Hi, I’m James. I’ve been building things since I was 13.

Ever since about the age of 13, coding has been my hobby. There’s a unique sense of accomplishment in build things from simple lines of code into fully working projects. My first significant project involved a local museum’s archaic pen-and-paper system into a digital database - and this was done when I was 15.

I started working full time when I was 17, undertaking contract work in various local IT roles. This period of my career had me working for several small businesses, as a jack-of-all-trades in the IT department.

Today, I’m an Engineering Manager focused on DevSecOps. My core mission is to fix that friction.

My philosophy is simple: security should be a partner, not a blocker. Having been on both sides of the fence, I have deep empathy for the pressures developers face and how traditional security can get in the way.

My technical experience is hands-on, from building secure systems (pfSense and bare metal will always have a place in my heart!) to leading a complex migration from a legacy monolith to a multi-account, Kubernetes-based microservices architecture.

This blog is where I share my thoughts on the human side of DevSecOps. I’m not here to talk about a “perfect” solution. I’m here to share pragmatic lessons on building trust, empowering engineers, and making the secure path the easiest one to follow.