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Summary

I am a web developer, ASP.NET programmer, social media enthusiast, blogger, video and photography hobbyist, idea guy, creative problem-solver, avid reader, life-long learner, and the person everyone goes to when they need answers to anything web-related. I have strong communication skills and enjoy interacting with other people.

 

Lift Development was originally formed as a side project of mine in 2003. As my experience with web design,  programming, and marketing increased, so did my desire to offer these skills to organizations through my own company. The primary purpose of Lift Development is "advancement through web-related technology."

I've done everything from building simple websites for small businesses to developing custom web applications for large corporations.  I've helped clients utilize social media to market their businesses and offer customer service to their client base.  I am very passionate about Web 2.0 and I am able to offer a fresh approach to web projects of all sizes.

I obtained my Bachelor's degree in Marketing and Finance from Bethel University in 1999 and later completed a one-year Web Development certification from NEI College of Technology (Now Dunwoody). I currently reside in Grand Rapids, MN with my wife and daughters.

Related Work History

Lift Development LLC

Grand Rapids, MN, United States
Nov 2007 - Present
Owner 

My role as owner of Lift Development is to help organizations create a successful online presence. I do this in three main areas: design, development, and deployment. 

 

DESIGN - I work with clients to design websites that are professional and appealing in both appearance and content.

 

DEVELOPMENT - If features beyond static content are required, I am able to develop custom functionality using  ASP.NET and SQL Server, as well as proprietary platforms such as WordPress and Shopify.

 

DEPLOYMENT - Upon completion of a web project, I work with clients to spread the word about their presence through social media, email newsletters, quality video, and other interactive means.

Vencio

St. Paul, MN, United States
Oct 2003 - Mar 2008
Web Application Developer 

I did primarily ASP.NET programming for many sites that including eCommerce, online registrations, certifications, etc. Essentially, I worked with any type of sites that input or output info from a database. I started an internship with Vencio in 2003 and was hired as a programmer shortly thereafter.  Vencio is now known as Pinpoint 360.

Showcase Designs

St. Paul, MN, United States
Jan 2002 - Dec 2003
Marketing Assistant 

Started as a part-time cabinet builder while attending school and eventually moved into sales and marketing. Developed and maintained company's website, made sales calls, and helped execute targeted advertising campaigns.

The Salvation Army - Northern Division

Roseville, MN, United States
Jan 1999 - Mar 2001
Database & Systems Specialist 

Duties included generating custom reports based on donor database, executing mail-merge campaigns, and responding to donor inquiries and requests for The Salvation Army Northern Division Headquarters (covering MN and ND).

Education

Dunwoody

Minneapolis, MN, United States
2002 - 2003
Web Development Diploma

Completed a one-year certification in web development and e-business.

Bethel College

St. Paul, MN, United States
1995 - 1999
Bachelor of Arts, Business

Completed four-year business B.A. program in 3.5 years with an emphasis in marketing and finance.

Skills

ASP.NET Web Programming

(Expert)
5-6 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

Primary development environment is MS Visual Web Developer/Visual Studio using VB.NET language. Some experience with C#.  Past applications include ecommerce, event registration, event management, custom surveys, image upload/management, online classifieds, and many profile-based authentication systems.

HTML/CSS Layouts (primarily in Adobe Dreamweaver)

(Rockstar)
7-9 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

All current website design done using table-less structure through separate html and css entities. Emphasis on organic SEO methods during the development process.

Web Layouts in Adobe Photoshop

(Expert)
5-6 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

My personal design process usually starts with wireframes, then conversion to full-color layouts, then finally slicing exporting for assembly in Dreamweaver using html/css.

Wordpress Development

(Expert)
1-2 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

I've built full Wordpress-based sites from both scratch and as adaptations of existing themes. Experience installing, updating, and moving installations including data manipulation in MySQL. Many current Lift Development client sites use Wordpress as a CMS.  My blog for freelancers and teleworkers (AnywhereMan.com) is a Wordpress-based site.

Video Production

(Intermediate)
3-4 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_2

Primary HD video-editing environment for the past year has been Sony Vegas Pro 8 on PC, but have now also started to use iMovie on the Mac for rapid simple video editing/rendering. I typically host my videos on Vimeo, YouTube, and Viddler.

Database Management in SQL Server

(Expert)
5-6 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

Experience includes database design, stored procedures, tables, queries, views, T-SQL, and DTS packages.

Social Media

(Rockstar)
3-4 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

From Facebook to Twitter to Plaxo to Flickr to YouTube to Vimeo to Tumblr to LinkedIn to Amplify, I actively use a large assortment of social media sites out there today.  And I don't just use them: I've done everything from picking up new clients on Twitter to winning an all-expenses paid trip to a tech conference in Florida by spreading the word about it on various social media platforms. 

Google

(Rockstar)
7-9 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

The most important skill I learned back when I first started developing for the web was that even if I didn't know the answer, Google did. I would estimate that 95% of my knowledge today can be traced back to specifc searches on Google. I live much of my professional life in the Google-cloud, including Gmail, Documents, Calendar, Reader, Picasa, YouTube, Analytics, Webmaster Tools, AdManager, AdSense, AdWords, and even Orkut and Wave.

Email Marketing & Design

(Expert)
5-6 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

I've designed, tested, and executed email campaigns with recipient lists of 100,000+ for Fortune 500 clients.  I'm knowledgeable of CAN-SPAM compliance and email design standards.

AJAX

(Advanced)
3-4 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_3

Experience developing using AJAX-related frameworks such as jQuery, mootools, and built-in ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX controls.

Ecommerce

(Expert)
3-4 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

I've developed several ecommerce sites on a variety of platforms including Shopify, Volusion, and ASPDotNetStorefront. I've also built ecommerce systems from scratch using ASP.NET.

Selected Portfolio

References

Leslie Chow

(Client)
Owner Iconic Sport 415 861 3603

“Dave is knowledgeable, very responsive, reliable, creative and great to work with! He has been a terrific resource for us in improving our website and keeping it up-to-date with new collections each season and updates to our ASP.netStorefront application.”

Todd Foret

(Client)
Owner Noitworld.com 928.271.5508

“Dave is a super guy first and foremost. His knowledge of web design is just staggering. His ability to take your ideas and enhance them is just amazing. We worked with Dave on our Noitworld site and the entire project was seamless with Dave at the helm. We are in Arizona and Dave is in Minnesota, so many of our conversations were either through email or over the phone. His keen ability to listen to your ideas and enhance them into the ideal format is second to none. We are so pleased with the end result that we can honestly say there is no one else Noitworld would rather work with than Dave Yankowiak. Thank you Dave.”

Colin Hirdman

(Superior)
President (former) Vencio Inc

“Not only is Dave a wonderful programmer, but he's an even better person. His communication skills are unmatched by anyone I've ever encountered in the programming world. He is professional, honest and great at what he does...I highly recommend!”

Sarah Batten

(Client)
Event Director Fidelity National Info Services

“Dave is great to work with...he understands our company needs, often works within a tight time frames, handles multiple changes to projects without complaint and with humor, answers dumb questions from non-website savvy me and produces a final output that works just the way we need it to.”

Youa Saychou

(Client)
Associate Partner & Head of Marketing Y6Sigma

“I had the pleasure of working with Dave on several projects during my employment with GE Money - WMC Mortgage as a Marketing Manager. He is very thorough, consistent and trustworthy when it comes to delivering project initiatives on time and within scope. The work Dave provided was always impeccable and definitely added value to the overall objectives. His attitude is always that of a positive, patient and passionate nature -- He is very passionate about his work and it clearly shines through in his deliverables. Additionally, he was always available to answer any and all questions and was an absoute pleasure to work with!”

Martha Grace Reese

(Client)
President GraceNet Inc 314.963.3334

"Dave Yankowiak has rescued me! You can't imagine the relief to be able to hand a huge chunk of work to someone, explain quickly, and have him handle all the details. He consults, asks my preferences, is completely responsive, then does it. Quickly.  I LOVE the work he has done, we are about to shift into another phase of research where we'll use the site to collect and process immense amounts of data and stories for a new national, four-year study of two thousand churches. Dave's technical expertise is going to save me innumerable headaches and two years of salary for a data collector and coder. I am more than grateful!"