AI app development
Ideas into useful tools.
I use AI to explore ideas, build apps, and turn everyday friction into something useful. The home lab is where I connect the pieces and see what works.
Explore my home lab ↗Engineer · Maker · Curious by nature
Always curious.
Always building.
I’m Russ. I turn ideas into useful things, connecting technology, creativity, and a lifelong love of figuring things out.
Explore what I’m building
My connected world
The Russ Evans
Universe.
Different interests. The same curious brain. Follow a connection to see what I’m building, creating, playing, or exploring.
BuildCreatePlayExplore
Move your pointer to explore the 3D web. Tap a connection for details. Drag the background on desktop. On touch, turn on Move map to pan; turn it off to scroll the page. Keyboard: Tab to a node, Enter to open; arrow keys on the map to pan.
Out in the world
A few places along the way.
Places I’ve visited, with more of the story still to add.
- Portugal
- Turks and Caicos
- Dominican Republic
U.S. East Coast: plenty of exploring. A state-by-state travel log is coming later.
01 / The journey
It started with
a pile of PC parts.
I started building and selling PCs in middle school. What began as a love of figuring out how things work became a career connecting technology to the people who use it.
That path has taken me through network engineering, solution architecture, SaaS, and online file storage, including a chapter at Dropbox. Each step added a new way of looking at a problem: the infrastructure underneath it, the experience around it, and what someone actually needs to get done.
Today, I’m a Lead Solutions Engineer at Salesforce, serving state and local government. I bring that same builder’s curiosity to understanding challenges and showing what’s possible.
Away from work, the experimenting keeps going. My home lab and 3D printer give me room to connect software, hardware, and ideas just because I want to see what I can make.
- 01Building PCs
Curiosity, parts, and a middle-school start.
- 02Networks & architecture
Learning how systems fit together.
- 03SaaS & Dropbox
Online file storage and software experiences.
- 04
SalesforceSolutions for state and local government.
The professional side
Experience that connects
the dots.
I bring a builder’s mindset to enterprise technology: understand the challenge, connect the right pieces, and make the possibilities tangible.
My professional story on LinkedIn ↗Lead Solutions Engineer
At Salesforce, I serve state and local government, helping connect modern enterprise solutions to the needs of the public sector.
From networks to SaaS
My path spans network engineering, solution architecture, SaaS, and online file storage, including a chapter at Dropbox.
Make it useful
I use AI tools for productivity, task tracking, business operations, and exploring what a useful solution can look like. My personal projects keep that curiosity hands-on.
Marymount University
Arlington, Virginia
- CompTIA A+
- Microsoft Certified Professional
- MCSA: Windows Server 2012
- MCSE: Microsoft Exchange Messaging
- Ironclad CLM Core Administration
A selection from my professional background, not a statement of current certification status.
02 / My home lab
A workshop for
what comes next.
A lifelong habit of collecting hardware turned into a place to experiment. My home lab brings software, AI, and physical devices together, with something new always on the workbench.
Desk Buddy & beyond
A personal command center for the tools, information, and devices I use every day. It’s where integrations become useful and where the next experiment usually starts.
The way I work
Slack is my
control room.
A lot of my ideas arrive when I’m nowhere near my desk. I can send a message from my phone at the grocery store, or talk an idea through with Grok by voice while parked in my Tesla. The point is to capture it before it disappears, not stop everything to build it right then.
Slack is where that idea becomes a conversation. In shared channels, my agents coordinate, hand work off, and help me build. GitHub keeps the work trackable through issues, branches, pull requests, and review. Then the result comes back to Slack, where I can see what changed and decide what comes next.
Voice is an entry point, not a claim of a direct Tesla-to-Slack integration. Work moves within the access and approvals I’ve given it.
- Capture an ideaA voice note or message
Bring it to SlackA shared place to coordinate- Build & testAgents pick up and hand off work
Track & reviewGitHub issues, branches, and PRs- Back to SlackA result, a question, or the next step
Meet the team
A few familiar names.
A lot of moving parts.
Not coworkers in the usual sense. More like a small cast of AI collaborators, each with a part to play.
Dottie
The coordinator. Keeping the threads connected and the next steps in view.
Richard
The builder. A helping hand when it’s time to turn the idea into something that works.
Bao
Another coordinator in the mix. Helping keep conversations and work moving.
Grok
A voice entry point. A place to talk through an idea before I bring it into the workflow.
Small things count, too.
Add a to-do before I forget it. Draft an email and send it when authorized. Place a call on my behalf where the tools support it. Review spending or help cancel an unused subscription with the right access and approval.
These are examples of the help I’m building around, not a promise that every message automatically executes. The useful part is having a way to capture, track, and follow through.
03 / From idea to object
Not everything
stays on a screen.
My newest obsession is building functional hardware with my 3D printer: enclosures, stands, and mounts that turn electronics into useful everyday tools. Some parts are printed; others are still designs on the workbench.
Design. Print. Test. Refine. Repeat.
04 / Personal projects
Different problems.
The same curiosity.
Kinloop
A collaboration app for keeping people informed through shared updates, threaded comments, and reactions.
Fairway Sim Golf Club
Where golf, software, and physical experiences meet. Exploring a branded site, kiosk, and simulator-interface prototypes.
Visit Fairway Sim Golf ClubMeal Planner
Bringing meal ideas, weekly planning, and grocery lists into one workflow. A working artifact with home-server hosting and Pinterest integration still planned.