Shar Pruisken
I'm a distributed systems engineer with a background in building mission-critical data infrastructure at Amberdata, Datadog, and Tumblr.
My work has spanned both building systems and shaping the strategy around them: defining data architecture while also leading cross-functional efforts to get organizations aligned on how to use it. I've found that the most interesting problems live at that intersection.
What drives me is ownership of hard, ambiguous problems. The kind where there's no clear path and real business impact on the line. My instinct is to dive in hands-on: prototype quickly, learn new technologies deeply, and chart a technical direction that others can follow. That's the style of technical leadership I find most rewarding.
One thing I've learned is that lasting infrastructure isn't just about good architecture. It's about buy-in. We work in human organizations, and systems that ignore that reality tend to get abandoned or worked around. I've become increasingly interested in designing for both: building technology that's sound and that people actually adopt and maintain.
I'm mission-driven by nature. I care about building things that genuinely improve how people make decisions.