Selected Incidents
· 2 min read
(An Incomplete, Growing List)
This section has no end.
It exists to document pattern, not exhaust it.
1996–1997 — The Rubric Incident
- Built a C++ music library manager as a high-school final project.
- ~100 pages of printed source code.
- Penalized for “not enough comments.”
- Received an award anyway.
- Learned the rules were not about outcomes.
1997–2005 — The Suspicious Website
- Built a full online portfolio before such things were normal.
- Projects, screenshots, CV, contact form.
- Still exists.
- Still valid HTML.
- Still confusing to people who think this is new.
2000–2001 — The Wizard That Shouldn’t Exist Yet
- Built a Perl/CGI website-generation wizard for university faculty.
- Functionally similar to tools that appeared years later.
- Loved by users.
- Politely ignored by academia.
2005–2010 — The File System State Machine
- Invented a watch-directory workflow using file extensions as state.
- No database.
- Later patented.
- Multiple names added.
- None were mine.
2010–2018 — The YAML Incident
- Entered an org with ~400 GUI-configured pipelines.
- Replaced them with YAML.
- Triggered architectural reviews.
- Learned scale can be emotionally threatening.
2018 — The “You Can Do That?” Moment
- Built request-blocking WebAPI filters before controllers executed.
- Checked Kubernetes cluster health pre-request.
- Revealed undocumented assumptions in the system.
Ongoing — The Recruiter Disbelief Loop
- CV flagged as “too much.”
- Accused of exaggeration.
- Pattern repeats.
- Signal remains unchanged.
This list will grow. Not because I’m collecting trophies, but because this keeps happening.
Ahead of the rubric isn’t an identity. It’s an occupational hazard.