I got into software through problem-solving, not through loyalty to a stack. The pattern repeats: find the friction, build the fix, hand it to the people doing the work. At ConnectSys that was an API server and data pipelines. At Baylor it's spreadsheets and clinic workflows that shouldn't need a human to retype them.
The homelab is where I learn infrastructure properly. A multi-node k3s cluster, Flux CD reconciling from Git, CloudNativePG, SOPS-encrypted secrets, and Cloudflare Tunnels plus Tailscale for access. When it breaks late at night it's mine to fix, which is the point.
