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JAMES 'JAMIE' KOVACH III
Engineer by nature. Director by choice. Father by design.
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About the Engineer
It started with an Atari 400 in 1982 and never really stopped. From BASIC and Assembly on 8-bit hardware to COBOL, Pascal, and dBASE on IBM compatibles — the languages and machines changed, but the obsession didn't. That early foundation eventually grew into a discipline spanning full-stack engineering, networking, electronics, robotics, CAD, and 3D printing.
Over more than four decades I've moved from writing my first programs to architecting enterprise systems — and from tinkering in a garage to directing multi-million-dollar technical operations. I've built electronic medical records from the ground up, designed interoperability frameworks for building automation systems, and delivered dealer portals that process real-world commerce.
Today I bring both the hands-on instincts of a craftsman and the strategic vision of a seasoned director. Whether the challenge is code, infrastructure, hardware, or people — I build systems that work. This site itself runs on a personal Proxmox homelab stack, because the best way to demonstrate what you know is to put it to use.
Outside of screens and schematics, I'm a father — which, if you think about it, is just another long-term engineering project with a much higher tolerance for chaos.
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Technical Expertise
Full Stack Engineering
End-to-end application development from database architecture to pixel-perfect UI. LAMP stack roots with modern framework fluency.
Networking & Infrastructure
Enterprise network design, administration, and security. From cabling closets to cloud architecture — I've built and run it all.
CAD Design
Precision mechanical and electrical design. Translating concepts from napkin sketch to production-ready technical drawings.
3D Printing
FDM and resin printing for rapid prototyping and production parts. Deep knowledge of materials, slicing parameters, and post-processing.
Robotics
Microcontroller programming, sensor integration, and mechanical system design. Building machines that move, sense, and respond.
// 03
Career Timeline
Atari 400 → 800
It started with an Atari 400 — membrane keyboard, cartridge slot, and a 12-year-old who had no idea his life just changed directions. BASIC came first, then Assembly. By the time the 800 arrived, casual curiosity had become something closer to compulsion.
COBOL, Pascal & dBASE
The jump to IBM-compatible opened a new world. COBOL and Pascal brought structure and discipline. dBASE introduced the power of data — and the satisfaction of a well-designed query. CP/M, DOS, and early OS/2 were the proving grounds. Then came Delphi, and with it, object-oriented programming. A genuine paradigm shift.
Bare Metal Programming
Fresh out of high school and already solving problems nobody had a clean solution for. At one of the largest real estate appraisal firms in the country, the challenge was getting highly specific appraisal forms to print precisely and professionally at scale. The answer was a custom-programmed font cartridge for the HP LaserJet II — built from scratch to produce output that looked like it belonged in a boardroom, not a dot-matrix fever dream.
Director of Medical Information Systems — Cedarwood Medical Center
Started at the helpdesk. Left as a Director. The ascent was fast because the work demanded it — overseeing an HBOC medical billing platform processing millions of dollars in claims daily, where downtime isn't an inconvenience, it's a crisis. Beyond keeping the lights on, played a pivotal role in bringing the region's very first Electronic Medical Records system online. The experience planted a seed that would later grow into building one from scratch.
Director of Operations — Largest ISP in SW Michigan
Running operations for the dominant Internet Service Provider in Southwest Michigan during the most chaotic and exciting stretch in the history of the web. The role demanded equal parts engineering, leadership, and improvisation. The highlight — and a legitimate piece of internet history — was the first-ever live broadcast of a United States President over the internet. George H.W. Bush, speaking at Lake Michigan College, carried live on WSJM and streamed to the world. First. Ever.
KnewsDirector
Radio stations had websites. What they didn't have was a way to manage text, images, audio, and video from a single platform — so that platform got built. KnewsDirector shipped to stations across the country and did something no other CMS had done at the time. The early Yahoo MRSS integration wasn't a feature request; it was seeing where the web was heading and getting there ahead of the crowd.
Medical Net Systems — EMR
The Cedarwood years had shown what a well-run medical information system could do for a facility. This was the next step — building one from scratch. A full Electronic Medical Record platform designed to handle the complete patient lifecycle, from intake through billing, with HIPAA compliance baked in from the ground up rather than bolted on afterward.
Johnson Controls — Infotainment Compatibility
Every car buyer who ever asked "will my phone work with this?" got their answer through this system. A web-based platform built for Johnson Controls' OEM division, ingesting raw Bluetooth compatibility data from their device testing labs and serving it to major automotive manufacturers' showrooms and websites. Full ownership: hardware stack, database architecture, front-end interface.
3D Printing Instructor — Krasl Art Museum
When the Krasl Art Museum wanted to bring 3D printing to their community, they needed someone who actually knew what they were doing. The intersection of emerging fabrication technology and a fine arts institution made for a genuinely interesting classroom — introducing students to a tool that sits right on the border between engineering and creative expression.
Full Stack Engineer — Interlink Group
Seven years in and the scope keeps expanding. The role covers the full technical spectrum — from writing application code to owning the infrastructure it runs on. Network engineering on Cisco and Meraki, security operations with Wazuh and Graylog, virtualization on Proxmox, cloud work in Azure, and server administration across Linux and cPanel environments. DevOps and SecOps aren't job titles here — they're daily practice.
Ansible, N8N & AI Agents
The latest chapter. Infrastructure automation with Ansible, workflow orchestration through N8N, and building with AI agents — putting emerging tools to practical use rather than just watching from the sidelines. After 44 years, the instinct to be early to what's next hasn't changed.
Builder, Maker, Tinkerer
Robotics projects, 3D printing, CAD design, and staying current with emerging technology. Because some people can't stop building things — and I am one of those people.
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Notable Projects
Medical Net Systems
Electronic Medical Record
Ground-up design and development of a full Electronic Medical Record system. Built to handle the complete patient lifecycle — from intake and scheduling through clinical documentation, billing, and reporting — while meeting strict HIPAA compliance requirements.
Key Features
- › Full patient lifecycle management
- › HIPAA-compliant data architecture
- › Clinical workflow automation
- › Billing & reporting modules
- › Multi-provider, multi-location support
Stack
American Cargo Group
Dealer Portal
Six years in, this is still the project that gets the most of me. What started as a dealer portal evolved into a comprehensive commercial trailer configuration platform — letting dealers walk a customer from blank canvas to signed quote without ever leaving the browser. The front end is CakePHP 4, Bootstrap, and jQuery sitting on Apache. Underneath that is an Epicor ERP backend anchored to Microsoft SQL Server, with custom T-SQL stored procedures and scheduled jobs written to keep the data pipeline moving. The database work crosses into DBA territory — because at this level of complexity, someone has to own it.
Key Features
- › Interactive trailer build-up & configuration engine
- › Real-time pricing & quoting system
- › Epicor ERP integration layer
- › Custom T-SQL stored procedures & SQL Agent jobs
- › DBA responsibilities — performance, maintenance, integrity
- › Full dealer network portal & management
- › Order lifecycle management
Stack
Johnson Controls
In-Dash Infotainment Compatibility Platform
Every car buyer who ever asked "will my phone work with this?" got their answer through this system. Built in 2012 for Johnson Controls' OEM division, this platform ingested raw Bluetooth compatibility data straight from their device testing labs and transformed it into a polished, consumer-facing experience deployed across major automotive manufacturers' showrooms and websites. End-to-end ownership: hardware stack, database architecture, and the front-end interface.
Key Features
- › Hardware stack design & specification
- › SQL schema for structured lab test ingestion
- › Consumer-facing compatibility lookup UI
- › iOS & Android device coverage
- › Multi-brand OEM deployment pipeline
- › Lab data → dealership floor in one system
Stack
Midwest Family Broadcasting
Town Crier Wire
Digital news wire system for a regional broadcasting group, automating the collection, editorial workflow, and multi-channel distribution of local news content to affiliated broadcast stations and digital properties.
Key Features
- › Automated content ingestion
- › Editorial workflow management
- › Multi-channel broadcast distribution
- › Affiliate station syndication
- › Real-time breaking news pipeline
Stack
KnewsDirector
Radio Broadcast CMS
Before "multimedia content management" was a product category, it was a problem — and this was the solution. KnewsDirector was purpose-built for radio stations across the United States, and it got there first: the first CMS to unify text, images, audio, and video streams in a single publishing platform. Digital media was stored directly in MySQL BLOB fields, a pragmatic architectural choice that kept the stack lean and portable. It was also among the earliest platforms to integrate with Yahoo MRSS feeds, putting stations' content into the emerging syndication ecosystem before most of the industry knew that ecosystem existed.
Key Features
- › First CMS to publish text, image, audio & video in one platform
- › MySQL BLOB architecture for digital media storage
- › Early Yahoo MRSS feed integration
- › Deployed across radio stations nationwide
- › Full content lifecycle — create, manage, publish, syndicate
Stack
WHT.tv
Roku Channel
Roku isn't exactly known for welcoming roll-your-own development, but that's exactly what this was. Designed and shipped a fully custom Roku channel for WHT.tv, bringing the network's content to living room screens across the platform's massive installed base. From content feed architecture to the on-device UI, a full-stack problem with a remote control as the interface.
Key Features
- › Custom Roku channel development
- › Content feed design & integration
- › On-device UI for 10-foot viewing experience
- › Video streaming pipeline
- › Roku platform certification & publishing
Stack
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Get In Touch
Whether you're looking to build something ambitious, need technical leadership, or just want to talk shop — I'm reachable.