Essays

The Junior Data Engineer Pipeline Is Broken

AI automation reduced entry-level data engineering postings by 34% since 2024. The traditional training pipeline for developing craft judgment is collapsing.

The Ethics of AI Consulting: Selling Responsibility

Reviewing 23 AI ethics consulting engagements found 61% delivered unused documentation averaging $185,000 per engagement. Selling responsibility requires operational change.

Human-in-the-Loop as Architecture Pattern

Human-in-the-loop as deliberate architecture reduced critical errors 89% while maintaining 74% throughput. Four production patterns for integrating human judgment.

The AI Ethics Officer Role Is a Systems Design Problem

AI ethics officers fail when positioned as compliance gatekeepers. The role succeeds when restructured as a cross-functional architecture position embedded in engineering.

Epistemic Injustice in Technical Interviews

Epistemic injustice occurs when knowledge is discounted or unrecognizable due to prejudice or narrow frameworks. Technical interviews are structured sites of both testimonial and hermeneutical injustice.

The compounding knowledge thesis: Why building in public creates exponential returns

Dichotomy of Control in Production Systems

Epictetus divided all things into controllable and uncontrollable. Applied to production systems, this boundary is where engineering wisdom lives.

Integration Architecture Is Where Good Systems Go to Die

Integration points accounted for 58% of production incidents despite representing less than 15% of total codebase. Integration is where architectural quality is tested most severely.

The phenomenology of working with AI—what it actually feels like to think alongside a machine

The Ethics of Data Collection at Scale

Organizations collect 1,400 data points per customer interaction, up from 200 in 2018. The gap between what we can collect and what we should collect is a technical team's responsibility.