J.J. is our incredibly talented and knowledgeable Director of Web Development. HTML coding? He’s our guy. Domain issues? He’s our guy. Website creation? You guessed it, he’s our guy. 

Over the last six years, he’s grown his skill set and continued to learn more about this ever-changing industry. We hope you enjoy learning more about him!

What is your favorite thing about working here? 

Friends and the collaboration we have.

Why marketing? 

I have always had creative and technical talent, and years back, I decided to make a serious commitment to learning code to go along with my artistic skills. I’ve been doing web design and development ever since.

What is the hardest part of your job? 

There are regular new scenarios where I’m asked if I can do something I’ve not done before. While the answer is most often yes, research and sometimes trial and error are important steps in the process to create the best service and/or product. I wouldn’t necessarily call this hard, except going into the unknown parts can sometimes create anxiety.

What is the best part about your job? 

Creating something that results in both the company and the client’s full satisfaction. Celebrating wins with my teammates. Celebrating my coworkers.

What is your favorite memory while working here? 

That’s a tough one to be specific on. When I get an opportunity to learn about my coworkers, that’s when I feel great memories are occurring.

What is a fun fact about you that most people don’t know? 

I have learned quite a bit of magic and am still learning more.

Where are you from? 

Fairmont, Minnesota

What is your favorite restaurant in Columbia? 

Flyover

Who is your celebrity crush? 

Mandy Moore

If you could leave tomorrow and go anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

Disney with my son

If you won a million dollars, what would you do? 

Buy a house, and I’d consider pursuing a PhD in Psychology.

What is your favorite childhood movie? 

Aladdin

If you could meet one famous person, dead or alive, who would it be and why? 

Michelle Obama. I deeply respect her philosophy on parenting and adversity.

What is the best concert you’ve ever been to? 

Hard to say. I went to the first Family Values Tour with Korn, Rammstein, Ice Cube, and Limp Bizkit, the Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Slipknot, Rammstein, System of a Down, and more, and my first concert was Motley Crue. All were pretty solid.

Who is your role model? 

A few friends in my father’s group.

What is the first step in designing a website? 

Understanding the client’s business.

How do you make sure all the sites don’t look the same? 

I’m in constant research mode, looking at what’s out there for inspiration. If there’s something that catches my eye, I’ll think of ways to incorporate something similar in my projects.

When did you learn to read and understand coding? 

Technically when I was just starting out in high school. I built my first computer during high school. I built my first horrible website in high school as well, with basic HTML and CSS. In college I started learning more languages, and when I decided to make a full-time switch to web design and development, I learned at an intensive rate while living abroad.

Where does your creative inspiration come from? 

Anywhere. I’ve seen beautiful things in print that I want to recreate on the web, I’ve spent a lot of time inspired by what others have created, and I’ve thought up a lot of fun things on my own. Given that I do both the creative and technical, it sometimes becomes challenging switching between the two, but it’s also quite advantageous to seeing my creative vision through.