Here are some examples of work I’ve done

At my company, QuirkyCube Software, I specialize in leveraging technology to solve real-world business problems. My focus is always first on my clients' business and strategy before the specifics of the technology implementation.

You can get a sense of what I can do for you by checking out some of my past work. Does this look like a match for your project? Get in touch.

Strategy Mountain

corporate strategy tool

Core strategy capture interactive diagram.

Strategy engagement dashboard showing pulse survey and discussion results.

Facebook-inspired strategy discussion forum.

Image and PDF file export dialog for sharing organizational strategy diagram.

Strategy Mountain is a web application for creating and sharing an organization's strategic vision with its team. Features include an interactive strategy template with sharing and file export, automated strategy reminder emails, team engagement dashboard, and group discussion forum.

I devised, designed, and developed the entire project. The Rails/PostgreSQL backend was hosted on Heroku, and the AngularJS frontend was delivered via Firebase with images and other files stored as needed in Amazon S3. PDF creation was done through the Prawn gem.

AngularJS, Angular Material, Bootstrap, Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

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TextPricer

textbook price comparison site

Landing page of the site accepting the ISBN for search.

Price comparison page showing the results returned from API calls.

I designed and built a client’s site that allows users to search for a particular textbook and compare the prices of that book across a variety of booksellers. The goals were ease of use and a clean, simple, responsive design.

I built the UI using Bootstrap and React. The backend uses Ruby on Rails to consume the APIs of Google Books and those of the various booksellers. All of the APIs are processed in parallel using Typhoeus, with results returned and displayed asynchronously.

Ruby on Rails, React, Bootstrap, JSON, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

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Custom Reporting Engine

for startup’s Postgresql database

Report results screen summarizing available results to view or download.

An interactive options screen for running one style of report.

An on-screen report results display with buttons for downloading multiple file formats.

An interactive report options screen for scheduling the automatic generation of report results.

My client required a flexible, powerful reporting engine to help make sense of a large and continually growing PostgreSQL database. The reporting engine needed to support several different reports and display results both on the screen and via downloadable data files. Each application user needed a separate set of results and individual notifications.

Each report required a custom UI to select report-specific run options. Some reports also needed on-screen results screens. All report requests displayed available results within a single results screen. I implemented those UIs with Bootstrap and, where business logic dictated, used custom React components within Rails for front-end interactivity.

Ruby on Rails, React, Action Cable, WebSockets, Bootstrap, PostgreSQL, Sidekiq, Amazon S3, SendGrid, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

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Solo Founders Unite

online community for entrepreneurs

User profile setup wizard that feeds into the mastermind group matching algorithm.

Mastermind group details screen showing administrator's menu options.

Mastermind group search results from matching algorithm.

User profile detail screen.

Solo Founders Unite is an online community for entrepreneurs to find and form mastermind groups. Features include user and company profiles, mastermind group creation and administration, user-to-user and user-to-group matching algorithms, and group discussion with private messaging.

I was the sole developer on this project and collaborated with a UI designer.

Ruby on Rails, jQuery, Bootstrap, Omniauth, PostgreSQL, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

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Student Grouping React Component

for legacy rails-based teaching software

Initial Rails-based screen showing student study needs.

Initial React component options screen allowing teachers to select study goals.

React component showing group results and allowing adjustments.

The client's Rails 3.2 application serving schools needed an intuitive way for teachers to group students into study groups based on needs identified through test scores.

Since teachers would be tweaking the groups on the fly, my goal was to make the UI/UX as responsive as possible. Therefore, I chose to add a series of React components (via the react-rails gem) that communicated with the backend via API calls while still integrating with the Rails UI.

Ruby on Rails, React, JSON, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

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Bulk Data & Task Management Tools

for postgresql data and heroku background jobs

Background job management screen with real-time status display.

Data file upload screen with React component showing an upload to Amazon S3 in progress.

Data file upload screen with React component showing a completed upload to Amazon S3.

Screen #2 of a data file upload wizard allowing users to customize the processing of uploaded data files.

My client needed an intuitive yet powerful mechanism for running the various background tasks in a complex, data-intensive Rails application. Users also needed the ability to get large amounts of product-related data into the application using a variety of means including direct upload, API connections, and automated FTP file downloads.

I designed and implemented the architecture for running any number of background jobs, including data import jobs, and allowing them to be viewed and controlled from the application UI. I created a custom Ruby base class that all jobs could use to implement background job behavior. I also built a series of Bootstrap and React-based upload wizards allowing users to upload and tag data records easily. The job management processes used the Sidekiq API to report on the status of and control the various jobs. I used Amazon S3 for the data file uploads and processing. Any errors or business critical events notified users via email through SendGrid integration.

Ruby on Rails, React, Bootstrap, PostgreSQL, FTP, SFTP, Database Optimization, Sidekiq, Rake, SendGrid, JavaScript, HTML, CSS

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Unified Batch Processing

batch job control and scheduling tool

Primary job control screen for running and monitoring jobs.

Job configuration screen for grouping jobs, setting prerequisites, and choosing error reporting levels.

Popup wizard screen for creating a job prerequisite.

Job log details screen.

Unified Batch Processing is a batch job control and scheduling system designed to link data from disparate corporate systems. Features include Visual Studio project integration with a custom programming template, job scheduling, logging, grouping, and dependency linking.

VB.NET, Microsoft SQL Server, web services, SOAP

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