Our Team

JumpstartLab is a small team passionate about technical education.

Jeff Casimir

I started teaching in 2003 with Teach for America in my native Washington, DC. I first taught middle-school students, then taught Computer Science to high schoolers, and finally helped start a new charter middle school in a role most easily described as “Vice Principal.”

I love teaching developers because you are giving people the power to build their dreams.

Areas of Expertise: Ruby, Rails, Testing, jQuery

Steve Klabnik

I’ve been programming for several years and was always interested in education. Through my work on Hackety-Hack and Shoes, I’ve had the opportunity to help people get in to programming and love it.

Areas of Expertise: Ruby, Rails, Testing, C

Matt Yoho

I have worked as a software developer in a cross-section of industries, including academia, corporations, start-ups, and consultancies. I have volunteer-taught classes at local university on Ruby, Rails, and web development, and helped build internship and apprenticeship initiatives within my employers. My college background is in Software Engineering and Psychology.

I love the unique challenge of conveying an idea, simple or complex, to the mind of a student, and helping to create opportunities forpassionate folks ready to capitalize on them.

Areas of Expertise: Ruby, Rails, jQuery, BDD, Git

Nick Gauthier

At Johns Hopkins University I got my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science as well as a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I taught Tae Kwon Do for a few years while also learning Ruby on Rails doing web consulting. This unique combination of credentials qualifies me for training actual Rails Ninjas.

Areas of Expertise: Ruby, Rails, Backbone.js, JavaScript, Tae Kwon Do