Douglas James · Portland, Oregon
debugdoug
Engineer and founder. I build useful web products, untangle messy systems, and ship with AI without losing the craft — and I’m as good with clients as I am with code.
hello
I build, I fix,
I learn new tricks.
I’m a computer engineer who has spent the last decade bouncing between code, product, clients, and running a company. Hand me the messy problem. Figuring it out is my favorite part, and I never really stopped studying.
- Now
- Founder & Head of Engineering, Minute.tech
- Education
- B.S. Computer Engineering, San José State, with a side of business and math
- Focus
- Full-stack web products, technical direction, good interfaces
- People
- Customer service and client work in every role I’ve ever had
hardware roots
From silicon to screen,
I know the machine.
In high school I ran a phone repair business — cracked screens, swollen batteries, boards that wouldn’t boot. Fixing hardware for paying customers pulled me into computer engineering at San José State.
So when I write software, I understand the whole machine underneath it, electrons to pixels. Every abstraction is easier to use well when you know what it’s hiding.
And the stack doesn’t stop at the screen. A lifetime of entrepreneurship and customer service means I understand the layer above it too: people.
high level
low level
building with ai
Taste is the new premium.
I have been an early adopter since before AI was a roadmap item, and I coded my way through every step of the path below by hand first. That matters: when the models write more of the code, the judgment about what to build, what to cut, and what feels right becomes the whole job. I have watched the slow, then sudden, shift of AI into production, and I ship it the only way that lasts: securely, at scale, and with standards. Tools are cheap now. Taste isn’t.
- where it started
PHP
Hand-rolled sites and server logic. Every line typed, every bug mine to find.
- then came
Python
Scripts, automation, glue code. Taught the computer to do the boring parts.
- which pulled me into
Firebase
The natural next step on GCP. Auth, data, and hosting wired together, no servers to babysit.
- that grew into
Next.js
Product engineering at scale. Client work and my own SaaS, shipped on React.
- so I built
Linkbase
My own foundation: a backend and frontend system, designed and hardened over years of production use.
- and now
AI-native
Architecting with AI in production, securely and at scale, on top of Linkbase. Where the flow is today.
current
Minute.tech Labs
Labs is our R&D department at Minute.tech, and Merchie.tech is what we’re building first. I’m building it with my talented buddy and cofounder Ryan Wall, whose amazing creative taste merges with my engineering and architecting background.
Meet the collectiveright now
Currently at Minute.tech
The studio I’d hire, built to aim higher.
I lead a team of five across engineering, design, and operations, shipping client projects and building our own products in-house. I run the client relationships too — the best of that work is written up as full case studies.
work history
The stops I’ve made,
the bugs I’ve slayed.
Every stop had one thing in common: real customers, and me talking with them. This is the short version — LinkedIn has the full timeline, and my newest work lives in the Minute.tech case studies.
- 01
Canary Marketing
Lead Web Engineer
Built and ran custom web stores for client campaigns, from kickoff through launch and support.
- 02
Coldbrew Creative
Website Developer
Built and maintained websites for Bay Area businesses. Worked directly with clients to turn rough ideas into working sites.
- 03
Tesla
Product Specialist
Helped customers understand and experience Tesla’s early electric vehicles at Santana Row.
- 04
Palo Alto Networks
IT Specialist
Supported IT for more than 2,000 employees and tracked hardware across a global fleet.
- 05
ACFN
IT Technician
Diagnosed and serviced ATM hardware, networking, and cash-handling systems in the field.
commit history
Push it live,
watch it thrive.
A year of commits across client work, Minute.tech, and side projects. Code pushed, products shipped, and a steady stream of small things nudged live in between.
say hello
A spark to chase?
A bug to erase?
Send me the short version. What are you building, what broke, and where are you stuck?
doug@minute.tech