Most of the work is underground.
Samwise Development is Penn Porterfield’s software and cloud practice. I build the app, and I build what keeps it running after launch: the infrastructure, pipelines, backups and alarms nobody sees until they fail.
Samwise Development is Penn Porterfield’s software and cloud practice. I build the app, and I build what keeps it running after launch: the infrastructure, pipelines, backups and alarms nobody sees until they fail.
Usually one of these, often two at once. Small companies tend to need the app and the ground under it from the same person.
Customer-facing web apps, admin dashboards, and the APIs behind them. Built to be read by whoever maintains them next, with tests where breakage would cost you money.TypeScript, React, Vue, Python, Rust, Node, PHP/Laravel
Networks, compute and databases on AWS, Azure, GCP or Cloudflare, written as Terraform so the whole thing can be rebuilt from a clean account. Deploys that take one command, alerts that page a person, and backups that have actually been restored.Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, GitHub Actions, Postgres, Linux
Hardware that reports over BLE, GPS or LoRaWAN, and the pipeline that gets its readings into a database without losing any when the signal drops.MQTT, embedded C, SPI, managed IoT services
A few days inside your setup, then a written report: what’s fragile, what’s overpriced, what to fix first, and roughly what each fix costs. Useful before a launch, a funding round, or a surprising cloud bill.
Client work, agency work, a few startups I helped start, and research before all that. Oldest layer at the bottom, like any core sample.
Full-stack applications for clients, and the cloud infrastructure they run on.
Production pages for Google’s developer conference. Headless Preact on the front, Jinja and Python behind it.
An alcohol delivery startup that got as far as a Y Combinator interview. Vue, geofencing, JAMstack.
A React and Firebase app for logging factory safety incidents as they happen. Coca-Cola was one of the first clients.
An 8-bit space game for mobile, built in Unity. Co-led six developers and artists from first sketch to production builds.
Client sites in Philadelphia on WordPress, Drupal and Magento, with React and Vue where they fit.
Data analysis for autonomous underwater vehicles in the Underwater Acoustics Department, on DARPA-funded work.
B.S. Network and Cloud Engineering, WGU, 2026. M.S. Computer Science at Georgia Tech, in progress. Security+, Network+, ITIL 4.
You talk to the person doing the work, from the first call to the handoff.
What gets built, what it costs, and what’s out of scope, in plain English. No surprises in the invoice.
Small, but real and deployed, so you can click on it and react early.
What shipped, what’s next, what’s stuck. Meetings when they help, not by default.
Code in your repo, infrastructure in your cloud account, and runbooks for whoever takes over.
A paragraph is plenty, and a messy doc is fine. I reply within one business day. If I’m not the right fit, I’ll say so and point you to someone who is.
[email protected]Want the long version first? My résumé is at penn.goolz.org/cv.