Jared Smith is one of those rare individuals whose beloved hobby is the same as his profession. The son of a computer store owner, Jared wrote his first computer program at the age of 7 on his Commodore 64. The obvious choice of major for this geek-in-embryo was Computer Engineering, and Jared received his Bachelor of Science degree with a minor in Computer Science from Utah State University. He now has over a decade of professional systems administration and programming experience in the simulation, market research, and web analytics industries. As a key architect of one of the world's largest Asterisk installations, Jared has a wealth of hands-on telephony and VoIP knowledge, which he shares through users groups and various public speaking engagements. He is an active member of the Asterisk community and a co-founder of the Asterisk Documentation Project.
Jared is active in his community, donating Asterisk services to local schools and serving in his church. The greatest joy in Jared's life comes from spending time with his children, , and his wife, Jenny.