You are currently viewing the personal website of Jason Schwab, an IT professional, lifelong student, photographer, traveler, and husband living in Chicago.
In 2009 I married my highschool sweetheart. Someone once told me the the most important decision you will make in life is who to spend the rest of it with. I can say without a doubt that I couldn't have made a better decision! She pushes me to be a better person and together we make a fantastic team. She is currently a medical resident (Med/Peds) at Loyola University Hospital in Chicago. We live in downtown Chicago and absolutely love it!
After many years of working as a software and web developer in the IT industry I decided it was time to finish my graduate and undergraduate degree. I completed the remaining 80 credits (24 classes) of my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Information Systems (CIS) in 1 year with straight A's, graduating magna cum laude. I then finished an MBA with a GPA of 3.7! This experience pushed me to the limit and taught me that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
Currently, I am studying for a few professional certifications such as the Project Management Professional Certification (PMP).
With over ten years of industry experience, I provide a diverse range of creative, technical, and management expertise to the projects I work on. In doing so I strive to build and manage projects that are user friendly, elegant, effective and engaging. I also strive to accurately represent the clients expectations and desires in the finished product. The most important part of IT projects is to create an end product that provides a positive gain for your clients.
My areas of interest include business strategy, management, healthcare informatics, data mining, systems analysis, and intuitive user interface design. I embrace technology standards, support the open source movement, and actively participate in and contribute to the social web.
It all started back in 2000 when I was hired fresh out of highschool by a entrepreneur named Kevin Moore to build websites for his many businesses. He taught me my first line of html code and gave me my first "real" job. Thanks Kevin!
I work hard and I like to play hard as well. I'm an avid mountain biker, amateur photographer, and kiteboarding wannabe.
After moving to Michigan in 2008 I fell in love with mountain biking. Tearing through the woods as fast as possible on a bike you can pick up with one finger is my form of therapy. In the summer months this is where you will most likely find me in my free time. I was elected to the Board of Directors for the Western Michigan Mountain Biking Association (WMMBA) in 2009, an advocacy group that builds, maintains, and supports mountain biking trails throughout West Michigan.
In 2008 my good friend Tom Wurr gave me a Canon 40d for Christmas. This marked the beginning of a hobby that will most likely consume my time and disposable income for the foreseeable future. Currently, I'm obsessed with High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography. Some photographers I admire include Trey Ratcliff & Pablo Yanez. You can check out some of my current work here...
In 2010 in preparation for our honeymoon in the Southern Caribbean, my wife and I bought a kiteboard. We spent 3 days in Barbados taking lessons and realized that its a little harder than we anticipated. Our goal for 2012 is to learn both water and snow kiteboarding in the Chicago area.
As you can see from the list on the right side of this page, I get around (the world that is!). Traveling teaches you things that books and words cannot describe, and is the reason I love to do it.