Web Development

Working remotely from my home office in suburban Minneapolis, MN, I partnered with designers and agencies to provide front-end web development and Craft CMS integration.

Availability

I'm happy to help out with maintenance as needed for existing clients - email me at nick@ottergoose.com. Otherwise I'm devoting time to my JetTip project.

Background

Self-employed and well-versed in many forms of geekery, I've been building websites for almost three decades. Years ago, when I was doing it for a living, most of my day to day was spent doing front-end / CMS implementation, but I understand enough to do a fair amount of what would now be called full-stack development. As it stands my knowledge is getting pretty outdated, but I can still still wrangle PHP, jQuery, MySQL and CSS in my sleep.

I was born in Minneapolis, grew up in Northfield, MN, and dreamt about becoming a meteorologist at the University of Oklahoma. After the mathematical demands of junior year atmospheric physics proved insurmountable, I ended up graduating with a BS in Geography. Having been employed more or less as a student web developer for my entire time at OU, I started full time when I graduated and moved back to the Upper Midwest in 2008. After five years in a small web development shop and the birth of Kid 2, I jumped into the world of self-employment and have been doing that ever since.

Employment History

Ottergoose, Inc.

Web Developer / Chief AvGeek

July 2013 - Present; Burnsville, MN

Built new websites with Craft CMS; supported old ones built with ExpressionEngine. Gradually shifted full-time focus to JetTip flight tracking service circa 2021.

PressEnter!

Front-end Web Developer

February 2008 - July 2013; Hudson, WI / Woodbury, MN

Collaborate with designers and clients to build websites powered by ExpressionEngine and Craft CMS.

OU's Center for Spatial Analysis

Undergraduate Research Assistant

February 2006 - April 2008; Norman, OK

Developed web platforms to analyze location suitability of surface weather observation systems, anglers to report notable sports fish catches.

NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory

Undergraduate Research Assistant

May 2005 - April 2008; Norman, OK

Process global climate model data for scientific analysis of severe weather climatology in the United States.

University of Oklahoma Libraries

Student Microcomputer Assistant

October 2003 - May 2005; Norman, OK

Build a CMS for librarians; learn a lot about web development from smart people.