About

Hi, I'm Scott.

I've been building software for businesses since 2007, nearly 20 years. I started out building websites and apps for local businesses, then spent 13 years in Los Angeles as a software engineer, writing Ruby on Rails, Python, and TypeScript and building the behind-the-scenes systems that keep businesses running, including a desk in the trading room at PennyMac, where I built the front-end system that automatically sorts loans into the right buckets so traders can review and approve them faster.

My roots are in Montana. I studied creative writing at the University of Montana, which is why I explain things in plain English, and biology and electronics at Montana State, which is why I enjoy projects where software meets the real world, like cameras and sensors.

Now I run Big Sky Tech Consulting, bringing that experience to small businesses. I love open-source software. It's free, it's solid, and it's yours to keep, and it often lets you cancel a subscription or two and keep the savings.

LinkedIn GitHub

Things I've built

AI paperwork reader

Dashboard extractor

A tool that takes pictures of business reports and charts, has AI read them, and turns them into clean data you can search and reuse. No more retyping numbers.

Automation

Reports that file themselves

Tools that collect reports from email and file servers on a schedule, sort the data, and load it into one place, with nobody doing it by hand.

Work for other companies

PennyMac trading desk: Built the front-end system that automatically buckets loans for review, so traders could give their approval faster and with fewer manual steps.
Restaurants: Systems that kept restaurant pickup orders running in real time, including sending large numbers of customer text messages instantly.
Automatic reports: Tools that collect reports from email and file servers twice a day, sort the data, and load it into one place, with no one doing it by hand.
Dashboards: Easy-to-read dashboards that pull sales, marketing, and revenue numbers from many sources into one screen.
Websites: Kept four websites, a customer data connection, and an admin area running on one system.
Mortgage paperwork: Software that automatically sorted loan documents for a mortgage lender, saving staff hours of manual filing.
Data rescue: Led the recovery of years of business records after a major system failure.
Startups: Built a startup's entire system from scratch, working on its own within 3 months.
Local businesses: Built and hosted custom web apps, including a tablet system that turned handwritten notes into organized digital records.

The tools I use

You don't need to know any of these. Here's what each one is good for, in plain English.

Websites and apps

Ruby on Rails, TypeScript

Reliable web apps that work on any device. Shopify and GitHub run on Rails, and so does this site.

Behind-the-scenes code

Python

The go-to language for AI and crunching numbers. It's the workhorse behind most of the automations on this page.

AI that reads and writes

GPT-4o, OpenAI, local AI models

Reads invoices, forms, and screenshots, drafts emails, and turns messy paperwork into clean data. Can run privately on your own computer.

AI that sees

YOLO, OpenCV, Raspberry Pi

Cameras that count, spot, and track things, like products on a shelf or items moving down a line, on small low-cost hardware.

Predictions

Scikit-learn, XGBoost, Pandas

Models trained on your own history to forecast things like next week's demand, busy hours, or what to reorder.

Databases

PostgreSQL, MySQL

A safe, organized home for your business data, so it's easy to search, report on, and back up.

Big data questions

Kusto (KQL), Tableau, BI dashboards

Fast answers from millions of records, turned into charts and dashboards anyone can read.

Automation

Playwright, email and file imports

Robots that log in to websites, download reports, read emails, and file the data for you, on a schedule.

Connecting your systems

Google Drive, SharePoint, email, APIs

Your tools talk to each other. Reports, photos, and files land in Google Drive or SharePoint automatically, in the right folder.

Cloud and hosting

Azure, AWS, Docker

Keeping your tools online, backed up, and monitored, so you hear about a problem before your customers do.

How I work

Plain language

No jargon. You'll always know what I'm building, why, and what it costs.

Open source first

I reach for free, open-source tools before paid ones, so more of your budget stays with you.

You own it

The tools I build are yours, along with the code and data. No lock-in.

One company, start to finish

From first walkthrough to ongoing support, you work with one company. No handoffs between vendors.

Let's talk about your business.

The first walkthrough is free.

Get in touch