Jeffrey
Guenther

I'm a full stack developer. Elixir is my current preferred language. The languages I've spent the most time in are Ruby, Javascript and Java. I've dabbled in Swift, C++, C#, and others at various points in my career.

Software and other technologies should be developed with the needs of people first and foremost. Too often technology is created and we end up serving it instead of it serving us. I work to create systems that consider people first.

I love seeing people thrive. I've had the privilege of leading groups of a variety of sizes. Great leadership is defined by clarity and empathy.

I'm familiar with test-driven development and the agile methodology. I've taught clients how to leverage agile principles to ensure we build them the right software. Most recently, I've become advocate for Shape Up, the methodology introduced by Ryan Singer.

Good and shipped is better than perfect. Software can be easily changed. I think it's essential to ship a basic and working product and to improve it over time. Sometimes a product takes a couple rounds of development to reach a quality where it is ready to be put on the market. In the meantime, a team can keep a shipping mindset by completing a version and sharing it with a limited group of people. With each round of development, a usable product is shipped with greater fidelity.

At my core, I'm a researcher, one who loves building products that break out of the lab and people actually use. I'm experienced in participant observation and can construct a formal usability study if the problem calls for it. Most recently, I've been exploring how Jobs-to-be-done Theory can be used to inform the product design process. I thoroughly enjoy the process of gathering and requirements and helping people figure out what to build.

I'm passionate to equip people with the skills and knowledge to build things for themselves. I tutored through high school and university (grad school included). I taught several semesters as a TA and even had the opportunity to help redesign the introductory programming course at SIAT. Thinking about how to make the learning experience better for people is a hobby of mine.