I'm Kevin, a Staff Engineer at Snap who got here by way of film school and a post-production startup. I write about engineering craft, career growth, and learning to get out of my own way.
Recent Posts
Parachuting In
Published:8 min readI don't hand-write code anymore. The hard parts didn't go away.
Two tables
Published:4 min readYou don't start with parallelism.
You can't borrow muscle memory
Published:4 min readI copied 27 Claude commands and realized it wasn't doing me any favors.
Temporary is Permanent
Published:9 min readLight Iron announced it was winding down. Some memories from my first job, my first family in LA, and where I accidentally started writing software.
You can use AI every day and still not get better
Published:5 min readWorking with AI isn't a binary skill. It's an instrument that requires deliberate practice.
Ideas Die in Drafts
Published:4 min readSome of my best ideas used to die before anyone saw them. That's changing.
Wider, Not Faster
Published:4 min readWorking with AI changed what I'm willing to attempt. It also changed me.
The Rock Tumbler
Published:5 min readSome feedback is easy to act on. Other feedback takes work to process. That work might be the point.
High-Bandwidth Communication
Published:2 min readWhy do some conversations click while others fall flat? Using the language of networking to understand human connection, trust, and saying what you mean.
Getting out of my own way: Lessons from becoming a Staff Engineer
Published:7 min readLessons from my journey to Staff Engineer at Snap. A personal look at imposter syndrome, becoming a force multiplier, and the strategic shifts to succeed at the next level.