# About Carter Steinhoff

> From COBOL on an American Express mainframe to an independent product design and full-stack development practice in Phoenix.

Carter's path spans systems that cannot go down, production WordPress publishing, modern JavaScript applications, agency delivery, independent consulting, and technical teaching. The range matters because product, content, application, and infrastructure decisions affect one another.

## American Express · 2015

Carter began by writing COBOL for high-volume transaction programs after dedicated mainframe training. The work established a lasting habit: read unfamiliar systems carefully, change them conservatively, and respect the blast radius of a mistake.

## Passport Health · 2016–2017

Front-end development and WordPress work introduced page templates used across a large clinic network, alongside content modeling, search optimization, analytics, and the practical limits of a production CMS.

## Starting over · 2017–2019

After a layoff, Carter returned to a web development classroom to build the modern JavaScript foundation beneath the CMS experience, then worked at a digital marketing agency where scope, budgets, and deadlines tested those decisions.

## Independent work · 2019–present

Freelancing through Upwork grew into an independent practice centered on direct communication, honest scoping, and ownership of the finished outcome. Carter later co-owned a life-sciences web studio and now takes on product and platform work independently.

## Teaching · 2020–present

As a Nucamp instructor, Carter runs workshops in React, React Native, DevOps, and cybersecurity. Teaching reinforces clear tradeoffs, documented decisions, and handoffs another person can use.

## Now · Phoenix, Arizona

The work joins design and infrastructure in one practice: complete products designed and built by the same person, then carried into production.

- [Review case studies](https://cartersteinhoff.co/portfolio/index.md)
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