My Story
From converting legacy JSPs to leading a team of 10 and generating $1.9M+ ARR
1 Building the Future (2024-2025)
The Need
Symmetry needed a Payments & Filing product — the ability to actually pay employees and file taxes, not just calculate them. I had just spent 18 months at Gusto learning exactly how to build this.
The Solution
I built a proof-of-concept that adapted Gusto's Ruby architecture patterns to Java. The POC demonstrated we could build this in-house rather than buying a solution.
The Outcome
Leadership approved scaling the project. My team grew from 4 to 10 direct reports. I transitioned to full-time "People Empowerer" — only coding at night on personal projects. The shift from IC to manager was complete, but I never stopped building.
2 The Gusto Safari (2022-2023)
The Need
After Gusto acquired Symmetry in 2021, they needed help migrating their payments and filing product to a new internal platform. I volunteered to embed with their team.
The Solution
Mid-2022 to December 2023, I went on what I call a "safari" — working directly with a Gusto team. Different company, different stack (Ruby), same approach: understand the problem, build the solution, ship it.
The Outcome
Successfully helped migrate to their internal application. Picked up two more direct reports along the way. Learned patterns I'd later bring back to Symmetry.
3 Chief Architect (2018-2022)
In 2018, I was promoted to Chief Architect of PaycheckCity.
PaycheckCity Profiles → Payroll
The Need
Users wanted to save their paycheck calculations and run them repeatedly. We saw an opportunity to convert free users into paying customers.
The Solution
Built a full payroll application with Spring Boot and Angular 2+. Users could save calculations and run them as a batch. This is when I started using Stripe for payments — loved the developer dashboard from day one. Been using webhooks ever since to handle subscription events, failed payments, and account updates.
The Outcome
- 2019: Brought on my first direct report — a UI/UX developer
- 2020: Rebranded as PaycheckCity Payroll. Added an Angular developer.
- 2022: 1,500 active users generating $280,000/year
4 Symmetry Software (2011-2017)
PaycheckCity.com
The Need
January 4, 2011. I joined Symmetry Software as employee #11. My first task: maintain and update PaycheckCity.com, a free tool that showcases Symmetry's flagship tax engine. The site had 1.5 million unique users per year and needed to be migrated off Microsoft IIS.
The Solution
I rebuilt it as a Spring MVC application. Working as a solo engineer, I was concerned about handling the traffic. I got comfortable using JMeter to test realistic loads so when we launched, I had high confidence the application would work as intended.
The site was ad-supported, so I took ownership of that revenue stream — focusing on user experience and smart ad placement.
The Outcome
Traffic grew from 1.5M to 11 million uniques in 2019. Ad revenue grew from $120,000 to $600,000 — a 5x increase. In 2019, I updated the stack to Gatsby with Prismic CMS (now on Gatsby 5, though I'd choose Astro today).
Traffic has since declined due to lack of active development. Competitors now hold the top two spots for our main keyword — a reminder that SEO requires constant attention.
Calculators by Symmetry (2013-2015)
The Need
We already had Calculators by Symmetry running on IIS. I was tasked with migrating it to a more modern solution. The challenge: don't disrupt existing customer implementations. They were using links with API keys embedded in the URL.
The Solution
I architected it as two applications: a frontend widget (jQuery) and Symmetry's first API (Spring with HATEOAS). I switched from URL-based API keys to embeddable script tags. Used Grunt as a custom build pipeline to build, minify, obfuscate, and cache-bust the widgets.
A few clients were initially wary of running third-party scripts on their sites — this is no longer an issue. We also created a white-label version with specialty calculators not available to free users.
The Outcome
The system is still running today with minimal maintenance. Employees can self-serve and determine what their paycheck would be based on W-4 or benefit changes — no HR call required.
Examples of clients using it today:
This product generates approximately $1 million ARR.
5 The Beginning (2009-2010)
The Need
Computer Guidance Corporation needed to modernize their legacy UI pages and fix Java bugs in their enterprise software.
The Solution
As a Junior Software Engineer, I converted legacy UI pages to JSPs with modern CSS styling, then moved on to fixing Java bugs.
The Outcome
Two years of enterprise software fundamentals gave me the foundation I'd build on for the next decade. Not glamorous, but every modernization project starts somewhere.
By the Numbers
$1.9M+
Annual Recurring Revenue
10M+
Yearly Users
15
Years of Experience
5x
Ad Revenue Growth
10
Direct Reports
2x
Hackathon Wins
Nights and Weekends
Even as a full-time People Empowerer, I still build. Here's what I've shipped on my own time:
- Verifitly — A SaaS platform for validating business ideas with AI-generated landing pages and waitlist analytics. Stripe handles all subscriptions, renewals, and upgrades.
- Tahoe Dev — My consulting practice for AWS, Spring Boot, Angular, and full-stack development
- Legal Case Management (WIP) — Exploring RAG retrieval with Amazon Bedrock knowledge bases
- Static Site Generator (WIP) — Terraform + Bash scripts for repeatable AWS deployments
Why Stripe
When I joined Symmetry in 2011, I was employee #11. I loved the family feel — the way everyone dropped everything to help each other. We're now 75 strong and were acquired by Gusto in 2021 (Gusto has 2,500+ employees). Growth is great, but something changes.
Ever since I started using Stripe in late 2017, I was impressed. Everything just worked. The UI was clean and intuitive. The documentation was exceptional. I often find myself thinking "how would Stripe do this?" when designing my own products.
This job description reminded me of my first 10 years at Symmetry — just building cool ideas from minimal requirements. Taking a few sentences and turning them into something real. I would love to get back to that.
How I Work
I turn sentences into products. Give me a few sentences describing what you need, and I'll figure out how to build it, ship it, and make it generate revenue.
I bring my real self to work. What you see is what you get. I believe authenticity builds trust and leads to better collaboration.
I'm always learning and helping others grow. Whether that's mentoring junior developers, contributing to architecture decisions, or rolling up my sleeves to fix a bug — willing to help any way I can.
Work-life balance matters. My kids are 8, 10, and 11. I coach my oldest and youngest kids' soccer teams. Only 6 years until college — I want to make the most of them. Sustainable pace produces better work.
Let's Talk
Thank you for reading this far. If you want to know more, I'd love to chat.
Back to Home