Foundational Years
In high school, I attended a rigorous "gifted and talented" program that included advanced computer science coursework taught by a nationally-recognized teacher. I was the first student ever to test out of prerequisite classes, allowing me to focus on real-world systems analysis and advanced programming in languages like COBOL, FORTRAN, and Pascal.
My career began at age ten (on a computer purchased with paper route money), self-taught in BASIC and 6502 assembly language. This early passion led to a B.S. in Computer Science from UCSD and selection for the highly competitive NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, where I was fortunate to be mentored by Hans-Werner Braun, the principal investigator of the NSFNET (the precursor to today's Internet). Results of my work were published in the 1993 Annual Status Report of the Applied Network Research Group and in the SDSC's "Gather/Scatter" newsletter. These experiences gave me a deep foundational understanding of distributed systems and network research.
Leadership and Massive Scale (1995-2012)
Following university, I spent over a decade as a technical architect and executive (VP of IT, Director of Product Development) building and mentoring high-impact teams. This period was defined by building complex, multi-tenant SaaS platforms from scratch, including founding ShiftHound and architecting the core systems for BidShift/Concerro (acquired for $43M), and contributing foundational systems to RedEnvelope (culminating in its 2003 IPO). This early experience required extreme velocity and resilience, often working 100% remotely long before it was common.
Throughout my career, this level of technical oversight has often required acting as a crisis leader and mediator. This photo, taken when I was around 30, is a perfect illustration of what high-stakes, cross-functional problem-solving looked like before Zoom -- talking to two key stakeholders simultaneously to solve a complex production issue.
Senior Technical Architecture & the "Firefighter" Mentality
I transitioned back to Principal-level IC roles to stay hands-on with modern stacks. My focus has been on driving architectural upgrades (like the complex Python 3.12 migration at ServiceNow) and solving high-volume data challenges (like architecting a pipeline to process 200 million rows at Slacker).
Current Focus and Future Commitment
My expertise remains fully hands-on today, evidenced by my specialization in cloud-native platforms, like the AWS Serverless/Docker environments I designed at Inovalon, and my current work architecting AI-driven applications using TypeScript/React (adventurestudio.ai). I am seeking a stable, foundational role -- a long-term partnership where I can commit my strategic vision and technical leadership to a single platform for the next decade.
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