About Me

I am currently a Principal Software Engineer working at Microsoft in the CSE (Commercial Software Engineering) group. I work as part of the Agile Response Team. Our Agile Response Team is ready at a moment’s notice to engage with our customers and partners on some of the most challenging problems in our industry anywhere around the world. If there is a technical challenge with the cloud, our team will find or build a solution to ensure all parties are successful.

I went to school to study Computer Science. I lasted roughly eight months as I discovered I was an absolutely horrible student. I dropped out and started working in IT as a mainframe operator (tapes and print breakdowns for us old people) while I took 2 COBOL classes in community college. I took these classes because the place I worked at (Handleman Corporation) had an employee who also was a college professor at the community college and funneled his best into Handleman. At twenty I started programming mainframes (it was roughly 1990). I did some mainframes, some AS/400 and Unix work along the way but I really didn't do any PC programming until 1998. I basically bluffed my way through a job interview doing VB and started programming PCs and Windows Servers. I found I could consume learning technology at a rapid pace and bought book after book to teach me what I needed to know. After a few years, I took an interview with Microsoft on a dare. It was for a field consulting position, but it was Microsoft none the less. I still to this day, cannot believe they hired me. Once inside, I held various positions in technical pre-sales, early evangelism in the field (Developer and Architect), and eventually left after about eight or nine years to do my own startups. I worked ten years mostly doing consumer electronics and automotive infotainment systems. Man, I got an MBA education packed into that decade as me and my business partner (Chad Stayton) won some contracts, did business on three continents, got bought, couldn't get paid, shed tears, and learned all kinds of lessons. My family fondly refers to this timeframe as the "decade of pain" 😜.

After not earning any money, I got a fateful call from an old Microsoft buddy asking me if I wanted back in. I took a job as the Global Account Technical Strategist (think account sales guy but technical) handling Ford. After a few years, I moved into CSE and could not be happier.

As my kids are grown, I spend a lot of time mentoring and helping startups get off the ground in Detroit and far flung places. I love the Detroit area and cannot think of anywhere else I would like to be. If you want, you can reach me at my email. I hope you enjoy this little slice of the internet.