Who I am, where I come from, and how I choose to operate
You grasp deep emotional nuances, creating genuine connections with coworkers and clients. If empathy were a sport, I’d be a gold medalist… and the referee would probably cry too.
Your empathetic communication helps you smoothly guide others toward consensus. I don’t twist arms — I offer cookies until everyone agrees.
You thrive when granted the freedom to innovate and explore ideas creatively.
Understated persistence allows you to pursue meaningful goals without unnecessary conflict.
Your thoughtful mindset ensures high-quality, meaningful outcomes in your projects.
You create trust through honesty and openness, bringing sincerity into the workplace. And a great deal of natural humor: What you see is what you get — minus the parts that haven’t had coffee yet.
Your idealistic expectations may hinder practical decision-making and achievable goals. I aim for the stars, but sometimes forget the ladder.
Self-promotion and professional interactions outside your comfort zone may leave you drained. Networking feels like speed dating for extroverts — I bring snacks instead.
Your spontaneous workflow style can cause difficulties in maintaining schedules and routines. This is cyclical for me. I find that I have periods where I want military order and precision, and periods where I want to simply focus on something for a long period of time without bothering with trivial things. Note that I always want to overlook the dirty dishes.
Your natural humility often prevents you from presenting your contributions effectively. My trumpet has a mute button permanently installed.
Repetitive or structured tasks demotivate and tire you, reducing overall productivity. I think this particular trait reveals why I am cyclical in terms of routine. Routine does drain me, but at a much slower rate than the average person of similar personality type. In other words, it may take days or even weeks for me to be drained by routine. In the same way it may take days or weeks for me to decide that my lack of order and organization is painful and needs to be rectified. In short, I can handle routine… for about three days before my brain stages a coup.
From survival mode → to open source → to writing and growth.
I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, due to my dad’s career choices. I was reading 8th grade textbooks at age 4 and writing in architectural block printing at age 5, and over two years, ages 6 and 7, I read the entire contents of the city school’s libraries.
At age 12, my 4yo sister contracted aggressive leukemia, and for two years (until her passing), I was her primary caregiver, since my parents retreated into alcoholism. This frequently included four hour trips to St. Jude hospital in Memphis, TN for her treatments.
At age 14, I started working as an electronics repairmain in the late afternoons, evenings, and weekends, including being on call for weather emergencies (rain was hard on the phone company). This helped pay the mortgage and bills and keep food on the table. I was still maintaining straight A’s, lettering in football, baseball, and track, and maintaining an active ham radio presence.
Essentially, I had to create my own culture, because there literally was no time for anything else. I maxed out ACT, SAT, and National Merit exams, and had full-ride offers from Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and SMU, and full-ride with a generous stipend from the local college (UAH). Ultimately, I chose the college which best suited my family situation.
I guess you could say that the “culture of expediency and mercy” that I felt compelled to create shaped my personality more than anything else: I had no choice but to get top grades, use school time to stay fit (sports), work a full-time job at 14, and seek the most stable career options because nobody else in my family could care for themselves, let alone keep the family together. Basically, my childhood was a masterclass in survival mode — and I passed with honors and a coffee addiction.
I spent much of my twenties in the defense industry, working on WMD programs and learning the mechanics of power up close. By 30, I’d had enough — disgust pushed me to walk away. From then on, I committed to peace, love, and open source. That choice redirected my entire trajectory.
I brushed elbows with many of the open-source greats, fought the editor wars on stage at a UniForum, and became an advocate for rawdogging Emacs. Those years taught me that creativity, community, and freedom trump secrecy and control.
Six years ago, I settled into the role of technical, business, and personal growth writer — bringing the lessons of survival, depth, and play into print. Lately, I’m walking slowly away from technical writing and turning toward being a very public maker, writing about my experiences.
CC BY-NC 2025 stormrider