My name is Justin Smestad

and I build intuitive web applications.

Background

I've spent my career focusing on becoming a well-versed generalist in all aspects of high-availability web and mobile applications. This has enabled me to be an ideal fit for startups as I can successfully operate many roles inside of a company.

  • PHP Programming (2004 - 2006)
  • C# Programming (2004 - 2007)
  • Ruby / Rails Programming (2006 - 2015)
  • User Interface Design (2009 - 2015)
  • JavaScript Programming (2008 - 2015)
  • User Experience (2008 - 2015)
  • DevOps (2009 - 2014)
  • MongoDB (2010 - 2014)
  • API Design (2010 - 2015)
  • 2004
  • 2005
  • 2006
  • 2007
  • 2008
  • 2009
  • 2010
  • 2011
  • 2012
  • 2013
  • 2014
  • 2015
Mongo machine cropped
DevOps
Design
UI/UX
Rails
Light
Some
Heavy

Mongo Machine

Developed a SaaS platform from the ground up to provision, manage and serve MongoDB instances as an "on-demand" service. In a little over a year I not only took the company to well into profitability, but also became an expert in NoSQL databases and DevOps/Chef/Cloud provisioning. Company has a successful exit with an acquisition by MongoHQ in July 2011.

View live at http://mongomachine.com

Audi IMS

Audi IMS (Inventory Management System) is an app which manages all new and used car inventory for Audi Dealerships in the United States and Canada. The application relied heavily on background processing, large search datasets, and various data warehousing techniques.

View live at http://cars.audiusa.com

DevOps
UI/UX
Rails
JavaScript
Light
Some
Heavy
Audi ims cropped
Likeme cropped
DevOps
UI/UX
Rails
JavaScript
Light
Some
Heavy

Like Me

Social recommendation engine that analyzed local eating habits and friendships to formulate curated restaurant suggestions in other cities.

The application made heavy use of recommendation algorithms and background processes with a Rails stack serving the result set.

Other Brands

I've worked for some of the top lifestyle brands, as well as some of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley.

Oakley
Whole Foods
North Face
Librato
Zaarly
Unison
Github
Open Source Advocate

I am an active participant in many open source projects, far too many to list here, but a few of notable popularity are the:
Warden, PivotalTracker API, and Socialite SSO projects. See all my open source projects and activity on my github page.

Colorado
Based in Denver, Colorado

Originally from Chicago, IL, I relocated to Colorado after getting a taste for the wonderfully supportive local startup atmosphere.

I often give back to the local community by hosting "office hours" allowing budding programmers and entrepreneurs time slots to come get advice and coding help on their projects.

Hawkeye
University of Iowa Alumni

Graduate with Bachelors of Science in Computer Science.

While attending UI I also focused on earning a minor in business accounting and GIS. Both of these have attributed to the financial success of my startups and projects.