I get most of my fulfillment from helping others. I enjoy taking time to unstick others and mentor junior folks through pair programming, code review, and doing reconnaissance.

I also love a good, hard problem to solve. Whether it’s architecting large systems, or optimizing a complex query, or diving into that legacy code no one wants to touch, my brain just lights up.

I don’t know how great the accomplishment was to others, but my most formative accomplishment was the Farm Manager I built at CropOne, a now-defunct hydroponics lettuce company. It was a system used by both the Production and Science teams to improve the efficiency, traceability, and data integrity for operations around the farm. It employed intuitive UIs and data visualization that mimicked real-life infrastructure.

Really? This ol’ schtick? Alright, here we go…

I’d say my greatest strength is curiosity. The older and more experienced I become, the more I lean into it, allowing curiosity to override ego, sureness, and even boredom. Everyone has something to teach you. Every subject has unknowns. From every meeting, however boring, can insight be gleaned!

My greatest weakness is perfectionism. I don’t want to put my name on something unless it’s unimpeachable. This is a holdover from earlier in my career, when I had an ego—now the ego is gone, but the shame lives on 🫠 But that perfectionism also means I deliver tested, well-documented, readable, and sometimes even performant code!

What’s this…? In a stunning twist—which could not have been foreseen—Mike’s chosen weakness of discussion is actually a STRENGTH?! The pageantry of the schtick has been fulfilled!