New Coat of Paint
🚀 A soft relaunch for a new era
It’s been almost five and a half years since my last post on this site. I’ve aspired to write a lot more over the years, but of course every time I got the impulse to do so I was presented with the disgusting monstrosity that was the website I cobbled together almost a decade ago 🤮
Let’s just say that my skills have improved a tad in that time. However, my free time has significantly plummeted in that time as well (three kids will have that effect).
So while it’s long overdue, I’ve finally been able to relaunch my personal blog with a fresh coat of paint. All the cringey old blog posts are still here, and should hopefully be buried in the paginator over the coming months. In the meantime, let’s recap all that’s changed since I last posted!
What I’ve Been up to
When last I wrote, I was working as a Data & Insights tech lead for the Intelligent Solutions Group at John Deere. Since then, I’ve done a few other things:
- I had my first kid! 2020
- I left John Deere to lead a team at the newly formed QuickBooks Commerce group at Intuit 2021
- I had another kid! 2022
- I left Intuit for Shopify, where I’ve been working on Orders & Returns for the last few years. 2023
- I had yet another kid! 2025
So mostly making kids and popping around big tech. It’s been a fun few years, and while I’ve learned a ton I haven’t been the best at taking the time to reflect and write about the things I’ve learned. This post is my way of trying to be better about that.
What I Plan to Write About
My focus for the past few years has been effectively leading engineering efforts at large-scale companies. As such, I’ll definitely be writing about leadership and philosophy and all other sorts of soft skills-esque facets of engineering.
I’ve also had my love of engineering reinvigorated with my introduction to the Ruby programming language. I’ll also write quite a bit about raw engineering such as design patterns, languages (Ruby and Rust are my current focuses, but JavaScript will always be my first love and act as my primary language), and systems design.
And of course, AI. It’s so hot right now, and I’d be lying if I said that I designed and built this new website all on my own. Our discipline is changing rapidly, and it’s important to stay on top of these developments.
When I Plan to Write
I probably shouldn’t even try to predict this. However I do get the urge with some frequency, and the eyesore that was my old website is no longer a blocker. Hopefully I can bring myself to write something at least once a week, but I’m not going to force it. If I have something to say, I’ll say it. If I don’t I won’t clutter this site with garbage.
👋 Welcome (Back)!
So if you’re reading this, welcome! I’m excited to get back to maintaining my own personal site. Hopefully this enthusiasm manifests! I have a few ideas for this site - both content and features - that should be coming in the next few months. The holidays are right around the corner 🎄 and this is always a fun time to dig into personal projects.
Until next time 🚀