I've been programming since I was 8, when I made a text adventure on my parents' Compaq Presario in QBASIC. That led me to HyperCard, and eventually C++ and early HTML/JavaScript. I spent my lunch periods in the computer room, solving people's technical issues and coding little games and webpages. I was hooked.

My career has taken me a number of places since then. I spent a while in non-profit before moving my focus solely onto software engineering. Now, after nearly a decade in the industry, I've developed a number of talents across the development stack. Focusing on one small part of a stack can lead to stagnancy and myopia, so I'm always striving to learn more - devops, CI/CD, databases, testing automation, AI/ML, etc. If you're not growing your skills, you're falling behind.

Leaders hold responsibilities towards those that follow them: to act in their best interests and to lead them in a direction of growth. In my professional and volunteer work, I do my best to honor those responsibilities, even when it's hard. No matter where I go, I'm deeply proud of the people I've taught - and the ones I've learned from. There's a lot of overlap between the two.

In my free time, I try to follow my joy. You might find me woodworking, lifting weights, kickboxing, cooking a family-style meal for my roommates, or heading to a waterpark. I'm a licensed reverend, a former pharmacy tech, and founder of my own grassroots non-profit.