I’m happy to share the news that I’ll soon be starting a new role at HEB, the much-loved Texas grocery chain, as a Sr. Developer on their Curbside team. While I’ve really enjoyed and appreciated my time with some outstanding and amazing human beings at Handsome, I’m excited about this new professional chapter for a couple of reasons:

First off, I find the craft of software development — building intricate, beautiful mechanisms out of logic and aether — to be deeply engaging and interesting. I will be able to focus on that aspect of my work more squarely here than has been the case since I started taking on management roles several years back.

I am also a great fan of having the centers of one’s professional and personal lives close to one another. Being able to invite colleagues over for dinner, avoiding endless hours on the interstate, and burning less fossil fuel merely to be places are all important to me. Since we moved to San Antonio this year, working 10 minutes away feels like a big quality of life improvement.

In addition to being close, I’m excited about the specific location where I’ll be working: the headquarters campus is a lovely site of an old arsenal that was founded in 1859 to supply the forts on the Texas frontier. It’s along the San Antonio River, downstream a bit from the main segment of the Riverwalk, along a boating-friendly stretch that will allow me to toss a kayak in the water and go paddling after work. And HEB has plans for a beautiful, expansive tech center on campus to open in a couple of years.

Finally, the company has a tremendous reputation for being a great place to work. I’ve long appreciated their commitment to serving the communities in which they operate, donating more than 5% of their gross earnings, helping food banks, etc. I’m glad to see that they have a similarly good reputation as an employer, and are investing deeply in building their technology capabilities and team.

I’ll be starting on February 10; I’m eager to invest my professional energies in service of a company for which I have respect and high expectations for its future, in the city that I grew up in, love, and still feels like home.