About Me
👋🏾
I am self-taught. I started fixing family computers, and over 13+ years I worked my way to leading engineering across frontend, backend, and infrastructure, at companies from InsurTech startups to HashiCorp. For years I operated above my title. Now I set the title.
Today I run fractional CTO engagements: technical audits, ongoing advisory, and team training. My work is measured in outcomes, not hours. Every number below comes from shipped work, and I document my methods publicly at The Imposter Engineer, because I believe self-taught engineers need judgment and proof, not permission.
How I Lead
Companies compound through people. Engineers who are trusted, taught, and held to a clear standard become engineers who can take on any problem, including ones they have never seen. Grow the person, grow the team, grow the company.
Failures belong to the system
When something breaks, I ask what made it possible, not who did it. Blameless is not consequence-free: we own the fix, the follow-through, and the lesson. High standards, high support.
Clarity is a leadership duty
Every engineer should know what matters most, why, and who decides. Unclear priorities waste more capacity than any technical problem.
Standards are enforced by systems, not memory
Security, accessibility, and quality are checked automatically on every change, so people can spend their judgment on the hard problems.
AI is accountable like any other system
AI amplifies whatever foundation it lands on. Every AI feature has an owner, measured quality, and rules it cannot break.
Read the full engineering philosophy and the research behind it
Track Record
Revenue & Compliance
- • Led B2B onboarding launch generating $1.2M in annual revenue, lifting activation 15% and cutting drop-off 18%
- • Directed Pet Model Act compliance 10 days ahead of deadline with zero disruption to 20K+ policies, protecting $12.5M in annual revenue
- • Drove 95% WCAG 2.1 accessibility compliance across 10+ surfaces under an active accessibility lawsuit, removing $50K+ in legal exposure ahead of investor due diligence
- • Directed penetration test remediation to 100% compliance on critical and high findings, contributing to an $8.9M funding round
Audits & Platform Reliability
- • Audited a documentation platform serving 100K+ users, traced 400+ daily routing errors to systemic root causes, and shipped fixes reducing errors 60%
- • Rebuilt a legacy Redux codebase into modern React and TypeScript, then managed a Flutter to React Native migration with full feature parity
- • Built a custom CMS that cut engineering bottlenecks 35% and accelerated campaign delivery 20%
- • Reduced claim processing time 30%, an estimated $250K in annual savings
Infrastructure & Scale
- • Deployed core platform infrastructure serving millions of gaming tournament entries
- • Built Terraform and Golang automation eliminating 100% of manual engineer onboarding steps; the tool remains in production
- • Implemented observability across Datadog, New Relic, and PagerDuty, cutting incident response from 2+ hours to 36 minutes
- • Standardized mobile state management, reducing development time 40% as Fractional CTO of a distributed team of 5
Teaching & Leadership
- • Trained 500+ engineers through bootcamps, nonprofits, and government programs
- • Mentor engineers one-on-one and in groups through Veterati, Nashville Software School, and independently, with 80%+ landing tech roles, including 100+ military leaders, veterans, and spouses
- • Deliver full-stack curriculum to 30+ students per cohort as Senior Software Consultant and Instructor
- • Founded the Bridge Program: emerging engineers ship real products under mentorship, and graduates now hold full-time engineering roles
Skills
Front-End Fields
Backend Barn
Tool Shed
Impact & Testimonials
Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of mentoring professionals transitioning into tech, helping them navigate career changes, and supporting their growth. Here's what some of them have to say:
Mishelle E.
2024
"Erica is not just an IT mentor but an amazing person. I am super blessed to get to know her and to be under her mentorship."
Mishelle E.
2024
"Erica is an amazing mentor. She is a software engineer, a military spouse, an instructor who can help you with showcasing your skills for your job. She is empathetic and professional."
Amber R.
2024
"Erica is a positive spirit and wants to see you succeed! She has so much experience with new businesses."
Desmond G.
2024
"My meeting was an experience with Erica! She was an absolute breath of fresh air and reassured me that I was in alignment with my goals. She introduced ideas that never crossed my mind and motivated me to keep pushing."
Ajay S.
2024
"My call with Erica was super productive. She put me at ease right away and listened to me as I discussed my transition plan with her. Erica asked a lot of questions and provided me with suggestions on how to tweak my plan as I progressed in my journey."
Theresa R.
2024
"Erica is full of information! She was able to help me identify areas of my resume that lacked substance and found ways to help improve it. Together we came up with a game plan to make me more marketable to the current workforce."
Interested in mentoring, or want to talk about your team's engineering? I'm always happy to connect.