How I got here
Coming out of college at UNC, I was not 100% sure about what I wanted to do. I landed at Fidelity Investments and got my Series 7 and Series 66 licenses to deliver Fidelity 401(k) customers with investment guidance. After having those conversations with customers on the phone, I wanted to do the same thing but in-person. I joined Voya Financial as an independent Financial Advisor and worked with Wake County Public School System staff, since Voya held their 403(b) plan. I came to understand the NC Pension system and various challenges our educators face when planning for retirement.
In 2017, I started to question what I REALLY wanted to do in life. Working on building something from scratch always interested me, and at this time I was following all the happenings in Silicon Valley. The idea of learning how to code so I could build something of my own consumed me. I started with free resources like Codecademy and freeCodeCamp.org so see if I was interested in coding. I caught the bug instantly and decided to pursue software development as a career by going through a formal bootcamp. While working my existing job as a Financial Advisor, I completed the bootcamp and built projects on nights and weekends and eventually landed a software role in finance in Boston.
That role started my journey as a Software Engineer. I was fortunate to work with great coworkers at Galatea Associates with great clients working on very interesting financial software projects. I eventually decided to try my hand in the startup world by joining an early stage startup as the 3rd employee, building an options robo-advisor that managed strategies and helped users select the ideal strategy for their situation. The process taught me a lot about individual ownership, product-market fit, and what goes into maintaining a real business that serves customers and must remain compliant with strict financial regulations.
Following that experience, I worked in another startup environment, this time in healthcare with a more mature and funded team as the 1st/2nd engineer hired after the CTO (me and another Dev started on the same day). I grew a lot as a developer and got to work alongside a very talented and hardworking team that delivered great value and insights for clinical tral enrollment. Seeing what great software building processes looked like help me always work towards what it best, even if it wasn't easy.
What I lead today
At Railinc, I lead Dev teams on software projects impacting the freight rail industry. The work is about pairing technical depth with delivery discipline: scoping ambiguous problems with stakeholders, breaking work down into shippable milestones, and unblocking the engineers doing the building. I still write code when needed and love to stay in the weeds with technical conversations. My main job is making sure the team has the room and the clarity to do their best work and that we delight the customer.
I am finding that I truly enjoy this type of role, as it allows me to paint the bigger picture while ensuring the minute details are handled elegantly. Management is certainly a different role than being an IC Software Engineer, but having that background is critical to understanding the problem space well. I am constantly growing as a leader and seek out big opportunities to push the limits on what I can do.
What I'm working towards
Becoming the type of Engineering Manager that I would want to have. This doesn't mean being everyone's best friend, but rather holding everyone accountable while keeping the work interesting. We're always working towards a goal, so I want my team to understand it clearly and crowd out everything that doesn't contribute to achieving it. We're in a brand new, exciting area of technology and I feel fortunate to have a front row seat to all of this change.
The non-work part of this learning how to be the best dad and husband I can be. Our daughter was born at the end of 2025, and it has been a special journey to watch her grow up so far. Balancing work with fatherhood can be challenging at times, but definitely worth it. Working with a purpose has always been a goal of mine, but now it is amplified to do great work for my family.
Off the clock
Outside of work: Being a girl dad, weightlifting, trying to squeeze in a round of golf with the boys, cheering on the Carolina Panthers, Hurricanes, Charlotte Hornets and UNC. Live concerts and generally getting outdoors. Carolina roots that run deep.