Origin File: SoloNerds
The story behind the rescue squad.
I created SoloNerds after retiring from the U.S. Navy (24 years).
My whole career lived on the edge of technology — troubleshooting, R&D, systems that had to work, and problems that didn't have simple answers. I've always loved building: web apps, sensors, automation, neural nets, LLM pipelines — anything that turns ideas into reality.
I'm a nerd… but more importantly, I'm a debugger.
The "impossible" problems were usually the ones I got pulled into. And I got good at solving them fast — not because I'm a wizard, but because I've spent years in the trenches: reading logs, tracing state, ripping through dependencies, and building a mental model of what's actually happening.
Now we're in the era of AI coding.
And it's incredible — people with no traditional coding background are shipping products inside businesses. That's not bad. That's progress.
But AI can only go as far as the engineer driving it.
Put a senior full-stack dev and a new vibe coder on the same AI project, and the senior dev wins every time — because foundations matter:
System Design
Understanding how pieces fit together—not just making them work in isolation.
Debugging Instincts
Years of reading logs, tracing state, and building mental models of what's actually happening.
Trade-offs
Knowing when to optimize, when to ship, and what corners you can actually cut safely.
Safety + Scalability
Building things that don't just work today—they work when 10x users show up tomorrow.
…and knowing what to ignore.
"The language is the paint.
The fundamentals are the brush."
What I see under the hood
When I pop the hood on a failing "vibe-coded" codebase, it's usually the same story:
wires everywhere, duplicated logic, redundant calls, half-refactors, mystery side effects, and scary production behavior.
For most people, it takes days to untangle.
For the right nerd, it's a rescue mission.
That's what SoloNerds is:
A network of battle-tested builders who can jump in, fix what matters, ship clean commits, and get you back to moving forward.
No agencies.
No meetings about meetings.
Just nerds.
Want to join the squad?
We're always looking for fellow nerds who get it. The ones who've spent years building the instincts that can't be prompted into existence. If you're the person your friends call when their code is cursed, you might be one of us.
Apply for clearance here. The application takes about 6-8 minutes and screens for real capability, not just credentials.
How We Operate
SoloNerds connects clients directly with independent freelance developers. We're not an agency—we don't employ the nerds or manage the projects. We curate the circle and facilitate the connection. All work is performed directly between parties. See our Terms of Service for details.