I'm Charlie. I build software, write when I have something worth saying, and spend a lot of time thinking about why some tools feel generous while others seem actively annoyed that you opened them.

This page used to be a loose pile of facts and preferences. This version is closer to what keeps showing up in my work, my writing, and the kinds of problems I keep volunteering for.

What I Believe

Most of my opinions about software are embarrassingly consistent. I like things that are legible. I like defaults that respect people. I like systems you can explain to a new teammate without pinning red string across a wall.

Clarity beats cleverness most of the time. I'm not against ambitious work, I just don't think complexity should get to masquerade as depth.

Accessibility is part of quality. Same category as reliability, performance, and not making people guess.

Writing is part of engineering. Specs, docs, issue threads, commit messages, and review comments are where a lot of the actual product thinking shows up. If the only place an idea makes sense is in someone's head, it probably isn't ready yet.

Small, reversible changes beat dramatic rewrites more often than not. Momentum matters. So does being able to back out cleanly.

Identity is part of the work whether people acknowledge it or not. I'm queer in every room I enter, and that shapes what I notice about defaults, power, belonging, and who gets quietly left out when nobody is paying attention.

How I Work

I like hard problems, direct feedback, and teammates who can be honest without turning that into theatre. A lot of my instincts are pretty simple: name the constraint, simplify the plan, ship the smallest useful version, then keep sanding.

I work best in environments where people can disagree plainly, change their minds, and not spend half their energy managing status. Good reviews, good tests, and clear expectations lower the temperature of the work in ways people usually underestimate.

Outside work I read a lot, chase down better routines, make things that may or may not turn into anything, and go looking for landscapes with a drone. I try to be more useful this year than I was last year. That's basically the bar.

The Ghost

The dead emoji avatar stayed because it still makes me laugh. At this point it's less branding and more a little piece of continuity. Versions of me have changed. The ghost gets to stick around.