about

About

Vice President of Engineering at a Fortune 100 company, leading Cloud, Platform & DevOps. Essayist, app builder, and the person behind the thesis that the bottleneck is never the stack.

I have spent more than thirty years building software and leading the people who build it, across education, manufacturing, financial services, investment management, and insurance, in organizations ranging from global multinationals to small entrepreneurial ventures. Today I am a Vice President of Engineering at a Fortune 100 company, leading Cloud, Platform & DevOps.

Learning is the through-line. I read constantly, listen to more podcasts than is reasonable, and still write code most days, because the craft keeps shifting and I want to feel the shift firsthand. I often think I would have become a teacher if I had not pursued technology; the weekly essays on this site are probably that instinct finding its outlet.

I practice servant leadership: clear the obstacles, create the growth opportunities, and let the team do the best work of their careers. I measure myself on whether people stay and grow. Across multiple organizations and reorgs, my teams have held a 95%+ retention rate, which I consider better evidence than any philosophy statement.

years building

30+

financial services · insurance · manufacturing

VP Engineering

F100

cloud, platform & DevOps

team retention

95%+

across multiple orgs and reorgs

essays published

and counting · weekly

the thesis · in brief

It was not the stack when we moved to cloud. It was not the stack when we moved to containers. It is not the stack now that we have agents. The bottleneck is clarity of intent, encoded in durable artifacts, enforced by systems rather than willpower.

Read the full thesis

where to start

Ten essays that carry the argument

Out of the full archive, these are the ten I would hand someone evaluating how I think. In publication order, so you can watch the thesis get earned.

proof of craft

I still ship

The essays make claims; the apps keep them honest. Travel Times MKE, Inkwell, PourCraft, StillView, Cascade, and a shelf of open source live on the Apps page, and most of them link to the essay about building them.

See the apps

what colleagues say

In their words

Vinny is a Software Architect exemplar. He consistently remains up to date with the latest software and hardware trends and identifies which trends are appropriately applicable to his organization. His ability to effectively communicate with both engineers and senior leadership allows him to positively influence the technical direction of his organization. I learned a great deal from Vinny and it was truly a pleasure to have worked with him.

Richard Ciardo

VP of Product and Engineering · Ventricle Health

I was very fortunate to have worked with Vinny Carpenter. He was instrumental in the process of integrating our IT systems as part of the merger with Wells Fargo. He is incredibly talented and has an excellent understanding of all aspects of IT.

Jim Cornelius

Senior Vice President | IT Architect · Robert W. Baird & Co.

I was chair of the math, statistics, and computer science department, and MU was struggling with getting its web services started. Vinnie did a truly incredible job getting it going and familiarizing people with the whole notion and the techniques, and began an amazing transformation. He is one of the most knowledgeable professionals I have ever encountered, and as a major plus has a personality that meshes very well with others.

Doug Harris

Professor · Marquette University

Evaluating me, or just curious?

The User Guide explains how I work day to day; the contact page tells you exactly what to send for speaking, advisory, or evaluation conversations.

Read the User Guide Get in touch