Ryan Masuga

Principal

I have over 20 years of experience in web development and consulting. That wasn't my original goal when I graduated college with a BFA in painting (web development didn't exist!), but it has served me well.

I enjoy spending lots of time letting my creative juices flow in Photoshop and Illustrator, reading, playing guitar, drums, and piano, studying chess, rooting for Michigan sports, riding my bike, and spending time with my wife, three kids, and our black lab.

Background

In the late 1990's, with a BFA degree in painting, I moved to New York City ostensibly to be an artist. Working at the famous Pearl Paint on Canal Street, my highlight was selling a watercolor set to Robert Hughes, the late art critic for Time Magazine.

In 1999, I moved back to Michigan and worked for a pre-press service bureau, learning the ropes of printing and graphics. The company decided to offer websites as a service, and tasked me with leading that initiative. I spent hours learning web development by reading books at Barnes & Noble, and built the company's site in Adobe Flash.

In 2003, I had various graphic design jobs, and started freelance web development on the side.

In 2006, I discovered ExpressionEngine, and was able to successfully launch my own business building sites on this platform.

In 2008 I built the corporate site for Pep Boys (a Fortune 500 company) with ExpressionEngine, which led to building sites for Toys'R'Us and Cost Plus World Market.

In 2009 I started devot-ee.com, an online marketplace for selling add-ons for ExpressionEngine. By 2015, devot:ee was the biggest, most highly visited unofficial website related to that platform. It is still operational today.

In 2010 I spoke about content management and version control at a conference in Leiden, The Netherlands.

In 2012 we executed touchscreens for the "Google Wall" powered by Google Elections, which could be seen at the presidential debates.

In 2014 I started a SaaS (software as a service) called Lamplighter to help ExpressionEngine agencies easily monitor the health of their client sites. I spoke about creating Lamplighter at a conference in Washington D.C. later that year.

In 2015 I wrote my first book: The Guide to ExpressionEngine Development.

In 2017 I wrote my second book: The Guide to Craft CMS Development.

In 2019: I spoke on the Commerce Minded podcast (EP16) about Managing Your Business Finances.

In 2022: I spoke on the RecalibrAgency Podcast about business development: Lessons Learned in Keeping Your Agency’s Business Development Train Rolling