From OBD Ports to Python Imports
Software engineer building toward AI — applying systematic thinking from freight engines and enterprise systems to neural networks and biological sequences.
WGU B.S. Software Engineering · M.S. AI Engineering (Dec 2026) · CompTIA Security+ · AWS · Linux+ · ITIL 4
About
Isolate the subsystem, trace the signal, fix the root cause — whether it's a crankshaft or a neural network.
Diagnose
Diesel Engines
I started my career diagnosing diesel engines — International, Volvo, Freightliner — across shops in Chicago, Charlotte, and Atlanta. That work taught me systematic troubleshooting: isolate the subsystem, trace the signal, fix the root cause.
Build
Enterprise Software
I brought that same thinking to software engineering. I earned my B.S. from WGU with three Excellence Awards, built production Blazor and ASP.NET Core systems in healthcare IT, and deployed a full-stack capstone to Azure with 30+ automated tests and CI/CD pipelines.
Evolve
AI & Bioinformatics
Now I'm building toward AI. I study PyTorch and deep learning alongside my day job, maintain a 32-article technical blog series, and I'm developing tools at the intersection of software engineering and bioinformatics. My M.S. in AI Engineering starts December 2026 — with a long-term research interest in using generative models to accelerate protein engineering.
Featured projects
AI and ML work first — plus the full-stack capstone that ties my .NET and cloud background together.
Problem
Image classification across 133 dog breeds is hard to do from scratch — you need strong features, enough data, and a path to deployment without drowning in boilerplate.
Solution
Built a convolutional neural network with Keras and TensorFlow using transfer learning, plus a Streamlit UI for real-time predictions from uploaded images.
Impact
End-to-end pipeline from training to local deployment, documented on Hashnode (Part 2 of the series; Part 3 benchmarks PyTorch implementations).
Tech stack
Problem
Framework tutorials rarely build intuition for autograd, loss landscapes, and why architectures behave the way they do.
Solution
A hands-on lab of 40+ experiments: custom layers, gradient flow, diagnostics, and visualization — built beside long-form writing.
Impact
Pairs directly with 32+ Hashnode articles in the “PyTorch Zero to One” series so readers can reproduce and extend each idea.
Tech stack
Problem
Genomic and protein sequences are large and awkward to parse — scripts turn into one-off glue instead of reusable pipelines.
Solution
Python utilities with Biopython and NumPy for streaming I/O, batch processing, and modular analysis steps.
Impact
Reusable foundation aligned with software engineering practice and future work in latent-based directed evolution / protein design.
Tech stack
Problem
Students and educators need a centralized, cloud-based academic management system with real-time sync, secure authentication, analytics (weighted GPA, grade projections), and reporting beyond basic offline tracking.
Solution
Built a three-tier system: ASP.NET Core Web API (.NET 8) with JWT auth, EF Core, and Azure SQL; .NET MAUI client (.NET 9) with MVVM; Azure App Service with CI/CD and Swagger; 30+ unit tests (xUnit, Moq, FluentAssertions) at 100% pass rate.
Impact
Production-style capstone: fixed weighted GPA via TDD, isolated DB for parallel tests, consistent API errors and Swagger docs, deployed and maintained on Azure. JWT auth with role-based access.
Tech stack
Technical skills
A concise stack — project cards above spell out specifics.
Education & certifications (details)
B.S. Software Engineering, WGU — Jan 2026, 3× Excellence Award. Capstone details are in the featured project above.
M.S. AI Engineering, WGU — Starting Dec 2026.
Certifications: Security+ · Linux+ · AWS Cloud Practitioner · ITIL 4 · AWS ML Engineer Associate (in progress).
Community & Writing
Meetups, long-form technical writing, and a talk pitch in flight.
Monthly meetups, 120+ members, STEM outreach in Eastern NC — labs, templates, and accountability for career changers.
Tutorials and build logs aligned with the repos on this site.
Visit the blog"What a Diesel Engine Taught Me About the Code of Life"
Applied to speak at TEDxRaleigh 2026.
Community snapshots
Conferences, meetups, and people I've learned alongside.
Let's connect
Open roles, collaborations, or questions about my projects — reach out async or jump on a call.
Usually reply within 48 hours · Prefer async? Use the form.