Hi! I am a self-employed Software Engineer based in Oakland, CA.

I'm currently contracting with Integral on a consulting project, and running a cohort-based TDD course with 33 Teams. If you're interested in working together in the future, please shoot me an email.

Before this, I was a Senior Software Engineer at Code for America, where I helped build MNbenefits.mn.gov. I grew up in small-town Wisconsin so it was especially meaningful to give back to people in the Midwest.

I cut my teeth at Pivotal Cloud Foundry, where I was paid to spend 8 hours a day pair programming with senior engineers—slowing them down with my questions, stealing their keyboard shortcuts and life philosophies, and absorbing their powers.

Through thousands of hours of practice, I seem to have become pretty good at pairing. I've had a surprising number of people tell me I am their favorite person to pair with! Some of my other skills include TDD, cloud stuff, and wrangling deeply cursed Java codebases.

In my younger and more vulnerable years I worked variously as a touring guitarist, copy editor, tech writer, barista, and assistant/ghostwriter for a self-help author. In college I studied English and Classics before transitioning to Computer Science at the last possible minute.

I love helping folks who are new to tech, so if you're early in your career and looking for some advice, feel free to reach out!

I have three senior wiener dogs named Coffee, Donuts, and Miriam. You can find me on twitter at @andrewedstrom.

About this blog

I write to capture my lessons learned about being effective in this industry, and also to grow as a thinker generally via deep-dives that have nothing to do with tech. I'm just starting this blog back up and I expect it to evolve over time. I hope you'll join me for the ride!