About Me
Hey! I'm Harrison.
I've been working on the web in some form or another since high school. My first opportunity was at Polich Art Works—an art foundry that took a chance on a kid who's only selling point was that he could use a computer. There I was introduced to two concepts that would stay with me throughout my career: web technologies and art.
Later, while working at a brewery, I was tasked with figuring out how to collect emails for and send a newsletter. Any sane or experienced person would have gone straight to MailChimp, but instead I taught myself PHP, built a form to collect emails on our website and send them to a database, and then another form to send the emails. That led to writing a WordPress theme and a couple of plugins to manage menus, and from there my software development journey started.
Flash forward a few years later and 3,500 miles away. Feeling stuck a few years into my career, I took a three-month Laravel contract with an experiential shop in Portland, OR. Seeing a museum app driving content on a wall for the first time flipped a switch in my head: I could get paid to write code that made the world a cooler place. I pushed for the full-time role, got it, and have never looked back. Since then, I've spent years in experiential—Downstream, Deeplocal—building management software, going on virtual and in-person installs, and learning as much as I can learning about the industry I love.
Timeline
Hired mostly because I could ‘use a computer.’ Went from Dreamweaver/Photoshop to Flash/ActionScript and started my journey
Wrote a PHP newsletter sender and built custom Wordpress plugins to help the restaurant run smoother
Took a three month contract at an experiential agency and fell in love with the industry, and now try to help make it grow however I can
What I'm up to now
I lean on my experiences and pair it with generative A.I. to produce quality work that delivers real value to my partners and clients. I spend time to tackle some of the pain points I've seen in the experiential industry to come up with solutions that help, not hinder, our users. I document, test, and CI/CD myself to sleep to make sure that I'm not shipping a dud.
In short, I try to be a one-person team that feels like a ten-person team.
Have something in mind?
Talk through your projectHow I Work
Listen, ask questions, and take notes
Start by understanding the problem deeply. Ask clarifying questions and document everything to ensure we're aligned on goals and constraints.
Weigh options and strengths of each
Evaluate different approaches objectively. Consider technical feasibility, timeline, and long-term maintainability to choose the best path forward.
Prototype, prototype, prototype
Build quick iterations to test assumptions and gather feedback. Rapid prototyping helps validate ideas before committing to full development.
Present work and collect feedback
Share progress regularly and actively seek input. Early feedback prevents going down the wrong path and ensures stakeholder alignment.
Reflect, learn lessons, and clean up the code
After each iteration, review what worked and what didn't. Refactor and document the code to make it maintainable for the future.
Drive on
Keep momentum going while maintaining quality. Balance speed with thoroughness to deliver value consistently.
In a short time, [Harrison] took on projects that were ambiguous and challenging, but he approached these projects with the determination to learn as much and he could and ultimately succeeded.
We deemed him the "swiss army knife" because that's exactly what he was.
TouchDesigner Prototype
A partner of ours—my former teammates— were having an issue integrating with our system. After hearing this, I convinced our team to let me go to the partner's studio so I could work with them on the issue. When I saw that their biggest pain point was integrating with TouchDesigner, I had an idea.
I went back to our team and pitched a drop-in TouchDesigner integration. I took it from an idea to a functional proof-of-concept, and then presented it to leadership. The pitch worked and it change company priorities in the upcoming quarter. This would have made it possible to build apps with our management system without having to write a single line of code.
Values
Clear communication
I believe in transparent, honest communication that builds trust and ensures everyone is aligned on goals and expectations.
Pragmatic decision making
I focus on practical solutions that deliver real value, balancing idealism with the constraints of time, budget, and technical reality.
Modularity, scalability, and developer experience
I build systems that are easy to understand, maintain, and extend. Good architecture today prevents technical debt tomorrow.
Best fit
Ideal partners and teammates bring a defined outcome and straight talk; I bring structure, momentum, and a cadence you can rely on.
How to start
- • Send me a message to chat
Reach out with a brief description of your project or problem. I'll respond within 24 hours to schedule our first conversation.
- • One 25-minute call to align
We'll discuss your goals, timeline, and budget to ensure we're a good fit for each other. This helps me understand your needs better.
- • I return a short plan with options
Based on our conversation, I'll provide a concise plan with different approaches, estimated timelines, and investment ranges.
Have a project or problem you want to walk through together? Send me a message and let's chat!
Start a conversation