People are often surprised when they learn I have an English degree. "How did you end up in tech?" they ask. The answer is: through curiosity, persistence, and a love of solving problems.

Starting With Words

I graduated from Rowan University with a degree in English and a minor in Journalism. I've always loved to write— there's something powerful about using language to communicate ideas clearly and persuasively. During college, I imagined a career in writing, perhaps journalism or technical writing.

The First Step Into Tech

My entry into technology came through Interactive Data (now part of ICE), where I worked as a Market Data Analyst. The job involved parsing market data from countless sources using regex patterns in custom software. It was here that I discovered the power of automation and began teaching myself Python.

From Patterns to Pipelines

At Eataly, I evolved into a Data Engineer role, consuming data from across the company and building ETL pipelines. I worked extensively with SQL Server, Python, pandas, and numpy. I also began learning Linux systems, which opened up a whole new world of computing.

Operating at Scale

My time at Meta (Facebook) was transformative. As part of the Data Operations team, I monitored and troubleshot thousands of pipelines running across Meta's massive infrastructure—Hive, Spark, Presto, MySQL, and streaming systems. This role taught me what it means to operate data systems at true scale.

Leading Teams

Today, I'm an Engineering Manager at SpyCloud in Austin, Texas. I've progressed from Software Engineer to Lead to Staff Engineer and now to management. I oversee development of our flagship platform product using React and Golang on AWS infrastructure.

What I Learned

My English background has been surprisingly valuable. Technical writing, clear communication, and the ability to explain complex concepts simply—these are skills that differentiate good engineers from great ones. Whether I'm writing documentation, reviewing code, or presenting to leadership, my background in language helps me communicate effectively.

The journey from English major to Engineering Manager wasn't linear, but it was meaningful. Every step taught me something new, and every challenge made me a better engineer and leader.