2016-03-01 → Present

Full Stack Engineering

Building end-to-end solutions from database to UI, focusing on scalable architectures and modern web technologies.

Duration
10 years
Key Technologies
ElixirPhoenixPostgreSQLPythonDjangoReactTypeScriptSnowflake
Key Impact
170+ legacy reports modernized at OpenForce (60K+ companies on the platform)

The Unconventional Path

My journey didn't start with a CS degree or junior dev roles. Instead, it wound through manufacturing plants and industrial automation, teaching me that the best engineers aren't always those who started earliest—they're the ones who understand real problems and build solutions that actually work.

The Economics of Software

At GENI, I witnessed the compelling economics of software versus hardware. While hardware solutions came with material costs and physical constraints, software could be deployed infinitely with near-zero marginal cost. This realization sparked my transition into software development.

Learning Through Building

CompassioNote (2016)

My first real coding project: a contact enrichment platform built with PHP/Drupal, later migrating to Python/Django for better data handling.

UserDocs Evolution

Three iterations of a screenshot automation platform, evolving from a browser extension to a full Elixir desktop application.

Discussit

Conversation intelligence platform combining Elixir's concurrent processing with LLM summarization, real-time transcription, and vector search.

Data Infrastructure

Leading modernization at OpenForce, migrating legacy reports to Snowflake/Power BI stack.

Technical Deep Dives

Elixir Projects

Reimplemented Pixelmatch in Elixir, discovering bugs in the original JavaScript implementation and gaining deep insights into functional programming patterns.

Audio Processing

Built real-time audio processing systems using Elixir's Membrane Framework, tackling voice activity detection and speaker diarization challenges.

The Meta-Skill

The most valuable skill isn't deep expertise in any particular technology. It's the ability to quickly understand new domains and architect appropriate solutions.

Current Focus

Leading data infrastructure modernization at OpenForce (60K+ companies, 350K+ drivers on the platform), combining system architecture expertise with practical business requirements.

The best software engineering isn't about using the newest technology or the cleverest algorithms. It's about understanding the real constraints of your environment and building solutions that reliably solve actual problems.

Key Learnings

Start with real problems, not technology preferences

Architecture decisions matter more than language choice

Embrace learning curves in new domains

Know when a solution is 'good enough'