truly effective internet strategies without paying exorbitant fees. I have been a full-time employee of The Teaching Research Institute at Western Oregon University since March of 2005.

I was originally brought on for a part-time, 4 month contracting gig and I just haven't quite found the desire to leave. I'm in with a great community of people and the projects I work on continually push my skills forward.

If you're interested, you can find more details of my professional history in my blog.

Of course my greatest love is my family. My wife, Heather, and I were married in the summer of 2002 and we have been blessed with two fabulous daughters Adeline and Sylvie.

I also love woodworking, cooking (when I get around to it), and I'm trying to love learning to play the guitar - grrrr! Any advice here would be welcome.