Posts
All the articles I've posted.
My Experience with the Amazon Promotion Process
Originally:updated Feb 21, 2026My promo journey at Amazon took two years from when I first thought I was ready. One rejection, a lot of reflection, and a manager's quote that made it all click.
Backfill Considerations and Lessons Learned
Published: at 06:22 PMWhen you need to backfill data, it's easy to cause problems. I've learned this lesson the hard way. This guide walks you through planning and executing backfills safely, from small fixes to massive data migrations.
Reflections on my Amazon Career
Published: at 12:57 AMToday's my last day after four years at Amazon. I joined to learn what made Amazon so successful, and I'm leaving with insights on their engineering culture and Leadership Principles.
Providing Effective Feedback to Engineers
Published: at 08:41 AMGiving feedback to engineers is one of the most important skills for tech leads and managers. My framework for providing constructive feedback that helps people grow without damaging relationships.
Load Testing Guide
Published: at 06:22 PMWe built a new service that handled 20x more traffic than expected. When we load tested it, it died at 20% of expected traffic. My complete guide to load testing, from choosing tools to interpreting results.
Getting Unstuck
Published: at 01:00 PMWe all get stuck. The trick is knowing when and how to ask for help. My framework for troubleshooting problems and, when that fails, how to ask for help in a way that gets you the answers you need.
My Path to Software Engineering
Published: at 12:35 PMI've gone between software engineering and film for most of my career. People often wonder about my unusual path, so I'm sharing the story of how I bounced between these two worlds and found my way to tech.
The Princess and the Pea
Published: at 12:35 PMThe Princess and the Pea fairy tale perfectly captures a problem I see in software teams. When someone on your team is overly sensitive to small issues, it can create tension. How to handle it constructively.
Don't Bake a Cake
Published: at 01:35 PMDon't bake a cake became my shorthand for a common problem in software teams. What I learned about communicating status updates effectively and why transparency, even when things go wrong, builds trust.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate Notes
Published: at 09:23 AMI recently passed the AWS Solutions Architect - Associate exam and wanted to share my study notes. These cover the key services, concepts, and gotchas you need to know to pass.