About Me
Engineering leader and hands-on developer with a passion for building software that solves real problems.
From Self-Taught Programmer to Engineering Leader
I started my career as a self-taught programmer, building automation tools that transformed manual data entry processes. That early experience taught me something that's guided my entire career: technology is most valuable when it solves real problems for real people.
Over 15+ years, I've progressed from individual contributor to team lead to engineering manager to CTO—but I've never stopped writing code. Even while managing teams across multiple continents, I've maintained my technical edge because I believe the best engineering leaders stay hands-on.
Today's software landscape moves fast—new frameworks, platforms, and tools emerge constantly, and AI is the latest frontier. I've shipped production LLM integrations and used AI-assisted development to build real products, but the judgment to know when new technology genuinely helps versus when it just adds complexity—that comes from 15 years of building, shipping, and maintaining software that people actually depend on.
Career Timeline
Co-Founder & CTO
Solo-built a complete legal practice management platform. Implemented document analysis, LLM integration, and advanced cost optimization for a production system handling real client work.
Engineering Manager
Leading engineering teams and driving pragmatic adoption of modern development practices, including AI tooling where it genuinely accelerates delivery.
Engineering Manager
Led distributed teams of up to 10 engineers across multiple continents. Established async communication best practices for global collaboration.
Engineering Manager & Senior Engineer
Progressed from senior engineer to engineering manager. Led SSO consolidation project and managed high-availability reporting APIs.
Earlier Roles
Built foundation in automation, data processing, and full-stack development. Pioneered PDF extraction and OCR systems processing tens of thousands of documents daily.
Technical Philosophy
Ship Working Software
Perfect architecture means nothing if it never ships. I prioritize working software over theoretical perfection, iterating based on real user feedback.
Tools Serve the Work
New tools—including AI—amplify what skilled developers can do. They don't replace the need for experience, judgment, and deep technical understanding.
Stay Hands-On
The best technical leaders write code. Maintaining hands-on skills keeps me grounded and makes me a better advisor and mentor.
Clear Communication
Technical excellence means nothing if stakeholders don't understand it. I translate complex concepts into clear business value.
Beyond Code
I'm based in Salt Lake City, Utah, but my perspective is global. I speak English and Polish fluently, with conversational German, and have lived in Poland, France, and Croatia.
This international experience shapes how I approach distributed teams and cross-cultural collaboration—something increasingly important in today's remote-first world.
For projects that need more than one person, I work with a trusted network of engineers and designers I've collaborated with over the years. You get the benefits of a team without the overhead of an agency.
Let's Build Something Together
Whether you need full-stack development, technical leadership, or help navigating AI in your stack, I'm here to help.