Jared Stoneberg: From kitchens to code, craft is the constant

I spent nearly two decades in professional kitchens, from prep cook to sous chef, catering to fine dining, working across Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and beyond. Every service was a high-stakes performance where timing, preparation, and teamwork determined whether 200 guests had a memorable night or walked out disappointed.

When I discovered web development in the mid-2000s, something clicked. Building a website required the same front-loaded preparation: content audits became mise en place, design systems became standardized recipes, and deployment checklists became service flow. The parallels were impossible to ignore.

I adopted Drupal in 2006 because it embodied open-source collaboration, a community willing to share techniques, critique approaches, and help each other improve. That spirit reminded me of the best kitchen cultures I'd experienced, where knowledge flowed freely and everyone elevated the craft together.

Over the years, I've led web teams at Tableau, Salesforce, and Veeva, organizations where scale and complexity demanded systems thinking. I've shipped design systems, migrated legacy sites, trained teams on accessibility standards, and built component libraries that empowered marketing teams to move fast without breaking things.

Today, Stoneberg Design brings that same ethos to universities, advocacy groups, and growing brands. We modernize web properties with clean code, accessible interfaces, and documentation that respects your team's time. Because the best digital products, like the best meals, are the result of thoughtful preparation, disciplined execution, and a deep respect for the people you're serving.