Late in 2013, I met a remarkable group of people building an app so inspiring that I couldn’t think of working on anything else. I left Forge Apps, my software consulting company, and joined them in delivering uniquely personalized fitness guidance for users. It was a mission so purely good that I often, only half-jokingly, say that I would have joined the team without pay. We built it and it helped people. We were acquired multiple times and expanded our mission beyond fitness to encompass all of human health, and I believed that journey was the best decade of my career.
I resigned myself to the probability that I’d never again work on something so good, and that I should just grind out jobs until I could retire to become a wilderness ranger. I was wrong.
After a long-overdue sabbatical break (including a delightful return to my alma mater) I’ve joined iNaturalist as Head of Engineering. iNaturalist is the premier platform for connecting people with nature while advancing science and conservation. Our community is unlike any other, as we work together to record the world around us and help each other learn about it. I’ve been a contributor for years, and when I tell random people about some cool thing out in nature, it’s often because interactions on iNat have turned my book knowledge into practical understanding.
In a way, iNaturalist is the ranger I dream of becoming: connecting people and protecting nature, but using technology to reach millions—far beyond the number I could ever talk to on trails. Our team is fantastic, our community and volunteers are inspiring, and it’s exactly where I want to contribute my engineering abilities for as long as possible. I’m full of gratitude, humbled, and thrilled to be part of this mission.
