About John-Paul

An experienced IT professional who has worked as a visiting lecturer at RIT’s School of Information, an IT strategist in the Enrollment Management Office at RIT, Full Stack Developer, and as a consultant. My primary focus has been on full stack development, database, accessibility/usability, and digital marketing.

As an educator i’ve taught a variety of topics to graduate and undergraduate students, including web development, programming, photography/video production, and database.

Outside of education i’ve been a part of and managed all parts of the development lifecycle, and feel i’ve always had a strong ability to connect with a client to deliver the best solution(s) possible.

Before taking on a visiting teaching role I was an Information Technology Strategist for RIT’s Enrollment Management Division, leading and developing projects such as The Loop (a social network for incoming RIT students) and FeedMasher (an web based aggregation system which powered the RIT homepage for over 4 years and was later made open source) and managing a team of developer interns.

Founder of a consulting firm, Bantam Creative, focused on CRM systems, e-commerce, and social networking. I’m an advocate for open-source projects having contributed to several open source projects, including Mozilla Popcorn.js, several Joomla (a web based content management system) extensions, and Feedmasher.org.

In the past i’ve shared his knowledge of full stack development by hosting presentations / workshops with student groups like RIT’s Women In Computing and The National Society for Black Engineers. In the classroom, i’ve worked with Rochester area non-profit organizations as part of team projects to address their technology needs.

I also serve as the web/technology coordinator for the Rochester Chapter of The American Statistical Association.

Other hobbies include, skiing, hiking, and backyard chickens. ::cluck::

Resume

Education

Bachelors of Science in Information Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology. Rochester NY
Concentration in Web Development. Minor in Psychology
Graduated May 2006

Masters of Science in Professional Studies
Rochester Institute of Technology. Rochester NY
Concentrations in Human Computer Interaction & Marketing
Graduated Fall 2015

Industry & Teaching Experience

Consultant / Full Stack Developer
Accelerate Media Inc.
May 2024 – Present

  • Facilitating strategic initiatives by combining creative and technical expertise to deliver measurable results for a marketing, advertising, and development firm. 
  • Oversee fullstack development projects for clients using the tools such as WordPress to deliver frontend responsive user experience driven by REST APIs. 

Part-time Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology – School of Interactive Games & Media
August 2024 – Present

  • Teaching students an upper level course which explores the design and development of media-rich applications.  Topics include: typescript, node.js and react.

Mentor (volunteer)
Next Chapter Project
July 2024 – Present

  • Serving as a mentor to formerly incarcerated individuals as they embark upon a 12 week boot camp; Next Chapter Project helps to empower people with the skills, confidence, and support necessary to transition post-incarceration into meaningful, skilled careers in the tech industry.

Visiting Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology – School of Information
August 2019 – May 2024

  • Taught courses to undergraduate & graduate students in the fields of Software Engineering, Web and Mobile Computing, and database.
  • Developed curriculum and helped coordinate large multi-section international classes including implementation of an interactive textbook.
  • Designed and implemented a Drupal based website to highlight student Scholarly activity in RIT’s School of Information.
  • Founded an annual project in which students give back to the community by partnering with small local non-profit https://www.rit.edu/spotlights/code-community-weaving-real-world-non-profit-projects-web-technologies-course 

IT Strategist / Technical Lead
Rochester Institute of Technology – Enrollment Management
July 2013 – August 2019

  • Lead the design, development and implementation of hardware and software systems within The Enrollment Management Division at RIT which includes the Undergraduate Admissions, Graduate Admissions, and Financial Aid Office
  • Created FeedMasher a content aggregator using RESTful services which was used to power a large portion of the RIT home (rit.edu) for 5+ years.
  • Designed and Implemented a social networking application that had 15,000 members including prospective students, alumni, staff and faculty
  • Managed several teams that developed full web stack applications
  • Engaged in several special projects including implementation of a CRM platform (Oracle, and then later Slate) to handle student enrollment.
  • Working Member of the RIT Web Advisory Committee and a member of the Web Advisory Technology Team responsible for leading the RIT website and supporting infrastructure across the campus.

Full Stack Web Developer (Web Analyst)
Rochester Institute of Technology – Undergraduate Admissions Office
January 2008 – July 2013

  • Supported technology and web development in the Undergraduate Admissions Office as a means for assisting with student recruitment and selection efforts designed to satisfy Institute-established freshman and transfer enrollment goals. 

Adjunct Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology – School of Information
January 2016 – May 2018

  • Taught several courses including Rapid Online Presence and Web and Mobile I.

Founder & Creative Director
Bantam Creative
August 2013 – Present

  • A consulting firm that offers branding and web development services.
  • Notable Clients:
    • National Human Resources Foundation (website migration to Joomla)
    • The Learning Tree Daycare Center (full brand and website development)
    • Newdigs (developed a WordPress site and WordPress theme)
    • Dobber Fantasy Sports Network (e-commerce support)
    • Harmony Productions
    • Rochester Underground
      • October 2005 – July 2008
      • Set up a content management system for a humor and local event website.  Contains over 10,000+ unique content items (videos, pictures), 4000+ registered users.

Lead Developer
StreamTeam (provider of web development & streaming video services in Rochester NY) 
January 2006 – December 2007

  • Managed a team of 4 developers
  • Developed a mobile messaging / SMS platform in Microsoft ASP with MSSQL.
  • Integrated a windows web server with a GSM modem for 2 way text messaging

Web Developer
Rochester Institute of Technology – Undergraduate Admissions Office
October 2005 – December 2007

  • Developed the Brick City Ambassador Homepage, a community of students and staff that blog to share their experience of RIT using WordPress, and then later Joomla. Created a RESTful API for the platform
  • Created an employee portal that allows staff to schedule various types of recruitment events, create content, and process forms.

To Learn more about the Projects and things I have worked on please visit the skills explorer on the homepage!