a little about me

I knew I wanted to be a software engineer when I was twelve.

Growing up in Jamaica, I spent hours copying BASIC programs from Compute! magazine, changing bits of code just to see what would happen. I was hooked.

That curiosity eventually took me from writing software to teaching it and leading engineering teams. What I didn't appreciate at twelve was how much of my career would involve understanding people rather than computers.

The day it stopped being a hobby

One of the defining moments of my career came from a mistake. While building a payment-reminder application for a micro-lending organization in Jamaica, I accidentally sent notifications to more than a hundred real customers. Dozens showed up at the organization's office, worried about the status of their loans.

It was an uncomfortable lesson about the consequences of what we build. Software can behave exactly as instructed and still cause real problems for real people. I've carried that lesson with me ever since, particularly when thinking through the risks and tradeoffs behind technical decisions.

From building software to building teams

I've had the opportunity to work on some pretty interesting problems over the years, from studying software reuse in NASA flight control systems and working with NOAA and commercial satellite data to building software in civic technology, freight and logistics, investing, and home equity. The industries have changed, but one lesson has remained consistent: understanding the business problem matters just as much as understanding the technology.

Somewhere along the way, I also discovered that being a good engineer doesn't automatically make you a good engineering leader. Early in my career, I could disappear into technical problems for days, often at the expense of everything else. Moving into leadership forced me to confront some of those habits, learn to develop people rather than solve every problem myself, and recognize that building a healthy engineering organization requires more than technical expertise.

The engineer is still here

I've never stopped enjoying the act of building software. These days, that curiosity has taken me into AI-assisted development, independent products through Human Computer Sciences, and, more recently, building games for my daughters.

I've also rediscovered how much I enjoy writing, storytelling, and creative pursuits that sometimes took a back seat earlier in my career.

What matters to me now

I've found that I'm most comfortable leading engineering teams as an Engineering Manager or Director. I enjoy being close enough to the technical work to understand the challenges while having enough organizational influence to improve how teams operate. I'm not particularly interested in chasing bigger titles simply because they're the next step on the ladder.

What matters to me is building software that drives real business value, helping engineers grow, and leaving organizations healthier than I found them. Just as importantly, I want to keep learning, creating, and making time for the people who matter most to me. That last part took me longer to learn than it probably should have.