About Rob

I first wrote code in 1994. The pull of making something out of nothing never went away. I started working professionally in the early 2000s, and over two decades the work spread across the stack: frontend, backend, infrastructure, DevOps, integrations, hiring, and team leadership. I pick the tool that fits the problem rather than attach myself to one stack.

Along the way, I spent 5 years as a technical interviewer, conducting 700+ structured interviews across companies and skill levels. That gave me a cross-section of developer quality that most hiring managers never see. I know what good looks like, and I know the patterns that predict problems.

I've also taught web development at university level, ran training courses, and spoken at conferences. I don't lead with those things, but they shaped how I explain technical trade-offs to people who don't write code. That turns out to be a big part of the work.

Fast judgment under pressure. When something goes wrong, I find the workaround that buys time while the proper fix is built.

Scope translation. Founders often know everything their product needs but struggle to sequence it. I turn "everything is priority 1" into a buildable plan with clear trade-offs. What's v1? What's later? What can we drop entirely?

Cross-domain thinking. Most teams have blind spots shaped by their habits and their tools. I bridge those gaps because my experience spans the stack and the work around it.

Hiring and vetting. 700+ interviews taught me to filter for stewards, not just coders. People who own outcomes, not just tickets. As AI changes what "developer skill" even means, this filter matters more than ever.

Trust. The best client relationships go past architecture. Founders trust me with product direction, hiring doubts, and hard calls under pressure. That matters more than the label.

I'm a craftsman by temperament. Small teams. Simple tools. Ship what works. I align with the 37signals philosophy: more code doesn't mean better products, and more process doesn't mean better teams. The minimum structure that creates clarity is usually enough.

I still build my own products alongside client work. It keeps me sharp, but more importantly, the best guidance comes from people who are still shipping, still making decisions, and still feeling the consequences. If your advisor's only product is advice, ask what they're pressure-testing their ideas against.

I've written more about this on the beliefs page.

I garden, do hand-tool woodworking, take photographs, and write. I have two young kids and I try to be around for them as much as my schedule allows.