About Me

Hey there, internet – it’s nice to meet you.

I’m a software engineer and engineering leader from an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

Professionally

I’ve done a mix of software engineering and engineering leadership over the course of my career. Most recently, I’ve been a Senior Software Engineer at Zapier. Before that, I was a Manager of Web Development (and before that an Advisory Engineer) at American Greetings.

In practical terms, this means I’ve done pretty much all aspects of everything at some point: front ends, back ends, middle ends (the cool kids call them BFFs I guess?), third-party integrations, platform engineering, REST APIs, security and PCI, assorted cloud shenanigans, developer training, mentoring and coaching, leading teams of various sizes, and generally trying to be a catalyst for cultural and process improvements.

Community

It’s been my privilege to run PyOhio’s program committee from 2018 through 2022, where I’ve improved the diversity of our speaker lineup with each year, and introduced a speaker mentorship program to the conference. Before that I served as PyOhio’s semi-official photographer. I’ve also enjoyed volunteering for PyCon in various capacities.

Before I caught the organizing bug, I enjoyed speaking at a number of conferences, including PyCon, PyOhio, CodeMash, and OSCON, where I’ve presented everything from brief lightning talks to full-day, hands-on tutorials.

Somewhere along the way, I became the author of How to Make Mistakes in Python.

While it was still going, I was the showrunner, producer, and a host of From Python Import Podcast.

I spent a couple of years helping to establish, organize, and run CLEpy, the Cleveland area Python user group.

Once upon a time, for a few seasons in the late 90s and with a reboot in 2020, I hosted a freeform music show called Jedi Mind Tricks on WRUW-FM. Besides being on air, I mentored new DJs and served as the station’s webmaster, including shepherding our very first audio streaming solution.

Recreationally

My current passions are for guitars, video games, and Dungeons & Dragons, and I’m starting to mess with synths too.

I was really into photography for quite a while, but I don’t shoot nearly as much as I used to.

Socially

Find me elsewhere via Linktree.