Hello, I'm James.

I work on software systems, with a focus on data engineering, distributed systems, and operational reliability. My professional background is in higher education technology, where I lead engineering initiatives across web platforms, CRM systems, and institutional data pipelines. Much of my work involves translating ambiguous institutional needs into structured systems that run cleanly and reliably.

I am currently completing a Master of Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with coursework centered on networking, systems, and machine learning. I am particularly interested in the mechanics of software: how data moves, how services communicate, and how complexity can be reduced through careful design, task decomposition, and atomic operations.

Outside of engineering, I train for triathlon and maintain a private experimental cloud, building and operating virtualized infrastructure, storage systems, and internal services. I tend to prefer systems that run cleanly, scale deliberately, and can be reasoned about from first principles.