Read my full story here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-pause-my-journey-over-last-6-months-michael-vandyke-hm07cDuring my self-imposed time off of work, I focused on various aspects of my personal and professional development. My aim was to challenge myself, rediscover my career path, and pursue personal goals. It was an incredible experience and a privilege to have this time off.One of the key questions I had for myself during this period was about the world of AI and Machine Learning. I wanted to understand if this was a path I wanted to pursue more seriously. While I had some prior experience with these technologies, I wanted to grasp the foundational concepts and math behind them for enterprise-level applications. I spent countless hours reading books, research papers, building prototypes, and studying the underlying mathematics. I completed Andrew Ng’s courses and earned certificates in “Supervised Machine Learning: Regression and Classification” and “Advanced Learning Algorithms.” It was one of the most challenging and rewarding learning experiences I've had.After earning my certifications, I spoke with engineers in the industry to understand their day-to-day work and what they found fulfilling in their careers. While considering a career shift seriously, and after consulting with my mentors, I decided to continue pursuing my career in Engineering Management. It’s a role that allows me to experience various aspects of business, product development, operations, and software design, working closely with motivated teams. I enjoy bringing people together, mentoring, creatively solving problems, exploring new technologies, and envisioning the future. Ultimately, this career path is challenging, rewarding, and fulfilling, and I’m glad to stick with it.

Collaborating closely with vital stakeholders, senior leadership, and cross-functional teams includingmarketing, product, and mobile engineering, I spearhead the development and implementation ofstrategic business objectives with a focus on cost efficiency, superior quality, and scalability.I take pride in fostering a sustainable, inclusive, and supportive employee environment, evidenced bymy leadership in curating two of the highest-performing software agile teams within the organization.These teams comprise dedicated professionals ranging from mobile engineers to quality assuranceengineers (both manual and automation), along with adept scrum masters.My leadership success is rooted in cultivating a culture of quality assurance, emphasizing usability,adhering to clean code best practices, and fostering a safe, inclusive, and collaborative workenvironment. Through these guiding principles, our team has emerged as one of the top-performingunits at TwinSpires, propelling our platform to the pinnacle while ensuring an unparalleled experiencefor our horse racing fans. I take immense pride in our collective achievements.

As the leader of a dynamic team comprising iOS engineers, manual and automation QA engineers,Java engineers, and DBAs, I have overseen the development and maintenance of our native iOSplatform at TwinSpires. Our TwinSpires iOS app stands as our flagship platform, catering to hundredsof thousands of users annually and boasting an impressive average rating of 4.8 stars based on 45,000ratings. It consistently secures the top spot in the sports category within the Apple App Store throughoutthe year.In addition to collaborating with my teammates on iOS app features, my role as team leadencompasses various responsibilities that I execute with dedication:- Remain abreast of the latest iOS news and framework changes, strategizing for future developments.- Provide technical guidance on architecture, user experience, and design, in alignment with HumanInterface Guidelines standards.- Identify and address technical debt within our projects pragmatically and efficiently.- Facilitate the resolution of technical impediments hindering progress.- Conduct peer reviews, solicit technical feedback from our engineers, and collaborate on solutions.- Develop and maintain deployment and continuous integration pipelines to streamline code shippingprocesses.- Encourage and support training and education opportunities for our team members to become more diversified in their skillset.My success as a team lead has been set on establishing the foundation of quality assurance culture, usability, clean code best practices, and establishing a safe, inclusive, and collaborative environment for our team members.

Worked alongside the Directors of Engineering on the Architecture team to do research, development, and planning on mobile native solutions. Created many proof of concepts built on Cordova, NativeScript, and full iOS native. Provided presentations, formulated plans of action to the leadership team.

Servant leader of a fantastic agile team primarily focused on our mobile front-end and native iOS applications.- Created automation scripts to dynamically build hybrid iOS / Android apps. - Significantly reduced dev cycle time - Reduced new affiliate time to market- Created documentation to facilitate better communication and search-ability. - Including on-boarding documentation for new front-end devs- Lead a team to build our analytics and events system, crucial for our business intelligence work- Lead a team to add multi-bonus functionality, one of our most successful projects

Develop and reinforce enterprise-grade, user-facing features to advance organizational objectives whilemaintaining a keen focus on minimizing request payload and extending the reach of the TwinSpiresapplication framework to millions of users. Collaborate closely with a talented SCRUM team toefficiently address challenges and implement effective solutions. Drive the creation and upkeep of comprehensive documentation for our technical systems, providing essential support for onboarding new team members. Stay abreast of emerging technologies through proactive research and development initiatives, actively contributing to the strategic planning and adoption of these technologies.

Working with Account Executives, Marketing department and other team leaders to produce fast, responsive, web based products to national and international clients. Responsible for overseeing new developer team members. Developed workflow tools and utilities to increase productivity and documentation to ease integration of new developers into our workflow. Pushed to adopt a more open source contribution strategy for marketing. Worked on products ranging from non-profit WordPress sites, international eCommerce solutions, to Hybrid App development. Additionally, was responsible for directing, shooting, and editing video products for an international client. My primary goal was to help support the development team and push for an open learning environment to broaden our overall skill-set.

Developing user friendly, responsive websites with a variety of technologies notably built on the WordPress platform. Working with small businesses to develop marketing and fundraising strategies.

Managing, repairing, and setting up technical equipment including but not limited to, ETC Ion Lighting system containing 114+ lighting DMX channels, Spotlights, Projection, Performance/Stage Manager Intercom Systems, Vortec stage rigging systems and 40 channel professional sound mixing console and equalization systems. Technical consultation for performers and production crews using the facility. Managing lighting in the entire complex and performing state required monthly Emergency Systems inspections with self-created streamlined logging systems. Coordination with Director and Facilities Supervisor to plan events in the theater and the First Federal Gallery.

Working in CafePress' FIRST retail location I was responsible for bridging the gap between what graphic design elements people wanted and how it could be printed on various marketing materials, actively designing for individuals and large corporations. I headed a research and development project for new products, printing techniques and Standard Operating Procedures. Running and debugging our in-house integrated design and POS systems with the Development Team. Opening and closing cash drawers and running Sales Reports. Staying up-to-date with current marketing and design trends. Providing EXCELLENT customer service to all who walked through those glass doors.