What I Look For


This page is intended as a resource for recruiters and hiring managers to understand whether I'm likely to be a good fit for your team.

[NOTE: I wrote most of this in late 2022, then received an offer before I finished it. I've updated parts of it as I've thought of them—but, of course, some of the details may become less accurate over time. If anything in here raises a question for you, please feel free to ask!]

TL;DR

I'm a backend software engineer with deep roots in the Ruby community. I've been working in tech for millenia (okay, since 1999), and—when I am looking for work—I look for a remote role as an individual contributor at a reasonably mature organization, with teammates within ±3 time zones of the west coast of the US. I've been a Staff Engineer since 2022 and would love to continue exploring that level; I'm also very comfortable working as a (Very) Senior or (Tech) Lead.

While I enjoy the occasional greenfield project, I specialize in cleaning up legacy Rails codebases (and their test suites!) so they can be sustainably developed for years to come.

If you're an early-stage startup, I'm probably the wrong hire for you—for now. Keep me in mind when you're ready to retool for the long haul.

What I Do

I got into programming so I could use my problem-solving and technical skills to help people. Early in my career, that meant automating boring work so I could help a coworker save hours every week for more interesting challenges. As I've progressed, my work has taken me further away from end users, so these days I find deep satisfaction in lifting up the engineers around me.

Here's what that looks like:

What I Don't Do (Well)

What I Look For

My Ideal Org

Level