Jacob Stephens

IT Manager and Senior Software Engineer, Platform & Infrastructure, PA Office

A full-stack PHP developer and infrastructure engineer who loves solving technical challenges, building web applications, and keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes.

When I Joined ETA & What I Love About Working Here

February 2022. I love working with people who are A) experts at what they do, B) genuinely concerned and convicted about the best for kids, and C) a great pleasure to work with!

Professional Background

As the IT Manager and Infrastructure Architect at Educational Travel Adventures, I own the software the company runs on. For four-plus years I’ve been the lead engineer behind our reservations platform, our payment systems, and the servers that keep them online every day.

Most of that work is the kind travelers never see: the booking and registration tools staff and families use, the systems that move payments securely, the field app our tour guides carry, and the seventy-plus internal reports that keep operations running. I inherited an aging platform and modernized it in place – newer language, database, and operating-system versions across the board – without ever taking the business offline.

More recently I’ve built internal tools that let our non-technical managers work with our own data directly and safely, including AI assistants scoped to each role. The throughline is reliability: I’d rather the technology stay quietly out of the way so the team can focus on planning great trips.

Fun Facts About Jacob

I’m a weightlifter who trains early mornings, enjoys baking sourdough bread, and practices social dancing including lindy hop, foxtrot, and salsa.

Favorite Place Traveled:
Canadian Rockies – particularly Banff National Park, for the vast, serene, and powerful environment (plus, that’s where she said yes!)

Favorite subject to study in school:
Philosophy and theology – they give direction

Most Recent Passport Stamp:
Canada.

Most unexpected moment while traveling:
While celebrating my birthday in Rabat, Morocco, I got together with some locals for mint tea. We had only met by happenstance a few days prior. Without any hint of what was coming, they surprised me with a beautiful tagine as a birthday gift – a touching gesture of hospitality that made the day unforgettable!

Window seat or aisle seat?
Window – to see the landscapes!

Dream destination (not yet visited):
Sheep ranch in New Zealand

Go-to travel snack:
Banana – a prepackaged whole food! (though gotta watch out for bruising)

One thing I hope students gain from traveling:
A broader perspective on the world and an understanding of different cultures, histories, experiences, and ways of life that will serve them throughout their lives.

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