Experience

FORM

• United States
• Software Development
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Head of Technology, Communications

  • Jun 2021 - Present

  Heading up product and engineering for the communications platform in FORM's the digital assistant of frontline workers. * Merging communication: In 2021, FORM acquired Rodio to add its communication features to the company’s existing product suite. Working with the product and engineering teams, I’ve driven the plan for embedding communication features into the FORM family of applications. * Business process integration: The Rodio team has worked with the pre-sales, sales, marketing, and customer success teams to integrate the Rodio product offering into all of their processes under the new product name FieldConnector. Show less



Managing Up

• Media Production

• Co Host

  • Jul 2018 - Present

  Managing Up is a podcast about leading and managing in the world of technology. With a format akin to a "recorded peer mentoring session," we spend an hour digging into topics ranging from building trust, to holding 1:1s, to understanding the various roles in technology leadership. Managing Up is a podcast about leading and managing in the world of technology. With a format akin to a "recorded peer mentoring session," we spend an hour digging into topics ranging from building trust, to holding 1:1s, to understanding the various roles in technology leadership.



Refresh Austin

• Austin, Texas Area

• Board Member

  • Jul 2016 - Present

  Refresh Austin is an organization of over 3,000 folks dedicated to promoting the culture around web and mobile design, development and business. Our monthly meetings attract nearly 100 people. We also promote special events from happy hours to #AWBash, a holiday party with over two dozen meet ups in one place to celebrate the year and meet other folks. We've raised tens of thousands of dollars for charities over the years through #AWBash and have connected countless developers, designers, and entrepreneurs in Austin! Show less



Rodio

• United States
• Software Development

• Chief Technology Officer

  • Mar 2019 - Jun 2021

  I joined Rodio in 2019 to prepare the team to spin out of its parent company and guided it through that process to a successful exit in 2021 when we were acquired by our largest partner, FORM. Product vision: When I joined Rodio, the company wasn’t sure if it was a chat application, a workforce execution tool, or something in the middle. During my first three months on the job, I worked with the existing team and interviewed customers and prospects to pinpoint the problem we were trying to solve. From there, I formulated the basis of our current product strategy: an API-first communications platform that can be deployed in an enterprise environment while maintaining consumer-level UI polish. Process maturity: When I joined, Rodio’s default answer to customer requests was yes regardless of the impact on the product. By honing in our product vision, we were able to judge requests through the lens of product fit. Better than yesterday: I guided the team from a less than 2-star rating to a 4-star rating for our legacy application and 4.2-star rating for our white-label application. We did this by continually improving the user’s experience, from the obvious – squashing as many bugs as we could – to the delightful – creating little flourishes throughout the application in the in-between states. Technical leadership: Rodio was a key partner and the mobile front end for several larger companies. They routinely sought our advice on scaling their platforms and polishing their UI. I advised on a wide range of topics, from cloud deployment strategies to front-end frameworks to data architecture. Leading through change: Change was the theme of my time at Rodio. The first major change I led the team through was spinning the company out of its parent company in the summer of 2019. Then, I identified and created a plan to execute a fundamental shift in technology. Finally, I managed our strategy to take advantage of the opportunities Covid-19 presented. Show less



Kazoo

• United States
• Software Development
• 1 - 100 Employee

• VP Engineering

  • Jan 2018 - Mar 2019

  I joined Kazoo (rebranded from YouEarnedIt during my time there) to help scale the engineering team to support their new growth strategy. We grew from a team of fewer than 10 to nearly 50 during my time. A few highlights include: * Tackling scalability: High-traffic events used to be fire-drills that sent the team scrambling to keep the site functional. Traffic has increased 600% during my tenure and spikes became non-events. I both advised on the process and got my hands dirty in the code to ensure this advancement. * Merging engineering and technology operations: In July, YouEarnedIt acquired Highground. Our team grew from 16 to 45 overnight. I created the short- and long-term team integration strategies that have allowed both teams to deliver their commitments and set us up for success in the integrated future. * Integrating products: I played a key role in outlining the most efficient options as we chart a path toward integration of two separate products, each on different tech stacks. * Ensuring sustainability: I worked with the product team to create a cohesive roadmap that delivers value to our customers while ensuring technology needs are met to create a sustainable and scalable future. Show less



Condé Nast

• United States
• Media Production
• 700 & Above Employee

• Director of Engineering

  • Apr 2016 - Dec 2017

  As the second hire to start in Austin, I helped grow the Austin team to nearly 30. Among the projects my team has overseen: Condé Nast’s first foray into conversational interfaces (Messenger, Alexa, Google Home); new monetization strategies for email newsletter signups; and a new unified login interface for all brands. I've helped document the career paths and expectations for all engineerings in the organization and helped create the structure for advancing along those various paths. As the second hire to start in Austin, I helped grow the Austin team to nearly 30. Among the projects my team has overseen: Condé Nast’s first foray into conversational interfaces (Messenger, Alexa, Google Home); new monetization strategies for email newsletter signups; and a new unified login interface for all brands. I've helped document the career paths and expectations for all engineerings in the organization and helped create the structure for advancing along those various paths.



Awesome Foundation

• Philanthropic Fundraising Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Trustee (Austin)

  • Jun 2016 - Sep 2017

  The Awesome Foundation is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of awesomeness in the universe. The Foundation distributes a series of monthly $1,000 grants to projects and their creators and has collectively funded over 400 projects. The money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees” and given upfront in cash, check, or gold doubloons. Check out (and apply) some of the *awesome* projects Austin's chapter has funded so far: http://www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/austin. Show less



The Iron Yard

• Higher Education
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Campus Director

  • Jun 2015 - Mar 2016

  Part camp counselor, part executive. That's the best description I've been able to come up with for my work at The Iron Yard. My days were split across a variety of tasks. One hour I was introducing CTOs and HR directors to The Iron Yard and what we did. Next, I was helping alumni hone their interview skills and resumes. After that I might jump in to help figure out how to get a struggling student back on track to graduate. Follow that up with a dose of activity in the tech community and that describes a "normal" day. My priority while at the helm in Austin was making TIY the go-to place for learning. We expanded our free crash courses – evening classes that introduce programming and design. We started a series of speaker events on more advanced topics. We also opened up our space to other meetups focused on teaching and expanding the tech community. Show less



Continuum Analytics

• United States
• Software Development
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Web and UX Architect

  • Mar 2014 - Jun 2015

  Continuum Analytics is the Python data science company. I was the go-to guy for web and user-experience. Continuum was primarily scientists and I was the first web-native on the team. I worked on tooling around the Wakari and Conda platforms for most of my time there. I pushed the Conda platform's user experience forward. One effort I'm particularly fond of is my work on the conda-env project. It provided a more intuitive way of interacting with and recreating code environments. Continuum Analytics is the Python data science company. I was the go-to guy for web and user-experience. Continuum was primarily scientists and I was the first web-native on the team. I worked on tooling around the Wakari and Conda platforms for most of my time there. I pushed the Conda platform's user experience forward. One effort I'm particularly fond of is my work on the conda-env project. It provided a more intuitive way of interacting with and recreating code environments.



ATX Web Show

• United States
• Public Relations and Communications Services

• Co-host

  • Jun 2012 - 2015



Tech Conferences Near You

• Public Speaker

  • Oct 2008 - 2015

  Speaking at tech conferences around the globe, I've introduced other developers to Git, testing methodologies and technologies as diverse as microframeworks all the way through XMPP. I'm available to speak at conferences and offer small-group training sessions on a variety of topics. Speaking at tech conferences around the globe, I've introduced other developers to Git, testing methodologies and technologies as diverse as microframeworks all the way through XMPP. I'm available to speak at conferences and offer small-group training sessions on a variety of topics.



The Texas Tribune

• United States
• Internet News
• 100 - 200 Employee

• News Apps and Data Editor

  • Jul 2013 - Mar 2014

  I often described my position at the Texas Tribune as the one who was supplying the ammo to those on the front line. The longer I stayed, the more it became evident that I wanted to be on the front lines. This role changed my position to be the point person on data on the site. During my time there, the team I lead delivered dozens daily interactives, reworked large portions of our legacy applications, and even dealt with some data integrity issues that had us publishing bad data that the state of Texas provided. Show less

• Director of Technology

  • Jul 2012 - Jul 2013

  As the grant that had funded the Armstrong development started to draw to a close, I took over as the Director of Technology at the Tribune. Director gives the position the air of pointy-haired bosses and such, but this was a player/coach role with the coach figuring out budgets and strategy and such. We worked on everything software development related from handling donations to building out news applications.The thing I'm most proud of there was the news app internship that I spearheaded. The editorial side always had a small army of interns, but the Texas Tribune technology and news apps team – an award winning team that had gained international notoriety – didn't have any interns. Working with folks at the Medill School of Journalism, we started providing a place for journalist / developer hybrids to come and get experience. Among the two interns I brought in, one implemented the award winning 31 Days, 31 Ways site and the other reworked the entire Texas Employee's Salary database. Show less

• Open Source Developer

  • Oct 2010 - Jul 2012

  I joined the Texas Tribune to work on the grant-funded, open-source news platform, Armstrong. While funding ran out before we built everything we wanted to, we did create solid foundation for others to build upon. Armstrong has been used by dozens of news organizations to build out their custom CMS.While there, I also helped with a variety of other tasks related to platform stability, deployment, and a few news applications. This position started my foray into data journalism and has informed much of my work since then. Show less



SimpleTest

• Developer

  • 2004 - Dec 2010

  One of the contributing developers to SimpleTest. I've helped with minor enhancements and contributing bug fixes for the rare bugs that are reported. One of the contributing developers to SimpleTest. I've helped with minor enhancements and contributing bug fixes for the rare bugs that are reported.



Domain51

• Owner

  • Feb 1999 - Oct 2010

  I've worked with companies and organizations large and small building web and mobile applications. I've kept the name and still occasionally contract under it, but mostly its the home of my email address now. I've worked with companies and organizations large and small building web and mobile applications. I've kept the name and still occasionally contract under it, but mostly its the home of my email address now.



PEAR Group

• PEAR Group Member

  • Jun 2008 - Jul 2009

  Was elected to the governing body of PEAR, the PEAR Group, by developers within the community. Was elected to the governing body of PEAR, the PEAR Group, by developers within the community.



Ning Interactive Inc.

• United States
• Technology, Information and Internet
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Applications Developer

  • Jul 2008 - Apr 2009

  I worked on the apps team in the layer between the core team on the backend and the user interface. This role was PHP and JavaScript focused. We built activity streams and photo galleries and messaging tools and everything in between. The team was globally distributed with about half located in Palo Alto and the rest of the team scattered to the four corners of the world. When I woke up in Kansas, the developers in Europe were hitting their stride and getting into their afternoon and when I stopped in the evening our Australian developer was just getting started. I joined during one of the hiring surges. When we started talking, they had about 60 folks on staff. By the time joined a little over a month later there were already over 90 people! Even with the growth, the quality of the team was amazing. Of the dozen or so developers on the apps team any of them would have been a team leader just about anywhere else, but at Ning everyone was pulling their own weight as part of a team. Show less



SugarCRM

• United States
• Software Development
• 300 - 400 Employee

• Optimization Engineer

  • May 2007 - Jul 2008

  While my official title is "Staff Engineer", my unofficial title is the "Performance Guy". I was responsible for ensuring that SugarCRM continues to get faster through optimizations of existing code and ensuring any new code doesn't cause a performance issues. SugarCRM is uniquely positioned as the enterprise PHP application. Everyone with a new platform that runs on PHP wants to use SugarCRM as its test case to prove their platform performs. During my time at Sugar I've worked with house-hold names in the technology industry helping them tune their products and run our performance tests. In addition to performance related work, I also help mentor the unit testing processes within engineering. I reworked the existing, and then abandoned, test suite and helped kick off engineering's unit testing. Show less



Mashery

• United States
• Information Technology & Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior PHP Developer

  • Oct 2006 - Jan 2007

  I work as senior PHP developer helping to add new features and functionality to Mashery's API community services. I work as senior PHP developer helping to add new features and functionality to Mashery's API community services.



Uversa

• IT Services and IT Consulting
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior PHP Developer

  • Jun 2005 - Sep 2006

  Worked as senior developer on open-source medical EMR application, Clearhealth. Worked as senior developer on open-source medical EMR application, Clearhealth.