Early Life & High School
Looking for a TL;DR? See my bio.
Skipped 4th Grade
Grew up surrounded by gang violence. Spent my free time reading books and broke my elementary school’s Accelerated Reading record. Easily got straight A’s and skipped 4th grade. Enjoyed extracurriculars like Destination: Imagination and the Boys and Girls Club. Attended a college-preparatory middle school. Took the ACT exam for the first time in 7th grade. Played soccer and competed in regional & state competitions for Science Olympiad and History Day.
Self-Taught Web Developer & Duct Tape Engineer
Crafted full body armor and masks out of duct tape before launching an online business to sell hand-made wallets and accessories: Duct-O. Created the website after reading HTML for Dummies and becoming addicted to seeing my code come to life on screen.
Summer Band Camp Performer
Learned to play bass guitar, drums, guitar, and sing vocals. Switched to a different instrument for each song in our setlist, including Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.
Learned CADD for 3D Modeling and Printing
Became proficient in CADD software in my first year of high school. Designed and printed a CO-2 racecar and a rotating hydroelectric pump in Autodesk Inventor, modeled a library and laser-engraved a Victorian-style house using Revit, and animated Leonardo da Vinci’s scythed chariot in 3DS Max.
Junior Achievement Award
Received this award in my junior year of high school for academic excellence and outstanding character.
Placed 2nd at DECA State and 1st at FBLA Regionals
Won 1st in Computer Problem Solving at FBLA Regionals 2013, and 2nd in Entrepreneurship Written at DECA State 2013 on a 2-person team. We competed at DECA Nationals the same year.
NHS and Student Council Member
Volunteered at high school sports events and local non-profits as a member of National Honor Society and Student Council. Elected to serve as Senior Class Vice President.
2013 Boettcher Scholar
Awarded the Boettcher Scholarship, a merit-based scholarship covering full cost of college attendance at any institution in Colorado.
Co-Valedictorian, School of Engineering and Biomedical Science
Graduated as co-valedictorian from the School of Engineering and Biomedical Science at Pueblo County High School.
Colorado College (Undergraduate)
Macbeth (play)
During my first week at Colorado College, I auditioned for and was accepted into the Theatre Department’s production of MacBeth (playing Murderer #2). This was my first acting role since childhood.
Joined Room 46 Acapella
During my first week at Colorado College, I auditioned for and was accepted into Room 46, the co-ed a cappella group. Then in the final week before graduation, I got to perform one last concert with senior members from Back Row and Element, CC’s other a capella groups.
The Big Meal (play)
Played the roles of “Man #1”: Sam, Robert, and Jack in the “Theatre Workshop” staged production of this play by Dan LeFranc.
The Kitchen (play)
Played the role of Raymondo in the staged production of this play by Arnold Wesker.
GRAVL named one of the ‘Greatest Indie Games’
Independently developed a puzzle platformer game for Android called GRAVL, dedicating over 800 hours in Java without a third-party game engine. The game received over 10,000 downloads and an average rating of 4.5 stars on the Google Play Store at its peak. It was featured on greatestindiegames.com.
Euclid Scholarship in Mathematics and Computer Science
Received the Euclid Scholarship ($2,000), requiring nomination by a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics, to further pursue interests in Computer Science.
Alpha Lambda Delta Induction
Inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta, an honor society requiring a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 as a first-year undergraduate.
Co-Founded the CC Coding Club
Co-founded and served as Co-Chair of the Coding Club. Under my leadership, it became the first official club at CC to gain corporate sponsorship (with 5 corporate sponsors) and helped 7 members secure jobs or internships.
Faculty Dance Concert
Served as the Stage Manager for over 30 dancers in this once-a-year performance. Scheduled rehearsals, set up and took down all stage equipment, and gave precisely-timed cues for all lights, sounds, entrances, and exits during each performance.
My Best Friend’s Birthday (short film)
Played the starring role of Clarence.
The Bellmaster (short film)
Played the starring role of Bellmaster in this experimental short film for a fellow student’s final project.
Big Idea Finalist
Co-founded and developed Friendlier, a mobile application designed to suggest smart replies and prioritizing contacts from multiple social platforms. The project was a finalist in the Colorado College ‘Big Idea’ startup pitch competition.
Software Engineer at Baber Technical Consulting
Served as lead developer on Badger, an enterprise software integration that reduced average volunteer wait time 10x (from >30m to <3m) at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, saving thousands of $/month.
Boettcher International Education Grant and Gilman Scholarship
Awarded a $10,000 Boettcher International Education Grant and a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study Computer Science abroad at the Aquincum Institute of Technology in Budapest, Hungary. Developed a passion for Computer Vision and learned to code in Prolog and C++.
Keller Research Grant: European Theatre in the Refugee Crisis
With a fellow CC student, proposed and won a $2,000 Keller Family Venture Grant to research theatre’s relationship with European culture, economy, and politics during the Syrian refugee crisis. We traveled to five European countries and attended a dozen performances (pictured: Waiting for Godot in Paris, FR). During our travels, I met Joe and his daughter Chaurice on a train from Vienna to Berlin through Czechia. Joe, a Red Cross translator, shared a tragic story of a 12-year-old Syrian boy who lost his family escaping on a raft to Greece, providing deep insight into the struggles faced by refugees.
A Child of Light (play)
Played the role of Thomas Edison and Milutin Tesla in a play I wrote and directed about Nikola Tesla, performed in Budapest.
Aalst (play)
Voiced the role of The Voice in this gruesome play by Pol Heyvaert.
Paradise Motel (play)
Played the lead role of Jim in the Sam Shephard play Red Cross. It was staged among several of his other short plays adapted to appear simultaneously across adjoining rooms of a motel.
Wind Quintet (play)
Played the part of Gary Bell-Oaks in this staged reading.
Theatre Senior Thesis: IRIS-31, A Live VR Performance
Designed, developed, wrote, and directed IRIS-31, a VR play for my senior thesis. It combined an HTC Vive headset, Xbox Kinect body-motion tracking, and Leap Motion hand-motion tracking for real-time actor-participant interaction in a virtual world.
CS Senior Thesis: Universal Markdown for Play Scripts
Invented a semi-supervised machine-learning algorithm variant for my Computer Science senior thesis. This algorithm automatically converts smartphone-captured photographs of play scripts and film screenplays into universal markup language.
Udacity Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree Program
Accepted into the very first cohort of this 9-month online educational program (1 of 250 accepted out of 11,000 worldwide applicants), fully covered by an Educational Enrichment Grant from the Boettcher Foundation. Learned skills necessary to write software for autonomous vehicles.
The Final Two (short film)
Voiced the role of the TV Announcer.
The Aliens (play)
Played the lead role of Evan in The Aliens by Annie Baker.
Chatroom (play)
Played the lead role of William in this play by Enda Walsh.
J. Juan Reid Award
Received the J Juan Reid Award, presented to the senior best combining scholastic excellence and involvement in extracurricular activities.
Steven Janke Award in Computer Science
The first-ever recipient of the Steven Janke Award in Computer Science, the highest honor in the department, named after its founder. Awarded for ‘unusual talent and achievements in computer science, an unusual breadth and depth of accomplishments, and high grades.’
Battle of the Bands Performance
Performed with my friends in the band Ursa Minor at the Battle of the Bands, playing Radio/Video by SOAD.
Phi Beta Kappa Induction
Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the US, celebrating and advocating excellence in the liberal arts and sciences.
Distinction in Computer Science & Theatre, Summa cum laude
Graduated with Distinction in Computer Science and Distinction in Theatre, with a 4.0 GPA. I was one of five students in my class to receive Summa cum laude, conferred by special faculty vote.
Sang at Graduation Ceremony for Oprah
Performed as a choir singer at the Colorado College graduation ceremony, notably with Oprah in attendance.
First Trip to Nepal
Traveled to Nepal for the first time with my friend Anubrat, who showed me around Kathmandu, Pokhara, Dhangadhi, and Charikot, offering an intimate perspective of the culture and political process.
Books on the Beach with College Alumni
A memorable and unique experience discussing books and their relevance to current events with Colorado College alumni. Hosted by Meryl and Bob Selig with guest speaker Professor of Economics Dan Johnson.
CC Faces of Innovation
Selected along with my friend as CC’s Faces of Innovation, an elite group of students, professors, and alumni who are leaders of innovation. Recognized for our combined efforts in creating the CC Coding Club and founding/developing a mobile app that helps actors memorize their lines.
CC 5 Under 25
Named one of Colorado College’s 5 Under 25, a group of alumni recognized as young leaders in their field. Gave a presentation to students hosted by the Career Center.
Early Career at Google
Google Engineering Resident
Accepted a full-time job as a Software Engineer, starting in the Engineering Residency (Cohort K) at Google HQ. After being rejected once before, this required over a year of intense preparation and 8 interviews before being accepted. Successfully converted onto my first rotation team, effectively graduating 6 months early from the residency program.
Wrote & Deployed a Matching Algorithm to find a Roommate
Independently developed a responsive web app designed to help newly-hired employees find roommates. Featured a matching algorithm on a secure, searchable database, OAuth authentication, and user registration. Approx. 50 new Google employees registered, resulting in >5 successful matches, including myself and Tony, the best roommate I ever had.
Tech Lead for GlassPane
Within 6 months of starting, I was entrusted with the Tech Lead role for GlassPane, an internal metrics platform for Google Cloud. Proposed the project idea to an Engineering Director who funded it. Designed and launched the GlassPane MVP (Minimum Viable Product), creating an interactive proof of concept overnight and collaborating across teams.
Launched GlassPane v1 with Microservices Architecture
Launched GlassPane v1 with new UI features and a new backend powered by microservices. Spearheaded collaboration with the CorpSSO team to implement the ability for internal GAE apps to securely communicate through a proxy to internal Borg services. This new architecture achieved a 78% reduction in monthly $ cost and greatly reduced toil for onboarding new metric providers.
Joined Alphabeat, one of Google’s Acapella Groups
Sang for two years with Alphabeat, Google’s a cappella group, including a solo performance for over 500 people at a Techapella concert in October 2018. This performance led to my first professional studio recording and a feature on an album released on Spotify.
Second Trip to Nepal
Traveled to Nepal for the second time in January 2019 with my buddy Ted for our mutual friend Anubrat’s wedding.
Co-Presented at Cloud Next ‘19
Co-presented ‘Migrating a Monolithic App to Microservices’ at Google Cloud Next 2019 to an audience of 500 customers in San Francisco. Then presented solo in London to an audience of 334. My talks received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with >90% positive survey responses.
Promoted to L4: Software Engineer III
Promoted for impact delivered on internal metrics & insights platforms. Assumed the role of UI Tech Lead of the Goals team in GCP Reliability. Designed and implemented an Angular web app frontend that secured the product’s success, saving 56.1 SWE years in toil reduction across 90% of Cloud revenue streams. Taught Angular development & test best practices to 14 engineers and guided 3 release engineers to convert to SWE.
MP5 Member of the Month
Named ‘Member of the Month’ at the Google MP5 Gym by Exos Coach Lucas Dunham for leadership and perseverence.
Turdle.xyz - Wordle Clone with Animated Turtles
Developed Turdle.xyz, a Wordle clone featuring animated turtles instead of letters. It includes a mathematical permutation generator that guarantees a unique daily sequence for 42 years. The game peaked at 9.5K daily active users and still maintains 1.3K monthly active users 2.5 years post-launch.
Promoted to L5: Senior Software Engineer
Promoted and expanded responsibilities as UI Tech Lead for 3 internal product teams with 17 frontend engineers. In 6 months, designed and led implementation of new features that reduced toil by 1.5 SWE years across 90% of Cloud revenue streams, projected to save 18.5 SWE years in the following year.
Co-TL of GCPR Platform
Stepped into a Co-TL opportunity to lead the GCP Reliability Platform, aiming to improve full-stack development velocity. Led cross-team efforts to define quality bars, reduce testing toil (up to 50% of dev time), and promote shared components. Also led the Goals maintenance effort, reducing headcount allocation from 7 to 0.5 SWEs per quarter.
20 Google Awards: Kudos, Peer Bonuses and Spot Bonuses
During my tenure at Google, received 7 peer bonuses, 8 spot bonuses, and 5 public kudos from teammates and managers, including for ‘quickly and efficiently writing new system modules with ease and elegance, producing high quality code’, and for ‘consistently coming up with innovative and usable designs that even professional UX designers have appreciated for their elegance.’
Young Leaders Conference
One of 100 young leaders across the world hand-picked to attend a conference hosted by Marshall Goldsmith, the #1 executive coach in the world, to learn from each other and grow our executive leadership skills.
Google Farewell and Reflections
After 7.5 years at Google, decided to leave to pursue a startup opportunity. Reflected on the journey, expressing gratitude for experiences and lessons learned, including overcoming burnout, navigating corporate politics, and learning the importance of setting boundaries and prioritizing authenticity.
Transition to Stash & Beyond
Joined Stash as Engineer #5
Embarked on a new chapter by joining Stash as a Software Engineer. The experience has been incredibly positive, offering a flexible, remote-friendly, get-things-done work environment with minimal bureaucracy and a strong emphasis on psychological safety. Excited to work in open source on a new tech stack.
Learned to Drive an ATV
Experienced riding an ATV for the first time at my first annual company on-site with Stash. Turns out Google isn’t the only company with neat perks!
Personal Development & Health Journey
Health Transformation and Overcoming Eating Disorders
Embarked on a journey of significant health transformation, including initially losing 75 lbs and building muscle for 2 years, followed by a period of undereating and rapid weight loss after the pandemic, leading to hospitalization for near kidney failure. Through self-compassion, letting go of restrictive diets, and focusing on internal validation, I overcame disordered eating behaviors and returned to a healthy weight without obsessing over food or body image. This journey highlighted the importance of trusting myself and consistent self-care.
Developing Grit and a Growth Mindset
Attributed my escape from poverty to grit – having passion and perseverance for very long-term goals, and stamina to work hard for years. Embraced a growth mindset, the belief that failure is not a permanent condition, enabling me to persist through numerous rejections, including an initial rejection from Google despite a referral.