About

When all you've got is an IDE, everything looks like it can be fixed with software. With a decade of experience as a software professional, I've got a few more tools than an IDE. However, I still use software to optimize and customize how I engage with my career, publishing business, and hobbies.

I regularly iterate through designs with coworkers, customers, and stakeholders to make sure I build them the software they need to do their jobs better. Hashing out an analytics dashboard face-to-face is the most rewarding part of my job. I get to watch an opaque corner of a business come into focus. And rather than assembling a rote report by hand, my coworkers can spend their morning analyzing the results.

My wife and I run an independent publishing company, which has taught me a lot about how to operate a profitable and sustainable business. Software is a tool I use to save money on website costs and improve the production value of our books. Many of my business problems become side projects because I see an opportunity for improvement in my workflow. A satisfying result of combining my two passions is that I've built sites and tools that other authors depend on.

I write code because it's fun. I write fiction because I enjoy it. I also collect Pokémon cards, solve the Rubik's cube, and play retro video games to relax when I'm not working. I build custom dashboards for my card collection, spaced-repetition algorithms for my cube practice, and emulators to understand more about retro consoles. Each of these teaches me more about my hobbies and more about software engineering.

Over the years I've picked up tips, tricks, and tools. Documenting and sharing is how I cement those lessons for myself and others. I maintain a blog focused on the problems I've faced and overcome. It's written for who I was early on in my career, but many lessons still apply to what I do today.