I'm a coach at heart who never stopped building.
I've worked in software since 1997, from system engineer to Director of Cloud Engineering. Along the way I've built multiple high-performing teams by partnering closely with the business and putting in place the process and practices that let teams deliver highly available, scalable and maintainable solutions.
Now I'm choosing to get back to hands-on work. I know what a manager needs from an engineer, because I've been that manager.
Begin with the end in mind
Stephen Covey's second habit asks you to imagine your own funeral and listen to what people say about you. It's an exercise I've come back to throughout my career, because the answer decides how I treat people every day.
TODO: in a sentence or two, what you'd want them to say.
Coach them up
No one shows up to work and says "I think I'll do a bad job today." I really believe that, and understanding it changed how I lead.
Years ago I coached a youth soccer team. One boy had always been parked on defense, near the eighteen-yard box, staying out of the way. I moved him up to second striker. Up top he was in the game. He'd toe-poke a ball away or be in the right place at the right time. Parents started cheering for him by name, and I watched him stand a little taller and try a little harder.
I've carried that into every team I've led. When someone is struggling, I ask:
Did we set clear expectations?
Did we have an honest conversation about where they are and where they need to be?
Did we put them in a position where they could succeed and contribute to the team?
I believe in mentorship, and I work for my people as much as they work for me. Watching someone grow and succeed matters to me. It's very rewarding seeing people smile.
Trust the process
"Trust the process" is something professional golfers say all the time. I've worked hard to actually practice it. I practice more than I play, I track shot data, and I reflect on what went well and what didn't.
Engineering is the same. Process and practices aren't overhead. They're the mechanism by which you succeed. Some might call my expectations high, but we meet them because we design and plan, set goals and prioritize, and build for growth from the start: 12-factor principles for application code, cloud-native design for infrastructure. We don't let technical debt accumulate. We prioritize it or we automate it.
I've seen small teams with strong process consistently outperform larger, better-resourced ones. The difference was never effort. It was foundation.
Build it first. Then go play.
Dig it out of the dirt
Ben Hogan believed the secret of the golf swing was in the dirt: you dig it out through practice. My homelab is my practice range. I learn at home, prove it there, and bring it into the enterprise.
It runs like a small enterprise platform: Kubernetes at home and AWS together, single sign-on into every system, GitOps, managed databases with tested backups, and proper secrets handling. Next, it's catching up with the last platform I built at work.
What I'm looking for
A hands-on role where I can build, and where my experience as a manager makes the whole team better. I need very little management, and I'll make my manager look good.
TODO: your wording for the role you want, and whether to mention that you're leaving Cigna in November.
Outside work
My family. Golf, where I'm the weirdo who practices more than he plays. And soccer, including coaching.
Let's talk
If you're thinking about how to build teams that deliver at scale without burning people out, I'd love to have a (virtual) coffee and hear your perspective.