Jerry Seeger is not just another pretty face! I’m also good at making computers do things. If you need someone with any of the skills listed below for a project, please drop a me a line.

Note: Since writing this, I have become happily employed at Apple. In fact, I’m hiring now.

Are we right for each other? That’s a complicated question, but it starts with the alphabet soup below. I’ve listed the things I’m strongest at — the ones I have used extensively for large projects. There’s a bunch of other stuff I’ve fooled around with (like Ruby), but I’ve never built a commercial-grade application with those. If you don’t see what you’re looking for on the list, just ask! If I’m interested in that technology you can get the same skill and commitment to quality software, but at a reduced rate.

Technical Stuff I Kick Butt With

• C/C++
• Objective-C
• Cocoa (Mac OS, iPhone, iPad)
• PHP
• Drupal, WordPress
• Java
• Javascript
• HTML
• CSS
• Flash (Action Script 3.0, AMF)
• Flex
• MySQL
• Propel (Object-Relational Mapping)

Stuff I’d work with at a discount so I could get them into the list above

• Ruby
• AJAX

But wait! There’s more!

Finding the right acronyms in a list is only the start of deciding whether I’m a good resource for your project. What you want to know is ‘is this guy going to do quality work on time, and will he be fun to work with?’ What I want to know is ‘will this be a good project for me and will this employer be fun to work with?’

Here is a look at the underlying skills I bring to the table. These are the traits that make me a good programmer no matter what technology I am using at the moment.

Object-Oriented Design and Development – I’ve been putting software together for a long time, and I’ve learned (for instance) when to use inheritance and when to use delegation. My code is low-maintenance and reliable.

Learning new systems – I can go from zero to productive to kick-ass in a short time. I have a great deal of experience picking up new development frameworks and coming up to speed on projects that are already under way.

Problem solving – Sometimes things just don’t work right. I am very good at figuring out why and fixing them.

Oral and written communication – I am able to communicate well, in English.

UI design sense – I have built desktop and Web-based applications from the ground up for audiences ranging from 3-year-olds to university professors. I understand the requirements of different audiences and the importance of making UI actions natural and intuitive.

Picky about getting things ‘just right’ – there’s an extra level of polish in a product that leaves the user with an intangible feeling that the product is solid. This confidence allows the user to trust the product, and lets them focus on their task, and not the tool.

Flexible – it’s in the nature of the business that when a client sees the product, improvements to the design will become obvious. It’s important to have flexibility built into the code, but even more important to accept that design changes are part of the process.

The sort of jobs I’m interested in

I like making software. I prefer to work on things that will make the world a better place, but that’s a pretty broad category. I’m not interested in a ‘permanent’ job (whatever that means), or even in a full-time job if it lasts a long time. My ideal would be to work 30 hours per week (although I know there are crunch times), or for a limited period of time. That will keep the rain off my head and dinner on the table, and that’s all I really need. A job where I learn something new is a plus. I like learning new things.

I work on a Mac but I’m not afraid of the terminal, so you can think of me as a Linux guy if that makes you feel better about me working on your LAMP project. Cocoa, the application framework from Apple, is a joy to code with; happily, iPhone (and now iPad!) development uses Cocoa.

Contact

Got a project? Questions? Just want to say hello? Drop me a line at [email protected]