2024 Retrospective

📈 What's New at Work: Growth Through Change

Over the past year, one of the most significant changes in my career happened due to an internal reorganization at Microsoft. I transitioned from the Data Insights and Platforms team, where I worked on Spark Scala batch pipelines and big data infrastructure, to a new role on the Orders team within the Charge Lifecycle Platform organization.

My new team focuses on managing the lifecycle of customer orders, developing Spark Streaming applications and .NET APIs to gather charges for end-of-month invoicing. This switch from building internal-facing, big data infrastructure to real-time, customer-facing systems has been both technically challenging and incredibly rewarding. Shortly after joining the team, I was promoted, which affirmed the impact of this move on my career development.

Since joining, I've gained practical experience with real-time data processing and deepened my understanding of how Microsoft handles order generation and customer billing on a large scale. A highlight was designing and implementing a major feature from scratch to automatically reprocess any data dropped in our streaming aggregation pipelines—such as data lost due to transient upstream failures or network issues—ensuring end-to-end consistency. This ensures that our customers receive accurate and timely invoices.

Additionally, I've been focused on reducing COGS (cost of goods sold) by enhancing performance and optimizing resource SKUs and configurations. This involves working closely with Azure ARM resources and navigating complex deployment processes. I've also simplified and standardized elements of our "recon" (reconciliation) projects, which play a critical role in verifying and correcting discrepancies across systems.

In terms of developer productivity, I've been eliminating friction by implementing faster build and release pipelines—some up to four times quicker—and embracing AI tools like Roo Code, Copilot, GPT-4o, and Claude Sonnet 3.5 to boost and speed up engineering workflows.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Life Lately: Family First, and a Bit of Everything Else

As I write this, I'm still in the hospital awaiting discharge after the birth of our daughter, Tiffany Grace Fullerton, who joined us in late March 2025. She's healthy, happy, and full of life—a true blessing. My wife Samantha is recovering well, and we're grateful everything went smoothly without any complications. We couldn't have hoped for a better outcome.

Becoming a father again has been both humbling and full of joy. Over the past year, I've been focusing more on family and less on hobbies like woodworking and music. One of the greatest joys this past year has been watching our son reach milestone after milestone—his first steps, first words, and countless small moments in between. He has been an incredible source of joy, and being his dad has truly reshaped my priorities.

However, I still managed to tackle a few meaningful projects, including a complete bathroom renovation for our toddler son and new daughter. This involved everything from a new tub and shower tiles to flooring, drywall, plumbing, and a new vanity. It was a long, detailed project, but one I'm really proud of.

I've also been spending more time reading, focusing on two main areas. Professionally, I'm exploring Generative AI—including prompt engineering, LLM internals, AI tools, and cost-effective application integrations. Personally, I'm delving further into Reformed Theology, studying topics like apologetics, church history, and biblical commentaries. It's refreshing to balance hands-on, practical learning with deeper theological reflection.

All in all, it's been a year filled with gratitude, growth, and grace.

🔭 Looking Ahead: Rest, Renewal, and Re-engagement

As I look ahead to the rest of 2025, I'm incredibly grateful for the chance to take paternity leave this spring and enjoy focused, uninterrupted time with my wife and kids. These early days are precious, and I'm excited to slow down, be present, and savor every moment at home.

I'm also hoping to catch up on some personal projects that have been on hold, like renovating our deck and revisiting some woodworking projects I've been thinking about but haven't had a chance to work on. Working with my hands grounds and relaxes me, and I'm eager to carve out some time for it again.

When I return to work this summer, I'm excited to build on the momentum from the past year. I want to continue tackling new technical challenges and explore ways to integrate my growing interest in AI—from tooling and prompt engineering to system design—into my daily work as a software engineer. There's tremendous potential for these technologies to reshape how we work, and I'm eager to help our team evolve and grow with them.

More than anything, I'm hoping that the rest of 2025 will be marked by intentionality—in my time, in my relationships, and in the work I do.

✨ Closing Thoughts

This past year has been one of significant transition, both personally and professionally. From welcoming a new baby to taking on a new role at work, it's been a time full of challenges and growth.

Here's to a year ahead filled with purpose, presence, and progress!