Manual data entry between three tools. Approval emails that nobody answers. Reports rebuilt by hand at the end of every month. I'm an independent senior engineer in Chicago who builds the automation that kills the work no human should be doing — and the first working version is on me.
A lead comes in through a form, and someone copies it into your CRM by hand. An order is placed, and a person emails the warehouse. A customer cancels, and three different systems need to be updated by Tuesday. Month-end, somebody pulls reports from five places and reconciles them in a spreadsheet — losing two days they could spend on real work.
You've probably already tried something. Zapier worked for a while, then one of the apps changed and the automation broke silently. You hired a freelancer to build a few connections and then they disappeared. Now there are eight Zaps held together with prayer, and nobody is sure what half of them actually do.
The real fix isn't more Zaps. It's someone who understands what your business actually does, picks the right tools for your specific situation, and builds it so it keeps running — with monitoring, with documentation, with a team that can extend it later. That's what I do.
We talk about what's manual, what's painful, what breaks. I ask to watch someone actually do the repetitive work — that's where the best automations hide.
About a week of my time, up to roughly forty hours. I pick the one process costing you the most and build real automation around it. Running in production, monitored, documented. Not a demo.
Use it for a week. See if it saves the hours I claimed it would. If yes, we scope what's next. If not, you keep what I built and we're done. No hard feelings.
Not a sales tactic with fine print. The first automation is genuinely free — that's how I prove I'm worth it without asking you to trust me first.
Code, accounts, credentials, documentation — all handed over. Your team can modify it later with AI assistance. No vendor lock-in. No dependency on me.
On the months and years after — when we automate the next process, integrate a new tool, scale what's working. But you choose to come back every time. It's not a trap.
The right tool depends on what you're automating and who maintains it after me. I pick boring and reliable. No exotic platforms. Nothing that locks you into me.
Independent senior engineer in Chicago. Twenty years connecting systems that weren't meant to connect — and building the boring, reliable automation behind real businesses.
I've been building integrations since before the word 'API' was mainstream. Back-office systems, order pipelines, data synchronisation, reporting automation — the plumbing nobody sees but everyone depends on.
What changed with AI is shipping speed. A solo engineer now ships in a day what agencies quote two months for. But reliability — the part that actually matters — is still the old-fashioned discipline. Monitoring. Documentation. Thinking through every failure mode before it happens.
Based in Chicago, IL 60640, working worldwide across US, EU, and Asian timezones. Direct contracts, US LLC, full invoicing.
Depends on what we're building. The honest way to find out: thirty-minute call, free first automation, then if we continue, I write a fixed-price scope before any paid work starts. No hourly billing surprises. No long-term contracts unless you specifically want one.
Yes. Up to roughly forty hours of my time on one well-scoped process — the one that's costing you the most. I prove I'm worth it before asking you to commit. If the engagement doesn't continue, you keep the automation, the code, the documentation, and the running system. No claw-back.
It depends. Zapier for common simple flows where your team wants to see the steps. Make when logic gets complex. n8n when you need self-hosting or high volume. Custom code when reliability or performance is critical. I pick after I see your actual situation, not before.
Every automation I ship has monitoring built in from day one. You get an alert the moment something goes wrong, not two weeks later when a customer complains. Documentation is in plain language so your team can fix small issues themselves. For larger ones, there's me — or any engineer, since the code is yours.
Yes — that's a core deliverable. When we wrap up, I train the people who'll use the system on how to modify flows with AI assistance. Adding a step, changing a filter, swapping an app — most small tweaks they'll do in minutes. You come back to me when you want to, not because you have to.
Yes. Standard mutual NDA before we discuss anything sensitive. Fast turnaround.
First call this week. Free first automation typically begins within one to two weeks. Urgent? Ask — sometimes there's slack.
Yes. Based in Chicago, IL 60640. Direct invoicing, U.S. tax-compliant, no offshore intermediaries.
No hidden catch. No auto-billing after a trial. You see the work, you decide.
Every automation tells you when it breaks. You'll never find out two weeks later.
Every flow documented so the next person who touches it understands what it does and why.
Everything runs on your credentials. I don't hold anything hostage.
I train the people who use the automation on how to change it themselves. No locked-in dependency.
If Zapier is the right answer for you, I'll say so — even though I could charge more for custom code.
Book a thirty-minute call this week. Tell me what's eating your team's time. I'll tell you honestly whether automation is the answer, and which process to tackle first. Based in Chicago, working worldwide.