About JumboTonic

Built by Identical Twins Who've Spent 20+ Years Solving Integration Problems Together

Same degree — landscape architecture at Ball State's #3-ranked design program. Same CS Masters. Same companies for 20 years. Jerry and Jeff didn't just grow up together — they trained identically, built careers in lockstep, and bring two minds with one shared standard to every problem they take on.

The Founders

Meet Jerry & Jeff

Jerry and Jeff Shields

Jerry Shields

Co-Founder & Chief Architect

Jerry is the architect — in more ways than one. He and Jeff are mirror twins who both earned landscape architecture degrees at Ball State University, then went on to their Masters in Computer Science there too, teaching the same grad-level CS courses as assistants while finishing their degrees. That design-to-systems path stuck: from an architecture firm, to Ontario Systems, to healthcare consulting at J2 Interactive, to over a decade of enterprise integration work in New York. He brings that full arc to Jumbotonic — a spatial thinker who has spent 20 years asking the same question at increasing scale: why don't these systems work the way they should?

"Good design and good engineering are the same problem. Most people just haven't realized it yet."

Jeff Shields

Co-Founder & Chief Engineer

Jeff is the builder — and his mirror twin Jerry will tell you they came up the exact same way. Same landscape architecture degree at Ball State. Same Computer Science Masters. Same grad assistant stint teaching CS side by side. Ontario Systems, J2 Interactive, and eventually over a decade of enterprise integration at one of the largest health networks in the country. Two decades of deep technical execution in HL7, FHIR, and enterprise integration platforms — the kind of work that doesn't get noticed when it's running perfectly, which is exactly the point. They also co-own group homes rented to IDD providers, which is why Housewire exists: when they couldn't find software built for that problem, they built it.

"Build it so it runs without you. That's when you know you actually solved the problem."

What They Bring to Your Business

Healthcare precision. For any industry.

Built to Enterprise Standards

In healthcare, a failed integration isn't a bug report — it's a patient safety issue. Jerry and Jeff spent two decades building systems where that was the standard. That level of accountability doesn't turn off when they work in other industries. It's just how they build.

Deep Technical Expertise

They know which approaches look good on a whiteboard and fall apart in production. Two decades each — not consulting about enterprise integration, actually building it. That gap between theory and working systems is exactly where most projects fail.

One Vision, No Translation Layer

Jerry architects the solution. Jeff engineers it. Same degree, same programs, same companies for 20 years — there's no translation layer between design and delivery. What gets built is exactly what was designed, because the same two minds did both.

Knowledge Transfer First

Jerry and Jeff were grad assistants at Ball State, teaching CS while finishing their Masters. That instinct — show people why, not just what — carried into every project since. When they hand something off, your team can run it, maintain it, and build on it. That's not a nice-to-have. It's the whole point.

Your Infrastructure, Your Control

No vendor to call. No platform you're locked into. No black box you can't open. Everything Jumbotonic builds runs on your infrastructure, under your control. When the engagement ends, you own it completely — the code, the documentation, and the knowledge to run it.

Our Commitment

We're done when your team can run it without us.

Most consultants handle complexity by staying involved forever — which is great for billable hours and bad for your team. Jerry and Jeff think differently: the measure of a good solution is whether your team can maintain it, build on it, and own it completely after they leave.

That's not generosity. That's how you build something that actually lasts. It's also how they've worked for 20 years — and why the people they've built for keep calling them back.

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