John Carlson @Jawnnypoo

Hey there, I'm John.

I'm a serious developer trying not to take life too seriously.

I create things with my friends under Commit 451

Portfolio

Here is a sample of some work I've done, professionally and personally. I've also done tons of work as an open sourcerer, which is up on GitHub under both Jawnnypoo and Commit 451. Android/Kotlin is my passion, but I have experience in all kinds of technologies including TypeScript, Ruby and Flutter, CI/CD via GitHub Actions and GitLab Pipelines, and local LLMs. Please reach out if you would like a more formal resume as a PDF.

Instacart

Instacart • 2018 - Present

At Instacart, I spent a year and a half on the growth team, working on revamping login/sign up to a version 2, which allowed it to be controlled by the server, reordering fields and specifying configuration like password requirements dynamically from the backend. After that came Search, which includes both autosuggest and search results, as well as cross retailer search. Then, on to the CarrotAI/Chatbot team where we integrated LLM results into search and created an interactive Chatbot in the app. Next up, the SRX (Single Retailer Experience) team where we worked within Storefront, item details and more to enhance the experience. And now, most recently on the Meals team, where we are building out a zero to one effort to give people access to the meals they love within the app.

Cooking Matters

Savvy Apps • 2017

We partnered with Share Our Strength to create Cooking Matters, which provides over 100 budget-friendly, nutritious, and delicious recipes for busy families. You can search recipes by ingredient, cook time, allergies, and more. Meal planning is made easy with the weekly meal planner that integrates with the recipes.

Jellies

Savvy Apps • 2018

Jellies is a safe, curated environment for kids to watch videos. This app includes subscriptions on the Amazon app store, and uses Exoplayer to play back videos. Some unique challenges we faced included rejection from Google to add the app to the Play Store, and dealing with the limitations of YouTube and their API.

Pocket Prep

Savvy Apps • 2016

Hundreds of exam practice questions at your fingertips. Over 30 apps, including exam prep for ATI TEAS, PHR, CISM, etc. This app used Parse Platform as its backend, and eventually I ended up contributing a lot to their Android SDK.

SHRM Certification

Savvy Apps • 2017

SHRM, or the Society for Human Resource Management, has an app for getting certified. You can find nearby approved activities in your area, and even add professional development credits using the app. Fun fact, this was the first app I ever worked on with Kotlin! (back when it was 0.8.0!)

BoatUS

Savvy Apps • 2018

So much more than a boat insurance app. You can use this app to get hurricane alerts, see the current and future tide charts, and even call for an emergency tow without having to talk to an operator. A unique challenge with this app was sourcing the weather, tides, and other data from so many different sources to bring it all together for the user.

Customized Communications

Oven Bits • 2016

Our team at Oven Bits worked with Customized Communications to create a series of apps that help women track their journey to parenthood. Women can use the app to track their contractions, immunization records, hospital appointments, and much more.

LUSH Cosmetics

Oven Bits • 2015 - 2016

At Oven Bits, under the Pivot E-Commerce team, our team created native iOS and Android apps for our client, LUSH Cosmetics USA. We integrated with an existing Demandware backend to create a custom app, full of social content and fun animations. The app works with both their Canadian and United States storefronts.

GameStop

Ludomade • 2015

GameStop gives power to the players via their native apps for iOS and Android. With only two Android developers creating the 2.0 native app, I helped integrate material design and 5.0 features, created an RSS reader for connecting to GameInformer feeds, and led other features such as Saved Searches and Preorder tracking.

NBC

Bottle Rocket • 2014

NBC called upon Bottle Rocket's AWE team to create apps for their major channels, including NBC proper. I worked with a team to apply custom designs to these channels' individual apps. I also contributed to the AWE video playback framework, fixing obscure MediaPlayer issues and other fun things.

SPG

Bottle Rocket • 2013

For the SPG app, I contributed to the SPG Keyless experience, which allows you to check into their hotels via the app and get a digital key to your room at supported hotels. I also worked on the guest special preferences feature which allowed guests to specify their room preferences when booking their stay.

Askarasu

Commit 451 • 2025 - Present

You vs. the AI. Askarasu is a word trivia game with a twist — you're chatting with an AI that knows the answer, but won't just tell you. Ask yes/no questions, narrow down the possibilities, and guess the word before the day is over and the challenge expires. Think fast. Ask smart. Beat the AI. Created using Kotlin Multiplatform, Compose Multiplatform, Ktor for HTTP requests, Koog for interfacing with our AI provider, and deployed to Google Cloud Run, using RevenueCat for in app purchases, Firebase Cloud Messaging for push, and Admob for ads.

Salamander AI

Commit 451 • 2025 - Present

With the power of AI, you can always have a presence at your computer. Stay productive, even when you are away from keyboard. Connect your phone to your computer, create a runner, choose a directory, and start a conversation with your AI. While it does the work, you can be out doing something you love — and when it's done, you get a push notification, ready for the next task.

LabCoat

Commit 451 • 2015 - Present

LabCoat is a native Android app built in Kotlin you can use to connect to and view projects hosted on a GitLab server. Currently the most starred Kotlin project on GitLab.com and the 7th most starred project of all GitLab.com repos, it was created to give back to the GitLab community, and has over 50,000 installs on the Play Store. Enjoyed by the CTO of GitLab. Did I mention it is open source?

365 Journals

Commit 451 • 2015 - Present

My wife and I created this app to help people maintain a daily journal, prompting them with 366 different questions, one for each day. When you finish out a year of entries, you come back to the same questions, and can compare what you wrote the previous year to what you wrote this year. With over 90,000 installs on the Play Store, we love to hear about how it has changed lives by giving people somewhere to focus some of their writing and feelings.

open meh

Commit 451 • 2016 - Present

meh.com is a quirky site that gives you a different deal of the day every 24 hours. open meh is an open source Android app based on the meh.com API. The API sends back a "theme" that the app uses to dynamically color the UI for each different deal. Through creating this app, we created our open source library, Easel, which helps you tint Android views with ease.

Who What Where

Commit 451 • 2016 - Present

Word games can be tons of fun, and we wanted to bring that experience to mobile so that others could enjoy a good word game without needing cards, pen and paper, or even a timer. Who What Where gives you a who, a what, and a where, and it is your job to get your teammates to guess all three, and score a point for your team.

Linkipedia

Commit 451 • 2015 - 2020

Wikipedia fun! A race from one subject to another by clicking links within Wikipedia articles. After playing this game with friends using our browsers, we decided it would be a fun app to create.

GeoTune

Commit 451 • 2014 - 2015

One day at work, we thought it would be cool and funny if every time our project manager walked into the office, "Turn Down for What" would play. With this inspiration, Commit 451 created GeoTune. GeoTune lets you set geofences wherever you want and will play a notification tone or any other media when you enter that geofence.