2001 → 2026
Every chapter
solved a
bigger problem.
01 · Curiosity became a first website Ch. 012001First Website
Curious teenager
The problem: I wanted something that didn't exist yet, so I built it. A page on the open web, hand-typed, no permission needed.
What I learned
The call was to publish before I felt ready. That instinct, ship, then improve, never left.
Mindset forged
Curiosity as an operating system. The compounding advantage that outlasts every framework.
Tech
GeoCitiesHTML→ The web became the medium. Craft became the next problem.
02 · Design and code became one practice Ch. 022006–2010Creative Technologist
Design + motion
The problem: interfaces felt lifeless. Static comps couldn't answer how an experience should feel in motion.
What I learned
The call was to treat design and code as one discipline, every pixel, easing curve, and frame a decision, not a default.
Mindset forged
Taste as a skill. The belief that rhythm, weight, and restraint are engineering choices, not decoration.
Tech
DreamweaverFlashActionScriptPhotoshopIllustratorAfter EffectsCinema 4D→ Craft opened the door to client work, and the harder problem of owning outcomes end-to-end.
03 · Agency speed became repeatable systems Ch. 032015–2016Moore & Scarry → Caldwell & Kerr → Affinitiv
Designer → Senior Frontend Web Developer
The problem: automotive campaigns shipped weekly, with real ad spend and real deadlines. Perfection was a luxury nobody paid for.
What I learned
The call was to trade artisan pace for repeatable velocity, templates, patterns, and disciplined tradeoffs a team could inherit.
Mindset forged
Attention as a system. Visual hierarchy and conversion literacy every interface engineer needs before they touch a component library.
Tech
HTMLCSSJavaScriptPHPWordPressCoda→ Agency cadence prepared me for owning long-lived codebases at CMS scale.
04 · Fifty-plus sites built for handoff Ch. 042016–2020Priority Marketing
Web Developer, CMS specialist
The problem: fifty-plus sites, each with its own editor, each needing to survive years of hand-off, plugin churn, and content the client hadn't written yet.
What I learned
The call was to build for the second engineer and the third editor, conventions, guardrails, and predictable seams over clever one-offs.
Mindset forged
Systems built for other humans. The seed of every design system I've touched since.
Tech
PHPWordPressHTMLCSSJavaScriptApacheGSAPSEO→ Volume and accountability set the stage for product engineering with real state.
05 · Fintech · trust and rigor Ch. 052020–2022Midland Trust → Equity Trust
Software Engineer, Fintech
The problem: client, payment, and pro portals had to move real money and hold real trust, across auth boundaries, regulated workflows, and Salesforce integrations that could not be papered over on the client.
What I learned
The call was to design the data shape and API contracts first, then the interface. Every state, error, and edge case is a promise to the user.
Mindset forged
Regulated-industry rigor. Full-stack judgment, database, service, UI, treated as one decision.
Tech
ReactTypeScriptPostgreSQLSequelizeExpressIonicSalesforce→ End-to-end product engineering readied me for systems that multiply other teams.
06 · Enterprise design-system leadership Ch. 062022–2026CDW, Legato Design System
Senior Software Engineer I / Technical Lead
The problem: ten-plus product teams, fifteen-plus enterprise apps, each drifting toward its own vocabulary. Every diverging button was a tax on every future decision.
What I learned
The call was to treat the system as a product with its own users, engineers, designers, PMs, and lower ambiguity as a measurable outcome. Tokens, accessibility, and docs as first-class API surface.
Mindset forged
Leverage at scale. When the system answers a question once, ten teams stop asking it. Judgment compounds.
Tech
ReactTypeScriptStencilWeb ComponentsStorybookNxDesign TokensA11y→ Fortune 500 depth plus AI-assisted workflows shaped what I'm building next.
07 · AI application engineering Ch. 072026Now
Lead Sr. Software Engineer / Staff Engineer roles
The problem worth solving now: full product lifecycle, architecture, backend seams, product surface, accelerated by AI without ceding judgment to it.
What I learned
The call is to treat AI as leverage, not authorship. Widen the surface I can hold; keep the last read before ship human.
Mindset forged
Engineering judgment as the axis. Technologies expire. Problems, and the taste to choose which ones, do not.
Tech
MCPAI workflowsReactTypeScript→ The next chapter is being written, by design.