About

About This Site

Escape Velocity is a personal learning journal documenting my journey from terrestrial networking (TCP, IP, gRPC, edge protocols) and software engineering into the world of satellite communications and space-based networks.

Who I Am

I’m a lead software engineer specializing in TCP-based networking, IP, gRPC, edge protocols, and distributed systems, currently working in the payments industry. I’ve been working in the payments domain for nearly 15 years and am ready for a pivot into a new industry. One that I’ve always admired: the new space age.

Within those 15 years, I went from an entry-level operations administrator, taught myself how to program, had the privilege of being a member of a “tiger team” working on a greenfield cloud-native platform, and transitioned myself from infrastructure and automation to now leading a team developing the next generation of gRPC based services at the core of our business and the payment industry.

What I’ve always loved about my role was being able to go to a whiteboard, solve interesting and challenging problems, and get to work delivering them. But as time has gone by, this experience has drastically changed.

Early on in my career, I could propose a crazy idea to introduce some automation, devise a creative solution to a problem, and be empowered to deliver it. We’d meet in rooms with large whiteboards, collaborate, make compromises between teams, and overall bring about significant changes to our underlying technology platform.

But as time progressed, things changed in our industry. As a whole, workplaces at large enterprises have become much more democratic. With the advent of MS Teams, Zoom, and persistent chat platforms, someone’s opinion is just a call and a screen-share away. The issue is, everyone has an opinion. And everyone would like to contribute. This has resulted in an incredible excess of indecisiveness and a much slower pace, not to mention many, many, meetings. I know my employer is not unique; colleagues who have left and joined other enterprises report that this phenomenon is widespread. This democratization of execution is the first major change I’ve observed.

The second major shift in our industry as software engineers is the onset of AI. Three years ago, we wrote everything by hand, solving problems through thought, trial-and-error, and discipline. Around that same time, generative AI had its usability breakthrough with the debut of ChatGPT and LLMs. Since then, the tooling has only become more impressive. In a few short years, AI has become capable of performing much of the “labor” component of engineering. Because of this, most of my role as a lead is using AI first, getting us 80% there, then applying the final 20% of refinement. The dirty secret of the software engineering industry is that the vast majority of what we do isn’t engineering, it’s labor and assembly. AI is very good at both.

Combining these two shifts in large enterprise software development has led me to reflect on myself and where I see my future. In my mid-thirties, I’ve established myself in a specific role, but do I see myself in this role for the next phase of my working life? I pondered this question for some time without an immediate answer. Mentally, I felt stuck, and it felt like the onset of a midlife crisis to some extent. It was within this moment of darkness that I was struck with a blinding light. This light was followed by an intense physical sensation that shook me. This was the inception point of my path forward. It came in the form of a Falcon 9 rocket launching into space.

My family and I decided to go to Cocoa Beach, Florida, in March 2026. Being from Missouri, each year we try to find a beach destination for our young daughter, and this seemed like a great place to visit. Part of the appeal was the Kennedy Space Center, just up the shore from where we were staying. I checked the launch schedule ahead of time and noted that we’d be able to see two launches during our week-long stay. The first launch was after 8 PM, at night. It was on this gusty night on the beach, with only the sound of the ocean nearby, that I had a serious moment of reflection. As I watched this unbelievably bright marvel of engineering propel itself into space, then heard the rumble wash over me, I thought: I’m watching the pinnacle of engineering greatness, and once this trip ends I need to return to my current role.

My brain began the seemingly impossible task of plotting a path to be a part of that in some way. If I had to hold the wrench for the person assembling the rocket, it would be more fulfilling than my current situation. But at this stage of life, things are much different. When I was twenty-two, I had a passion for networking and IT and was willing to leave everything behind to take risks. That risk paid off. I moved from New Jersey, worked relentlessly in my twenties, started a family, paid off our debt, and more or less felt like a dog who caught the car it was chasing. Now what?

My passion for computers and technology is still here, yet deep within me, the industry that has always inspired me is New Space. As an engineer, you can’t help but admire the incredible work being done by SpaceX and other New Space companies like Rocket Lab and Blue Origin. Reading books such as “Elon Musk” by Walter Isaacson and “Reentry” by Eric Berger, I’ve learned an incredible amount. I try to incorporate the scrappy engineering principles that SpaceX is known for into my own work as best I can. I’m sure my team is probably sick of my space analogies by now.

Weeks went by, and I was beside myself trying to figure out what to do. How the hell can I do this? I had to come to terms with the fact that my chances of becoming a rocket propulsion engineer are slim. Companies only need so many engineers designing rockets, and every young professional in their twenties who wants to work in space has their sights set there. So I thought beyond the rocket. What’s the purpose of the rocket? Most often, it’s to launch satellites. And with more rockets and more frequent launches, we’re going to have a lot more satellites.

Then it hit me.

My current role is centered around ground-based computer networks and distributed systems. What if I build on that foundation and apply it to the space industry? A space network engineer!

My biggest weakness goes back to when I was headed to college. I didn’t give schooling much thought. I originally wanted to study graphic design, then transitioned into network administration at a two-year college. As a result, my degree is only two years. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 15 years, it’s that learning is a lifelong endeavor. Whether you pursue formal education or build your own path, you have to do the work.

We’re living in an age of extreme abundance when it comes to self-guided learning. MIT publishes lectures online for free. Textbooks are a click away. And with AI, I can map out a custom curriculum tailored exactly to where I want to go. A degree is ultimately a statement that you’ve completed a body of work, it represents the effort behind it and the foundational knowledge you’v obtained through the process.

I don’t have that degree, so I need another way to prove I’ve done the work.

That’s where this site comes into play. It’s my document of record from here to there. It’s my best bet.

Time to get to work.

What This Site Documents

  • Daily journal — what I’m studying, building, and figuring out
  • The Curriculum — a parallel-track study plan spanning math (Algebra 2 → Calculus → Linear Algebra → Probability → Graph Theory), C++ systems programming, and space networking protocols
  • Projects — hands-on implementations in C++ and Python, from CCSDS packet parsers to DTN bundle forwarders to LEO constellation simulators

The Goal

To transition into engineering roles focused on how Earth communicates with satellites, how satellites communicate with each other, and how to optimize those networks at scale.

The space industry needs people who can think about networking at scale, not just “how does one satellite talk to ground” but “how do 6,000+ satellites form a coherent, self-healing, low-latency global network.”

If my endeavor fails, at least I’ll have acquired a new set of skills fun facts.

Built with Hugo. Deployed on GitHub Pages.