Ingredients

I build little monkeys.

My job is to make sure you never do something repetitive. That's about it. I can feed you the technical mumbo jumbo, but basically it boils down to me making sure that you don't have to do anything that a machine can just as well do for you.

I have very little patience for mindless tasks, and I assume you're probably the same. If, during the course of your work day, you find yourself doing something that a monkey could do, then I can probably build you that monkey.

The technical mumbo jumbo:

Nerd in a Can provides internet application development services without the filthy middlemen. Primary services include web-programming, interface design, corporate programming instruction, feasibility and integration studies, custom application framework development, and content management systems.

My preferred programming platform is LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, PhP).

I enjoy working in MVC frameworks. I am somewhat familiar with Ruby (and Ruby on Rails), enough to realize that Ruby is currently too slow to serve as an adequate web scripting platform, and that Rails was written by somebody who fails to recognize the most basic functional requirements of a database. Nonetheless, the MVC idiom is a good one, and I typically use a lightweight home-brew system as the foundation for my applications.

Regrettably, I also have an extensive Microsoft product background (including .NET 2) as well as experience in a variety of now-embarrassing languages such as ColdFusion, JSP, PERL and classic ASP. My JavaScript (and Flash ActionScript) is utterly amazing, and I have been addicted to AJAX since it was just called "remote scripting".

If it runs on a web server, I have likely used it in the past.

I also have several configurable pre-existing solutions for standard e-commerce and other common administrative web application projects. I know you think your project is unique, but at its most fundamental level, it's probably not as unique as you imagine. This is great for you since it means we rarely have to start from scratch.

I loathe project managers, and you should too.

Nobody can adequately manage a project except the person who is going to do the project. (Pass it on.) Ever been on the phone with a person who clearly doesn't know is going on? That person is called a "project manager", or sometimes: "middleman".

A project manager is actually a client manager. In no sense is a project manager ever managing the project. That's actually the job of the developer. A "project manager" is a person that an agency will intentionally put between the client and the developer. And as the client, you are paying for this awesome "service".

When you work with me, you will be talking directly with the developer... me. You will not be required to work your way through an uninformed intermediary. You will never hear: "I'm not sure about that, let me talk to the developer and get back to you."

Classes

I've also begun to provide short seminars on various programming topics close to my core skill-set. Available courses include, but are probably not limited to:

• Beginning PHP and MySQL
• Modular Application Development with PhP and MySQL
• Web Foundations: HTML, CSS, Basic Javascript
• Fat Clients: a modern Javascript primer
• An Introduction to AJAX
• AJAX and the MVC Model
• HTML as its own Templating Engine
• Flash Remoting
• "Useless Middlemen of the IT Industry" or "Why you should probably assassinate your project manager."

Hollar if you're interested, and I'll set up a custom curriculum to fit your audience. If you're looking for a specific topic not mentioned here, or more information about one that is, please ask!

Services

Application Development

Nerd in a Can is a full-service web development shop. Our preferred platorm is LAMP, both for reasons of price, and availability of collaborative programmers.

In the event that you have been suckered into paying for Microsoft "products", we also have a broad background building application frameworks for .NET (with C#), ColdFusion (with Fusebox, and homegrown) and with classic ASP. Nonetheless, should you employ me to work on your Microsoft-based web product, you will be subject to extensive heckling both by myself and the rest of my team, you sad, sad marketing victim.

Really, it just won't end.

Interface Design

Once apon a time, I was an art director for a design shop. These days, I tend to focus on programming. But, I still have an network of top-notch local (to Denver) designers available and eager to build with a developer that will respect their designs as only an ex-designer can. I'm not one of those programmers who can't tell when the font is wrong.

Contact

Nerd in a Can is a Denver-based development shop, but I am happy to travel, if it is for some reason necessary. I can use any excuse, no matter how flimsy, to get out of town occasionally.

Mason Houtz

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phone:

Solicitors will be destroyed. (Really. I have the time, inclination and means to make your life hell.)

Recent Projects