all systems go
2026-06-15 (updated: 2026-06-19)
Today I revealed the secret teased in my last post, and officially announced my independent technical consultancy, Hyzer!
For the past year, I’ve been freelancing for a few agency and startup clients, solving a variety of problems in a range of tech stacks.
Quick highlight list:
- Linked up with the fine folks at two things and delivered multiple Svelte and Swift prototypes for EA Sports. One was tested via a focus group of 40 people and had a strong positive reception.
- Several hits working with the wonderful team at WLCR.
- Contributed heavily to Later.com’s rebrand, including the main Made You Look campaign landing page for their SXSW event launch.
- Headless B2B Shopify work for Coast, extending their existing D2C store to support B2B customers in different regional markets.
- Built the realtime direct messaging system for RallyCrew, the social media app for kayakers and water sport enthusiasts.
- Extracted a design system from an existing giant Rails monolith with lots of subtle inconsistencies.
- All manner of feature requests for the above & more.
Through all of last year’s engagements, I was testing my pitch, rates, client selection and billing cadences, finding some things worked smoother than others. After a year, I think I’ve found some sweet spots for myself, how I best like to work and deliver, and the value I can bring to any team.
Biggest lesson, hourly billing is a losing man’s game. For engineering, it only works up to a point, and with speed-to-delivery compressing thanks to advances with LLMs and related tooling, it’s an unsustainable race to the bottom. Like I said on my site — AI can one shot a mockup today. Where does that leave the rest of us?
Well, I believe my value comes from my unique perspective and hard-won experience. I have delivered exceptional digital experiences for clients at all scales in my decade-plus career. I’ve shipped work to production for big tech companies, government agencies, charities, non-profits, sports teams, media companies, universities, retailers, startups, and everything in between. Everyone has some war stories, but I also have a history of successful launches and rave reviews.
Most importantly, I’m allergic to jank. I know what looks good, works accessibly, and how to make an experience sizzle no matter the screen it’s being viewed on.
If you or your team have a problem you’re stuck on, want an idea to go from 0->1 quickly and elegantly, or simply need some extra engineering firepower for a couple of sprints, don’t hesitate to reach out.
I’m excited to see what the next year brings.