Who I am, and how I work.
Head of Development at Tralemix, a company I co-founded with two colleagues. Based in Sacramento, CA.
Simple beats clever. Most problems don't need a complicated system with a dozen pieces wired together or whatever technology happens to be popular this year. They need a dependable solution that doesn't cost more to build and run than the problem is worth. I'm happy to use something new, as long as it earns its place by making the product stronger or the business better off, not just to chase what's trending.
Thirteen plus years of this has taught me that the basics are where surprises hurt the most. Companies can't afford problems with things like signing in, releasing updates, and storing customer data, so I keep those parts deliberately dull and save the creativity for the product itself. But boring only stays boring if everyone agrees on what that means, so I'd rather slow down and make sure the whole team understands the reasoning than move fast on a decision only I agree with. When I review someone's work, what matters most is that they can explain why it works, or why it doesn't, and how that choice serves the project as a whole.
Where the experience comes from.
A few things I hold to.
Own the whole system
From the login screen to the servers it runs on, I'd rather understand every part than hand pieces off and hope they work.
Keep the toolbox small
Every outside piece of software you build on is one more thing to keep updated, one more place a security flaw can appear, and one more thing to explain.
Automate anything repeated
If a job happens more than once, a computer should be doing it, not a person remembering the right steps in the right order.