Career
The Journey
Every logo on this page is a person I learned from, a problem I wrestled with, or a lesson that changed how I think. This isn't a client list — it's a career told through the places that shaped it.
2009 – 2010
The Starting Line
Where it all began
An internship, a government gig, and the realization that writing code for a living was actually possible. Everything was ASP.NET and stored procedures and not knowing what you didn't know.
The names on the wall
—Show up, ask questions, write documentation even when nobody asks you to.
2011 – 2014
The Commerce Years
IBM WebSphere & Fortune 500s
Spent three years deep in IBM WebSphere Commerce — the enterprise e-commerce world where every deployment took hours and every client had a different definition of "standard." Ascendant got acquired by Avnet, and I kept shipping for Costco, Caterpillar, Wolters Kluwer, and more.
The names on the wall
—Enterprise scale teaches patience. Also, never underestimate the complexity of a product catalog.
2014 – 2017
The Mobile Era
Hybrid apps & the consulting grind
Mobile architecture became the thing. Ionic, AngularJS, Cordova — building apps that worked on both platforms when "write once, run anywhere" was still more aspiration than reality. Started Two Car Garage, my first real company. Worked with energy companies, retailers, trucking firms. A new client every few months.
The names on the wall
—Running a company and writing code at the same time is a special kind of exhaustion. Worth it.
2017 – 2020
The Architecture Years
Hertz, IoT, and finding the gear
Stepped up to Senior Architect at Zilker. This is where Hertz happened — the rates engine that got a 6,000% performance improvement. Also went deep on IoT with Quantico Energy and ClearBlade, building sensor pipelines for oil & gas. Started thinking about systems differently.
The names on the wall
—Performance optimization is an addiction. Once you see what's possible, you can't unsee the waste.
2020 – 2022
The Big Leagues
EY, Chick-fil-A & enterprise transformation
Manager at EY, solution architect on a $20M Chick-fil-A digital transformation. This is where the CTO skillset solidified — not just building systems, but leading the vision, managing the engagement, writing the SoWs and PCRs. Architecture for 2,600+ restaurant locations. Offline-first POS with Ditto mesh networking.
The names on the wall
—Architecture at scale is 30% technical and 70% communication.
2022 – 2023
The Supply Chain
Wayfair — $5M in savings
Senior engineer in Wayfair's supply chain tech group. Found data flow inefficiencies that were costing the company millions. Built the event-driven solution that saved $5M+ annually. Mentored junior engineers. Learned that the most valuable code is sometimes the code that stops other code from being wrong.
The names on the wall
—The biggest impact often comes from fixing what nobody thought was broken.
2023 – Present
The Builder
Founding, leading, shipping
This is the chapter being written right now. Founded Firefly Events — three products, 8,000+ daily events, Kotlin Multiplatform. Then Frontiers Market — Edge AI on Raspberry Pi clusters, fintech escrow, and a native Swift app for cattle ranchers in Montana. Building the things I want to exist.
The names on the wall
—The best work happens when you stop optimizing for someone else's roadmap.
Still going. Still learning.
15+
Years
30+
Companies
7
Industries
3
Founded
The Wall
Every logo is a lesson. Every name is a person who taught me something.
Every one of these shaped how I think about building things. The professional breakdown lives on the other site.
See the professional version → mdostal.com