Hi, I’m Allen!
I’m a software engineering executive and technology enthusiast based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Having worked for companies big and small, I’m most energized by the dynamic potential of startups, early in their journeys. I’m at my best helping scale teams while up-leveling the people that I work with.
With my wife and two kids, we enjoy the quiet serenity of reading, nearby national parks, and simple crafts. I get overly excited by new gadgetry, and nurture a bad habit of picking up new hobbies. Since 2011, this site has collected my regular, late-night musings.
Year of the Linux Console, Steam Edition
A few weeks back, Valve—the company most famously behind the Steam platform for PC…
Review: The Money Trap
My dad gave me some life advice as a kid: If I wanted to make money in my career, I needed…
How to Value Journaling
I started journaling before it was cool. Okay, it was never cool and will probably never be…
Pining for a Simpler Internet
It could have been mere coincidence. As I was settling into an evening of going through…
Review: The Last Lecture
On my bookshelf, there’s one shelf that I keep a couple of my favorite books, and on…
Learn to be Bored
It almost always comes up an hour into a road trip. Or a lazy Sunday afternoon. Or as they…
Lucid Motors, the Tesla of a Decade Past
Before AI dominated the headlines and capital investments, electric vehicles and autonomous…
The Slope of EV Enlightenment
The federal credit for EVs expired at the end of September. Paradoxically, this deadline…
Review: Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)
How many books unironically validate their own criticisms? Mistakes Were Made (But Not by…