About
I like making things feel real. A simulation you can watch and trust, a web framework with a point of view, a VB6 desktop app that now runs in the cloud. Most of what I build comes back to that.
I’m Reece, a Lead Software Engineer at CalcAir.
Making old software new
At CalcAir I lead the modernization of our software from VB6 to React and .NET, and from the desktop to the cloud. The rewrite is the easy part to explain. The hard part is keeping customers working the whole way through, and building the shared platform and tooling that lets the rest of the team port quickly.
I’m a generalist: frontend and design, backend, security, cloud infrastructure and internal tools all end up on my plate. People come to me for institutional knowledge, for a straight answer, and for what’s current in software and AI. I run workshops and a monthly AI meeting, and I helped get Claude and Cursor adopted across our engineering team.
Worlds you can watch
My first programs were a text adventure in bash and then a Minecraft mod, both small worlds you could walk around in. I still care most about the same thing: running something on a computer to prepare for the real world. Physics engines are my favorite version of it, because you get to see the math and physics happen.
What I think the web should be
pywire is my open-source Python framework for interactive, server-rendered apps. It’s also where I’ve written down what I think matters in web development and where I think the web is going. It’s the project I’m proudest of, and I’m working toward a stable 1.0.
Passing it on
Since January 2025 I’ve been a software mentor for the Eagan High School robotics team, FRC 2220, where I was a student. I teach Java and Kotlin, though that isn’t my specialty. I push the more senior students toward harder topics like control theory, task automation, computer vision, decision-making systems, testability and simulation. It pushes me to my limits too, and it gives the youngest students some direction in a confusing time to be starting out in software.
Away from the keyboard
I climb, and I make espresso or pourover almost every day. I like traveling off the beaten path, in the US and abroad, as cheaply as I can.
Reach out if you’d like to connect! I am active in these places: