Current Projects

Last reviewed & updated in April 2023.

Notable past projects

App Camp For Girls

2017 - 2020

One of five (volunteer) board members before winding down the organization after seven years. This nonprofit’s mission was to inspire and empower girls, transgender, and gender-noncomforming youth to pursue careers in technology.

Mapbox

2010 - 2017

I was one of the first dozen or so folks at Mapbox and led the early mobile efforts, including writing the first version of the iOS tools, originating the MBTiles file format, helping build the first versions of Mapbox GL, charting company mobile strategy, doing public speaking & outreach, and, as the longest-running remote team member, unofficially helping shepherd remote employee culture. I left after helping the company grow to about 175 people. Today the company is valued at one billion dollars.

Code Sorcery Workshop

2006 - 2011

Prior to joining Mapbox full-time, I ran a solo consultancy for about five years, building solutions for customers worldwide in the areas of Mac and iOS development (including early iOS work on the first Starbucks and Zipcar apps), web development (primarily in Drupal and PHP), and systems administration. I also created and sold two popular Mac desktop applications, Pukka and Meerkat. I’ve preserved the now-dormant website due to the number of technical blog posts, forum discussions, and other random bits of possible interest.

EchoDitto

2004 - 2006

When I lived in DC, I was an early employee at a consulting firm which came from the ashes of Howard Dean’s failed 2004 presidential bid. I worked closely as the systems administrator alongside amazing folks like Nicco Mele and Garrett Graff and for amazing clients like Barack Obama and Rosie O’Donnell. It was what I like to call my first “big time” job and really opened the door for me to learn so much, meet and work with so many interesting and talented people, and get into some amazing early technology.

Voxel.net

1997 - 2001

If you were doing anything with open source software in the late 90’s, you might recognize Voxel.net web hosting as an early supporter with donated software mirrors and other efforts. I was a cofounder and the first CTO there and also wrote Ticketsmith, the first version of what went on to become the Ubersmith hosting management platform.

TractorLizard

2009 - 🚜🦎

In 2009 while at the South by Southwest Interactive festival, my friends Mike, Brian, and I became disillusioned with the buzzwordy and hollow feel to many of the proposed businesses and ideas that we were encountering. TractorLizard was our parody of it all, complete with intentional typos, broken links, an automatic business plan generator, and even some founder videos in which we ad-libbed interview answers (of which I’m particularly proud).

Blogging

2001 - present

I’ve been blogging in one form or another for a couple decades, and before that, I basically made a wiki-like site that I’ve since lost. If I had any foresight about it, I would have named the software, published it, and pulled down that sweet, sweet wiki lucre that Ward does.


This page is also available at /now, as inspired by Derek Sivers.