#bio

2nd generation programmer, musician, and teacher.

My father was a Princeton-educated mathematician who worked as a programmer on aerospace projects like Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Voyager probe, and taught as a graduate student, so I grew up immersed in computational physics. As teenage rebellion, I got into what seemed like the polar opposites: punk, jazz, art, poetry, buddhism, teaching guitar. When I unexpectedly became a father, I put my music career on the side, and started programming professionally.

I soon discovered what I’d chosen for practicality also had passion. Turns out the two aren’t as different as they seem. Computer programming has foundations in computer science, but uses them as an art instead. It's creative writing using math as the language.

In the 2000s, I joined two successful startups: first Athenahealth, then Zipcar. After Zipcar IPO’d, I left to pursue the emerging field of front end development as a freelancer. Working with companies like Charles Schwab and Macmillan Publishing to help them transition to HTML 5, one component of every job was training the existing engineers.

This naturally led to formal training roles. First I co-taught a web dev bootcamp for General Assembly; GA gave me great training on how to teach. Then I joined a corporate consultancy called DevelopIntelligence, with international Fortune 500 bookings. I burnt out after a couple years on the 100% travel required, and went back to local startups, this time as an co-founder / architect.

On the side, I kept music going the whole time. I’ve toured nationally and released multiple albums. During pandemic I live-streamed from my basement. I'm still playing locally as a solo vocal & guitar act.

I had to put more effort into managing my mental health. Academic success and depression go hand in hand in my family. 3 out of 4 of my grandparents were college professors, and over the years the same 3 died “diseases of despair” - 2 suicides and 1 from alcohol. My parents were Phi Beta Kappa, Fulbright scholars, and both of them have been hospitalized at different times.

I have no shame in discussing this anymore because it’s simply a part of my health history. Some families have diabetes or breast cancer; my fam has depression. I just need to manage it, like anyone else.

One critical part of managing mental health is physical health. The single best antidepressant I’ve found is riding my bicycle. It provides not only physical exercise, it gets me out of the house and engaging with the world.

Pedals power another awesome engagement with the world called Portland Bike Party. Depending on the weather, a group of 5 to 350 (!) cyclists go for a ride with some big bluetooth speakers cranking upbeat tunes. Volunteers help guide the group along an easy route to a scenic halfway stop. There you can choose to join in a dance party, hula hoop, socialize, whatever. It's so much FUN.

All the threads of my life are starting to come together. I work with the bike party volunteer team to help organize rides and maintain online communication, bringing in my professional skills. Recently I brought my guitar along on the ride to shred some gnarly licks for riders’ entertainment. Right now I’m working on a pitch for a software project with an open source component that could benefit bike party, and the larger volunteer community too.

Mark Sandman from the band Morphine wrote a lyric, “I’m exactly where I wanna be right now.” I feel that more and more every day.

Everything depends on balance.