I work as a platform engineer now, which I describe to friends and family as building tools that help developers get their work done. Before that I spent a few years working with data and building data tools for integration with classic machine learning tooling. Tech is useful when it automates drudgery or connects people. Any more, I find most of the interesting problems are organizational and social, not technical.
I run a homelab because I like understanding how things work, and nothing teaches you quite like breaking things yourself. Right now i'm running two HP Elitedesk computers with Talos installed, hosting a small Kubernetes cluster, and a NAS. It's all driven by gitops with Flux, which sounds like something out of a scifi movie.
Background
I have a Master's in Computer Science from Kent State and some Kubernetes certifications. I've been at Progressive for a while now, currently leading platform work. The interesting part is making self-service systems that let teams move without waiting on gatekeepers.
Projects
- Homelab — Self-hosted services on a Kubernetes cluster. Mostly an excuse to experiment.
- Harrowed Deck — I've been playing a bard in Pathfinder for almost a decade now. He reads fortunes using a harrowing deck. Trust in the heart of the cards.