About

“Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.” - George Carlin

The work is choosing to build anyway.

I can lead the team or write the code. I refuse to become one of those executives who forgot how to ship.

Full-stack with a backend and systems preference. When I’m not designing architecture, I’m debugging production issues or helping engineers think through hard problems.

Background

Deep experience across Fortune 50 companies and startups - not the same year repeated, but genuinely different problems at different scales. I’ve led globally distributed teams, shipped products used by millions, and learned what separates systems that scale from systems that collapse under load.

I’ve worked inside AWS infrastructure at Amazon and helped build Azure at MSN Labs. I’ve shipped backend systems at Xbox Studios (including infrastructure leveraged by Halo), built startups from scratch, and gave a CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier - a telecom) its MMS capability. I’ve delivered compliant systems under FDA (biotech), FIPS (federal security), HIPAA (healthcare), and ITAR (defense) requirements - regulated environments where trust and compliance aren’t optional and getting it wrong means more than a bug ticket. I’ve also worked for boards of directors on company audits and cleanups, sat in Fortune 50 executive meetings, and made real hiring and firing decisions.

That range wasn’t accidental - I’ve always gone where I could learn the most and solve the hardest problems.

I’ve said no to some of the biggest names in tech - not because I couldn’t get in, but because I could and it still wasn’t right. I’ve been through the Big Tech interview gauntlets, passed, and walked away when the team wasn’t there. That taught me what I’m actually looking for: remote work, sustainable pace, and teams operating in good faith. When those align, I commit for years.

I also own GameDev.com for consulting and projects.

How I Work

Integrity is non-negotiable. I say what I mean and do what I say. I expect the same from people I work with.

I can tell the difference. I’ve worked with brilliant engineers and I’ve worked with people who talk about engineering without understanding it. I don’t have patience for theater - I care about whether the system works and whether the team ships. That perspective comes from working across enough environments to know what real engineering looks like versus what gets performed in meetings.

How you live your day is how you live your life. Sustainable pace beats heroic sprints. Consistent output beats burnout. I optimize for the long game because that’s where real results come from.

Leaders plant trees they will never sit in the shade of. I think in cycles, not lines - patterns that repeat, consequences that echo, what you build into the foundation showing up years later. This means thinking in quarters and years, not sprints. It means developing other leaders, not just shipping code. The work that matters most often won’t pay off until after you’ve moved on.

I tend to finish early. I’ve consistently delivered ahead of schedule by finding leverage others miss - shared dependencies, modular designs, better problem decomposition. The pattern shows up across my work: projects scoped for months completed in weeks, workloads sized for teams handled solo. I don’t say this to brag - I say it because it’s the pattern, and you should know what you’re getting.

Current Status

I am not currently looking for new opportunities. I’m employed, engaged in the work, and happy where I am.

Location

Seattle (Pacific Time). Fully remote. I’ve optimized my setup for sustained productivity over years, not months.

Visual Skills Map

Below is an interactive visualization of my technical skills and experience. You can pan and zoom to explore.