Three Thirties

Jim Garvin

I'm a software developer & consultant living in North Carolina's Research Triangle. I've been programming since I was 8 years old, and I've been helping businesses build software professionally for the past 14 years. My focus is on building working software, the right way.

For software development, I believe in the principles of the Agile Manifesto, which describe a common sense approach to working with teams and building software systems.

I'm also a proponent of the practices encouraged by the Lean Startup method. It places an emphasis on rapid iterations, testing market assumptions, and getting to a minimum viable product with as little waste as possible.

A few interesting companies I've started and projects I've worked on are listed below. If you've got a project that you'd like help with, please email me.

LMGTFY is a popular internet meme and website that helps people answer questions that should've just been googled. Interesting components include a live feed of searches going through the site, and a Living Social affiliates ad server proxy to serve targeted deals based on geo-ip lookup. Revenue comes from ads, iOS app sales, and also sticker sales.
  • static haml, sass
  • translated into ~60 languages using jquery.localize
  • >100k unique visitors every day

BusyConf is a bootstrapped company that I started with a partner in 2010. It's a SaaS that helps conference organizers put on conferences. Conference organizers can run ticket registration and call for proposals through the platform, and publish schedules that are optimized for mobile, tablet, and desktop browsers.

  • ruby, rails
  • mongodb
  • coffeescript
Thrive is social CRM software targeted for use by non-profit organizations. It helps them nurture key relationships to get members, donations and advocates through social media.
  • ruby, rails
  • mysql + mongodb
  • heavy use of asyncronous & scheduled jobs
Profile Builder is a system that processes email lists and produces detailed social profiles, enhancing CRM databases and improving success rate in getting major gifts from key supporters.
  • ruby, rails
  • mongodb
  • heavy API processing
Billed as "The iPad App for sending emergency alerts", it's a commercial service that provides access to the various Federal emergency alert systems.
  • ruby, rails
  • postgresql
  • geospatial data
  • XML-SOAP interoperation, including XML-SIG.
Custom Ink is the #1 online custom T-Shirt service. Visitors can choose from hundreds of products, and create custom designs in an online lab. The orders are fulfilled and shipped by Custom Ink. I helped Custom Ink by automating, streamlining, and building visibility into the order fulfillment process, overhauling their order queue system and UI, and laying the groundwork for a transition from Big Ball of Mud to SOA.
  • ruby, rails
  • oracle, couchdb
  • SOA
Mobile Discovery
Mobile Discovery was an early endeavor to link physical ads with the mobile world through QR codes. It was billed to marketing agencies as an ad campaign management and anaylitics platform, and to consumers as a way to manage privacy and more easily connect to interesting content.
  • ruby, rails
  • facebook app
  • netbiscuits proxy (for mobile device content tailoring)
  • MXTelecom integration (SMS gateway integration)