Hello, is this thing on

Short answer: This site begins with the path from English degree to Salesforce admin to AI engineer, and how words became the bridge into building software.

Where was I going?

I graduated college from SDSU in 2011 with a degree in English. I spent the last few years exploring stories, learning how to structure my prose and mastering my craft. I wrote my most ambitious story that took the vantage point of 4 different characters but I ended up back at Target.

Professional Progression

My first real job was at a Bank. Full time at $17 an hour - how did English help me there? I was detailed, I was quick to learn how to talk with customers, and my critical thinking helped solve complex problems. My notes were meticulous too and I loved working the email queue. My heart though, has always been in software - in development. I was quickly promoted, Direct Banker 2, Call Center Supervisor and then Call Center Trainer. I found a free LMS, didn't know what open source was at the time. Asked if we could install "Moodle", it was approved and I setup e-learning.

Matt

Year 2 into being a Call Center trainer, our boss passed away suddenly leaving behind his wife and 2 kids. Matt was someone who believed in you, and who you believed in. He was always so positive, so for someone like that to have passed, someone who I heard talking on the phone with his kids, making time for them, while trying to live in the corporate world - it hits you hard. I needed a change. Eventually I was offered to become an Associate Admin for the Salesforce team. This was a lifeline, and my chance to move into the software world. I took the offer and never looked back.

Declarative Hero

"Clicks, not code" Was a trail blazing admin's go to phrase. I had a bit of a more grounded perspective, I knew things like Flow was catching up, but there are just some things Apex can do better. There are times where it has to be code. This was always something that I dived a little into, I would try to learn to read apex, work through debug logs, understand it enough to be dangerous. It's been 7 years, chatgpt could possibly help - show it a debug log, get a generative response back - nope.

Prompt Engineering

This is a fad right? I'd continue watching, silently learning about LLMs, prompts, and how to turn gpts into something useful. You have to write prompts a certain way to get the best results. You needed carefully controlled and crafted responses. Sound familiar? You needed to use well thought out prompts. It was 2023, I found myself thinking - this could be a new career path. This could be how my English degree pays off. I wasn't a famous author, but I love technology and I love words.

Words, not code

It depended heavily on the llm you used, and how you guided it. It was fun, and powerfully useful if done right. I found myself using words to code. I could ask, and it would deliver. I reverse engineered a colleague's site into a useful Chrome Extension. I continued to improve it. I even built Storyweaver - a CLI write your own stories program. You could choose the writer you want to write with, describe your story and get a chapter instantly. This still isn't a real job right? Just a hobby.

2 Years later

It's February 2025, Claude Code comes out. LLMs can code? I quietly knew it, knew the potential of it, but the models are getting better. They're handling things you would need a team to do. I'm building software now with my voice, and getting better at it. I was doing it before haphazardly, but the unlock of getting better models came rushing in like a storm at sea. The floodgates opened, and I found myself not wanting to buy software, instead wanting to design it. Suddenly, thoughts of, I wish software did that was not far off. I had a mini developer in my pocket.

The Truth

Today I'm starting to write about that journey — not as someone who arrived, but as someone mid-crossing. The "AI will replace you" conversation is the wrong one. The right one is what happens when someone who spent years thinking about voice, structure, and character suddenly has tools that speak that language back. Before "agents" was a buzzword, I was building Personas — different writing voices that could inhabit different stories. Different nomenclature. Same concept. I just didn't know I was already an engineer.