Welcome!

Hey! Welcome to my website. I’m a passionate software engineer, intrepid start-up director and budding product designer, currently working in e-health leading the dev team at Maisha Meds. I’m driven by the desire to engineer sustainable, impactful change through technology. I’m relentlessly curious, always in search of new experiences, and pretty much always down for an adventure. My background is in software engineering and business, and I’ve developed a love for design and a keen interest in public health through my work at Maisha Meds.

About Me

Professionally I am driven, versatile and creative. I am passionate about finding solutions to real problems, and doing work that leads to quantifiable improvements in people's lives. I’ve designed, built and deployed software that aims to improve primary care across East Africa, worked on apps for small start-ups and established giants, and am currently taking full advantage of the opportunity to help build a company.

Personally Personally I’ve always had a penchant for adventure, have developed a keen interest in photography and love to both eat and cook (plus I’m nurturing a minor coffee addiction). I’m constantly trying to push myself out of my comfort zone, learn new things and meet new and interesting people. East Africa has provided me with an amazing opportunity to explore and learn in a culturally rich and diverse region.

Some Things I'm good at

Software Engineering

During my professional career I have developed two production apps from scratch for award-winning companies, built a product suite from the ground up, worked on established products for Silicon Valley Giants, and contributed to major releases for growth-stage companies as both a developer and product manager

Product Design and Management

Designing Maisha Meds’ Android App for rural Kenyan pharmacists – a demographic that is largely unfamiliar with technology - has been one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs I’ve ever had. It has allowed to implement and refine the skills I picked up as a product manager for Scribd, and the tools I gained academically.

Business and Leadership

Through my experience as an early employee at Maisha Meds , as well as an academic background in business administration, I’ve developed strong leadership and management skills. Helping to start and run a seed-stage startup has given me an in-depth understanding of the challenges involved in starting and running a business.

Some Places I've Worked

Maisha Meds – Technical Director

April 2016 – Present | Designing and building the full product suite

  • In charge of designing, managing and developing the full product suite including the POS Android app, SMS patient care service and analytics, as well as researching and developing specs for new products. I additionally oversee hiring and server admin.
  • Designed and built the entire beta from scratch including conducting extensive user testing to develop a prototype, building the entire MVP and deploying our full backend including custom built components

Scribd - Product Management & Android Development

September - December 2014 | San Francisco, CA | Android, Product

  • Project lead for usability studies aimed at improving the Scribd website and apps’ UI and UX.
  • Developed a full feature for downloading and saving content offline and contributed to major releases including the addition of audiobooks and better offline support

Bridgit - Android Developer

January - May 2014 (Part Time) | Waterloo, ON |Android

  • Took Bridgit’s Android app from not functional to release ready on my own, acting as a developer, product manager, and designer
  • Built a well-written, architecturally sound and efficient code base that could be effectively scaled

Yelp - Android Development

September - December 2013 | Android

  • Completed the development of a feature that is currently in use
  • Gained a much better understanding of the feature creation process including building a functional UI, working effectively with design and back-end teams and making the feature production ready

A few things people I've worked with have said about me

Sam has been absolutely essential to the success of Maisha Meds. He took a barebones prototype and turned it into a robust and stable application that could scale to serve hundreds of thousands of patients yearly. Sam is a visionary who brings an incredible mix of technical skill and user empathy that makes him an invaluable part of the team.

Jessica Vernon, Maisha Meds' founder, Stanford M.D Candidate

Sam got up to speed on Android super-quick and made some killer contributions in the first few months. I was even more impressed with how he took on the product manager role and jumped into some difficult tasks despite not having much structure or guidance from the rest of the team, figuring things out for himself as he went

Jared Friedman, Scribd Co-Founder and Former CTO

Stuff I think is pretty cool

Travel

Travelling has provided me with some of the greatest experiences of my life. I have learnt an incredible amount about other cultures, ways of living and myself (I know this a cliché, but hey, it’s true). Travelling forces you out of your comfort zone, it’s a way to step back from the forward march of life and take stock of where you are, and how you got there. It has opened the door to countless experiences that I never would have had the chance to live through had I not stepped out my door and into the world.

Exploring the streets of Xi'an's Muslim Quarters Market
Trekking across a deserted section of the Great Wall of China
The beautiful beach of Barra da Lagoa, Florianópolis, Brazil
Hội An Ancient Town, Vietnam
Christ the Redeemer, Rio De Janeiro
Once you've seen the Hong Kong skyline, every other skyline seems small and insignificant

Photography

Photography helps to keep me sane when things get stressful. On top of being fun, having a visually creative hobby has helped me appreciate the little things that make our world amazing (this is especially true when travelling). I'm a big fan of mirrorless cameras, and my (currently very modest) set of gear is made up of the Sony Alpha 6000 (APS-C sensor), a 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 zoom lens, and (my personal favourite) a 35mm f1.8 prime. On top of the limited slideshow below you can check out my Flickr account here

Gateway to the Bay, taken in San Francisco, CA
The Girl in the Red Jacket, taken in Xi'an, China
A market in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro
A boy in Rocinha Rio de Janeiro
A foggy night in Big Sur, CA
A dog, chilling in Rocinha