Senior Software Quality Engineer · Zillow Group
I believe the best teams are built by people who know themselves well enough to show up fully — and care enough about the people around them to communicate in a way that actually lands.
About
I'm a Senior Software Quality Engineer at Zillow Group, where I've spent six years making sure the software we ship actually works — and that the people building it can work well together.
My interest in communication styles came out of a simple observation: the same message can land completely differently depending on who's receiving it. When I went through Insights Discovery, something clicked. Most of us speak in our own energy — the way that feels natural and authentic — and then wonder why it doesn't always land. The missing step is the filter: the deliberate effort to translate before you transmit.
I write about what it takes to be your best self at work — to communicate clearly, to understand how you and the people around you operate, and to contribute to a team that's more than the sum of its parts.
Resources
Practical tools for being your best self at work — communicating with clarity and confidence, understanding the people around you, and contributing to a team that actually performs.
Insights Discovery · Communication
A one-page reference for anyone who leads with Sunshine Yellow energy — enthusiastic, expressive, collaborative — presenting to an audience that leads with Cool Blue or Fiery Red. Concrete word swaps, a five-step structure formula, and in-the-room calibration tips.
Open the guide →Quality Engineering · Philosophy
A reframe on what quality actually means — and whose delight counts. Walks through every stakeholder who touches a product and asks the same question: would they be delighted by this? Originally a LinkedIn post, expanded here into a short essay.
Read the essay →Learning · Engineering Philosophy
Why applying just-in-time manufacturing principles to your own learning is more honest — and more effective — than trying to keep up with every trend. A case for pull-based learning over push-based consumption, with a three-mode system for knowing when to go deep.
Read the essay →Team Performance · Onboarding
A stage-by-stage guide for joining a new team and doing your part to get everyone to high performance, fast. From Day One to three years in — what to focus on at each milestone, and how to minimize waste and rework while you find your place.
Read the guide →Agentic Engineering · Future of Teams
Waterfall gave us structure. Agile gave us speed. The agentic era gives us something harder: accountability for everything you direct but don't write yourself. What a conversation with Claude revealed about where high-performing teams are headed — and why verification is about to become the most valuable skill in software.
Read the essay →Team Growth · Leadership
The most effective thing you can do for someone isn't tied to their title — it's tied to where they are on the learning curve right now, on this specific task. The Situational Leadership model Zillow introduced me to, applied through real personal experience: what it felt like to be a Senior IC who was genuinely a D1.
Read the essay →