01Traverse log

Experience

The traverse from 1999 to now, charted most-recent first: team leadership, design systems, performance, and a lot of shipped UI.

  1. to Present

    Universe Web Lead (since Feb 2022) · Senior Frontend Web Engineer · Remote

    • Own web performance, CDNs, large-scale SEO, and accessibility across the marketing web.
    • Manage six developers and run the hiring pipeline and technical interviews.
    • Built Playwright visual-regression testing, automated WebPageTest scripts, and Metabase performance dashboards.
    • Created and lead weekly Web Chats for the developer team.
    • Stack: React, Next.js, and Emotion/Styled Components on Netlify, AWS, and Cloudflare.
  2. to Present

    Freelance Front-End Web Developer · Self-Employed

    • Contract web development and JavaScript/PHP programming for design, advertising, and marketing firms, first across Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette, now Chicagoland.
    • CMS work spanning Adobe Business Catalyst, Craft CMS, Shopify, WordPress, ExpressionEngine, and static builds.
  3. to

    Trendsic Senior UI Developer / JavaScript Developer

    • Built product UI in Vue.js and early JAMstack stacks (Eleventy, Netlify, and AWS), including Soarveyor.
    • Developed Shopify storefronts with custom Liquid theming.
    • Handled client training, hosting and DNS management, QA, and recruitment.
  4. to

    Envoc Front-End Web Developer

    • Hand-crafted PSDs into responsive, cross-browser websites and application UIs.
    • Every build shipped SEO-friendly and ADA-compliant as a baseline, not an add-on.
  5. to

    FUSE (formerly 3 Lions Media) Lead Front-End Web Developer

    • Lead frontend developer plus PHP and JavaScript work across the agency's client roster.
    • Clients included NAPA Auto Parts, the Orange Bowl, Baton Rouge General, Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry, Boys & Girls Club, and Marucci Sports.
    • Owned SEO, hosting and domain management, and project estimates.
  6. to

    Transformyx Lead Front-End Web Developer & Web Project Manager

    • Converted hundreds of PSDs into standards-compliant HTML and CSS; migrated 300+ website templates to Adobe Graphics Server.
    • Frontend developer on DynaSite, a proprietary CMS serving 500+ clients.
    • Managed offshore and onshore designers and acted as the QA gatekeeper for everything that shipped.

02Crew lead

Leadership

Most of these two decades were spent leading the people doing the work, not just the work: teams, hiring pipelines, and the standards everything shipped against.

  • Teams managed

    Web Lead over six developers at Universe. Managed onshore and offshore designers at Transformyx, and interns and contractors at FUSE.

  • Hiring & interviews

    Built and run the hiring pipeline at Universe: sourcing, screening, technical interviews, onboarding, and training. Recruited at Trendsic and FUSE as well.

  • Standards & QA

    The QA gatekeeper for what shipped, owning coding standards, performance budgets, and accessibility baselines across the team.

  • Mentoring & culture

    Created and lead weekly Web Chats for developers, plus pod meetings and team-building. Company culture ambassador across two companies.

  • Project leadership

    Web Project Manager at Transformyx and project owner at FUSE: estimates, scope, client relationships, and delivery on top of the frontend build.

  • Community leadership

    Founder of Louisiana Designathon, organizer of Refresh Baton Rouge and Startup Weekend, and Web Design Chair on the Baton Rouge Social Media Association board.

03Citations

Publication & recognition

Independently verifiable: a published book, juried advertising awards, eight Anthropic certifications, and public recommendations.

Publication

Cover of jQuery 2.0 Animation Techniques Beginner's Guide by Adam Culpepper and Dan Wellman, Packt Publishing

jQuery 2.0 Animation Techniques

With Dan Wellman · Packt Publishing · 2013 · 292 pages · ISBN 9781782169642

A full-length, published guide to practical motion on the web, and the reason "I literally wrote the book on web animation" isn't a figure of speech.

The chapters run from subtle UI effects, form validation animation and image resizing, up to completely custom plugins: image slideshows and parallax background animations. Each one starts with a simple concept and builds it, step by step, into working interface motion.

Certifications

  • Claude Code 101

    Anthropic · Jun 2026

  • Claude Code in Action

    Anthropic · Jun 2026

  • Introduction to Agent Skills

    Anthropic · Jun 2026

  • Introduction to Model Context Protocol

    Anthropic · May 2026

  • Building with the Claude API

    Anthropic · May 2026

  • AI Fluency Framework & Foundations

    Anthropic · May 2026

  • AI Capabilities and Limitations

    Anthropic · May 2026

  • Claude 101

    Anthropic · May 2026

Recommendations

Adam is a frontend web wizard, natural leader and the glue that holds a team together. Adam has an incredible depth of frontend web knowledge and skill and was consistently able to tackle even the most difficult problems - and he did this while having a low ego that left him open minded and constantly learning new things. Adam cares deeply about his teammates and his team and has fast and deep insights into the challenges they are facing. He is always advocating strongly for his team behind the scenes and making sure they are properly supported and challenged. He is a great interviewer - making sure candidates are welcomed, treated well and that they are fairly and objectively evaluated. He is an ideas guy, and is always thinking of new ways to improve the business, the product, the team and himself.
Read all 36 on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)

Awards

  • Gold ADDY · Best of Show, 2008

    Scott Fence

  • Gold ADDY · Interactive, 2008

    Scott Fence

  • Silver ADDY

    Varsity Theatre

  • Gold ADDY · Digital Advertising, 2014

    Baton Rouge General, BRGeneral.org

  • Gold Aster, 2013

    Baton Rouge General, "Piece of Cake" site

  • Best of Baton Rouge, 2011

    Web site design & development

  • inRegister Magazine feature, 2012

    Louisiana Designathon

04Instrument kit

Skills

Modern tools first, grouped the way the work actually happens, from the core web platform to design systems in Figma.

Core & Accessibility

Core (17)

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • Web performance
  • A11y (Accessibility)
  • Best practices
  • Browser compatibility
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
  • Node.js
  • PHP
  • SQL
  • Responsive design
  • DOM scripting
  • TypeScript
  • Internationalization (i18n)
  • Localization (l10n)

Accessibility (6)

  • WCAG 2
  • Accessibility audits
  • Screen-reader testing
  • ADA compliance
  • W3C validation
  • Usability

Performance & Testing

Performance (14)

  • Core Web Vitals
  • Lighthouse
  • WebPageTest
  • Cloudflare
  • Performance audits
  • imgix
  • Cloudinary
  • CDN strategy
  • KeyCDN
  • Caching
  • Image optimization
  • Video optimization
  • WebP / AVIF
  • Metabase

Testing (6)

  • Playwright
  • Puppeteer
  • Visual regression
  • Automation testing
  • Cross-browser testing
  • WebPageTest automation

Frameworks & Templating

Frameworks (10)

  • Eleventy
  • React
  • Vue
  • Nuxt.js
  • Next.js
  • SSG (Static Site Generator)
  • htmx
  • Knockout
  • Durandal
  • RequireJS

Templating (7)

  • Nunjucks
  • Liquid
  • Liquid.js
  • Markdown
  • Handlebars
  • Mustache
  • Twig

Styling & Animation

Styling (16)

  • Design tokens
  • Nested CSS
  • CSS variables
  • CSS grid
  • CSS flexbox
  • Sass
  • Less
  • Bootstrap
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Material UI
  • SVG masks
  • Font icons
  • CSS masks & gradients
  • shadcn/ui
  • CSS Modules
  • styled-components

Animation (10)

  • GSAP
  • ScrollTrigger
  • Canvas
  • SVG
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery
  • CSS animations
  • Animated SVG
  • CSS parallax
  • Gradient text

Leadership & Delivery

Leadership (4)

  • Team leadership
  • Technical interviewing
  • Mentoring
  • Code review

Delivery (7)

  • Agile
  • Scrum
  • Kanban
  • Waterfall
  • Jira
  • Project estimation
  • Project planning

Platforms

  • Git
  • GitHub
  • GitHub Actions
  • GitHub Pages
  • JAMstack
  • Netlify
  • AWS
  • AWS S3
  • Shopify
  • WordPress
  • Headless CMS
  • GitLab
  • Bitbucket
  • cPanel / WHM
  • Docker
  • DNS management
  • Advanced DNS

Design & Media

Design (7)

  • Figma
  • Figma autolayout
  • Figma components
  • Design systems
  • Design tokens
  • Adobe XD
  • UI/UX design

Media (4)

  • Photoshop
  • Illustrator
  • Adobe Premiere
  • Lightroom

Backend, CMS & eCommerce

Backend & APIs (17)

  • Node.js
  • PHP
  • SQL
  • MySQL
  • SQL Server
  • Supabase
  • Firebase
  • REST APIs
  • JSON
  • Laravel
  • AJAX
  • Twilio
  • SendGrid
  • Google Maps API
  • SOAP
  • XML
  • YAML

CMS & eCommerce (11)

  • Netlify CMS
  • WordPress
  • Shopify
  • Craft CMS
  • AEM (Adobe Experience Manager)
  • Magento
  • ExpressionEngine
  • Forestry
  • Authorize.net
  • Stripe
  • PayPal

SEO & Marketing

SEO (4)

  • Technical SEO
  • Local SEO
  • Google Analytics
  • Structured data

Marketing (3)

  • Email marketing
  • SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
  • SMM (Social Media Marketing)

AI & Automation

AI (6)

  • Claude API
  • Anthropic Claude
  • Prompt engineering
  • AI fluency
  • ChatGPT
  • Midjourney

Automation (5)

  • Claude Code
  • Claude Code subagents
  • Claude Skills
  • AI agents
  • Model Context Protocol (MCP)

05Training

Education

  • 2010-2011

    University of Louisiana at Lafayette

    Photography

  • 2002-2004

    Baton Rouge School of Computers

    Computer Information Systems. Taught the CSS section of the web design program (6-week class); Student of the Month, October 2003; wrote 50+ desktop applications, including one downloaded 5,000+ times.

  • 2001-2002

    Baton Rouge Community College

    General Studies

06Community

Involvement

  • 2012-2020

    Louisiana Designathon

    Founder

  • 2011-2025

    Refresh Baton Rouge

    Organizer

  • 2013-2015

    Startup Weekend

    Organizer, Baton Rouge

  • 2011-2014

    Coastal Social

    Photography & planning, social media conference

  • 2011-2014

    Baton Rouge Social Media Association

    Board / Web Chair

  • 2011-2020

    Ronald McDonald House Charities

    Volunteer, New Orleans

  • 2006-2011

    American Advertising Federation

    Member, Baton Rouge

07Signal

Speaking

  • 2016

    SQL Saturday

    Rapid Prototyping with Google Spreadsheets and using your DBA budget for bacon

  • 2016

    AAF Student Conference

    Speaker

  • 2015

    SQL Saturday

    jQuery Animation Techniques for Beginners

  • 2015

    AAF Student Conference

    Speaker · Ahead of the Curve

  • 2014

    Envoc Teach

    High school tech class

08Next bearing

Put twenty years of frontend on your project.

Freelance and contract frontend development and UI design: Chicago, the Northwest suburbs, or fully remote. Send the job description, the Figma file, or just the idea.