About Me & Build.ms

I'm a bit naive about people and I believe in everyone's potential. I've seen so many times in my life whether it's a mentee, a person I just met, or one of my office hours sessions, five minutes of the right conversation can unblock someone for days, weeks, or even months. They may be in need of a new way look at their product, they might be stuck on a difficult engineering problem, or maybe all they need is to step back and take in some perspective. These conversations are wonderful, but they're only between two people, what if we could scale that process? Having had so many incredible conversations over the last few years that led to someone creating something novel, I decided it was my goal to scale and democratize access to this valuable information, I want to unblock everyone I can, and unlock their inner-creativity.

Build.ms is the home for that content, taking these learning moments and making them available to everyone so everyone can have access to the knowledge necessary to build something of their own. I'll be covering what you need to know about engineering, design, product, marketing, and all the constituent parts of making something in this world, for the world to see. In an era where knowledge work and independent businesses are only growing you have the potential to build something amazing. I'm not here to sell you anything, I only want you to reach your full potential.

Me

Hi, I'm Joe! I write more personally at fabisevi.ch, and am @mergesort on Twitter, Github, and most places on the web. I've spent most of my career as an iOS developer, and recently became an indie developer building my own business. As I build my business I want to share everything I learn, paying it forward so you can make something that matters to you as well. I've coined the concept open knowledge, in the spirit of open source, but instead of sharing code publicly documenting everything about how to go from start to finish to provide people with the tools and knowledge to build something from scratch, that way they can create value in the world through their ideas.

I'm lucky enough to have had many different jobs that have taught me a breadth of lessons, most recently working at Twitter as a senior mobile engineer. That's a fancy way of saying I worked on their iPhone app, specifically on the Health Client team. But what we worked on was eye opening, building user-facing product experiences aiming to minimize misinformation, disinformation, abuse, and harassment to improve civic integrity and public discourse. I have a real passion for teaching and learning, doing my best to meet people where they are so I can understand them, and help others grow if they're open to it, growing together in the process.

Outside of work I spend time volunteering. Nowadays I find myself hosting virtual office hours for underrepresented people in STEM. If you're not sure this is for you, here are some of my favorite testimonials 🥰. Folks seem to think they're rather helpful, so if that sounds like something you're interested in, please sign up and say hi. ¹

In my free time I enjoy working on side projects that help me grow creatively. Some are fun, some are dumb, some help me learn, but all of them mean something to me and have shaped me into who I am today. And of course free time wouldn't be much without leisure, I like to unwind by biking around NYC, running, watching too much TV, and reading all kinds of books and articles under the sun (sometimes in the sun).

Traditionally I've written on my personal website, but now I'm writing about the journey of building a business here. You can follow my writing using RSS, or by subscribing to the newsletter. The newsletter will be posts from this website, along with curated links and commentary that from articles I read that will help you grow as a developer, designer, and person. I promise you there's no spam and you can unsubscribe any time, it's just a way for you to read my writing wherever's most comfortable for you.

There's a lot more to me, so don't be shy in reaching out. And if you're more old-fashioned and don't mind waiting until I decide to check my inbox, I'm also reachable via email.