About Jesse Knowles
Quick facts
Jesse is a developer who has a passion for animation and interactive development. Most of his work involves web development, Flash development, ExpressionEngine development and even iPhone (iOS) development. He has worked with dozens of internationally recognized brands including Disney, Rolex, NBC, Hyatt and Sony. His attention to detail and deep affection for animation has allowed him to produce several award winning websites throughout the years.
Outside of work hours, Jesse loves spending time outdoors and with his beautiful wife. He enjoys photography, hiking, biking, kayaking, playing soccer, travelling to new places and pretty much any outdoor activity.
Education and Training
He grew up in central Canada and received an athletic scholarship to John Brown University, located in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. While there, Jesse double majored in Digital Media and Graphic Design. He was on the Deans academic list, received an additional communication scholarship and played 4 years on the varsity soccer team. Shortly after graduating in the summer of 2001, he found himself working in Washington DC as a Flash designer and developer. Jesse's Flash skills were growing very quickly and he was asked to speak at the local flash users group in DC on shape tweening in Flash.
Jesse was then hired by a small interactive agency in Orlando, Florida. He was the interactive director and designed and developed more flash websites. In Orlando, Jesse began working with PHP and other languages due to project needs. He began to have a passion for integrating Flash with databases and learning PHP. He even developed a custom content management system for Flash based websites. In Orlando Jesse was hired to do several photo shoots, helping to instill a passion for photography that remains with him today.
In January of 2005 Jesse was lured away from the sandy beaches to take a flash development role with Critical Mass in Calgary, Alberta. At CM, Jesse increased his knowledge of flash and of different programming design patterns including Model-View-Controller, which he uses to this day. Jesse worked on several highly recognized brands at CM including Mercedes Benz and Dell, he was even the lone Flash Developer working on the Pampers account producing several interactive flash mini-sites for them. He also created 2 award winning mini-sites for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association (LVCVA) which were used to attract new visitors to the city and it also received an Adobe site of the day award.
His Company
The following year Jesse decided to follow his dream and start his own company. In the summer of 2006, Kinoli was born, it was derived from a nickname he received in university. Jesse owns and operates Kinoli full-time and has desired to keep the business small and to hire outside designers and developers when the need arises. He continues to learn new technologies and to broaden his skills. Seeing a change in the industry, he now does a lot of work with ExpressionEngine, the web's premiere content management system and he even develops iPhone and iPad applications. He has been fortunate enough to work with many local companies including TransCanada Pipelines, ARC Resources and Parks Canada, as well as several companies in the United States.
In the winter of 2010, Jesse happily married the love of his life, Katherine. She puts up with his long work hours and cheerfully supports his many endeavors.
In the spring of 2011, Jesse launched a personal project called iGiftlist. It is a free online gift list allowing members to easily add items into their gift lists from any store they wish. It also recommends related discounts for any item in a person's gift list in hopes that someone will buy the items in their list. Jesse created this website in PHP building a custom content management system to manage the lists and the coupons.
The rest is yet to be written...
