Building a New Kitchen

Back in April of last year, I announced I was cooking up something new. I could not have imagined how amazing that “something new” really would be. After 10 months of being an employee at Chef, I can without a doubt say it is the best company I have ever worked for. The company culture is the most positive and encouraging environment I have ever worked in.

Not only that, but the position of Community Software Engineer was a perfect fit. It was a chance to level up my skills as a developer, learn and experience Chef in fun and exciting ways, and it was incredible to be able to spend time as part of my job focused on serving the community of amazing professionals I get the privilege of working with every day. It was also a chance to work for an amazing boss. Nathen really taught me how much trust really does matter, and what it means to ensure that your people are taking care of themselves.

But, as the title of this post and text have already alluded to, I am moving on from my position of Community Software Engineer. This doesn’t mean I will be doing any less in the way of the community, but it does mean that my responsibilities will be changing to be focused in a bit of a different direction.

I am super excited to be taking on my first leadership role and even more excited to be doing it at Chef. I am going to be the Engineering Lead of the newly formed Corporate Infrastructure and Applications team. This team will help to be the catalyst that speeds delight in many of the groups that fall outside of engineering.

As excited as I am about the new adventures that come with leading a team, I am even more excited for what my team has been tasked with. This team will focus on one of my favorite facets of IT… helping to improve the internal business processes. While over the last 10 months I have struggled to explain to my non-tech family and friends what I did as a Community Software Engineer, this new role is much easier to relate with. Sadly, we all have stories of, “Well, if IT just listened to what we need…” This team will work to actually listen and help build those things that are actually needed.

So… Here is to a wonderful start to a new year.