It is so very nice to meet you.
Hello, Friend. #
It is so very nice to meet you. My name is Raymond. I moved to Pittsburgh from Columbus, Ohio in 2023. I grew up on the westside of Columbus in a neighborhood known as “The Hilltop”. I come from a working class family. My mother spent most of her career working as a bank teller, but retired as a poker dealer. My father worked the railyards his whole life fixing up train engines. His father, my grandfather, worked the railyards his whole life as an engineer.
I’m a first generation college graduate and I’m autistic.
Let me tell you where my story began… #
I had a difficult childhood. I know struggle, depression, addiction, and anger. I know what it feels like to be abandoned as a child by your family. I have seen the deepest valleys and I have climed the mountain.
I grew up bullied and abused from a very young age. I was demonized by my mother, who hated me because I reminded her of my father, and because I wasn’t like other children. I was systematically isolated away from my family and friends, given ungodly amounts of medication, and told I was broken at every opportunity. My mother eventually gave me away to the State of Ohio because she couldn’t “handle me” anymore. Let me remind you, I was a child.
As a child, I’ve spent nights in foster care, group homes, and detention facilities. I was even instituionalized for a time. Do you remember where you were on 9/11? I remember where I was. I was at Paramadale Intensive Treatment Facility for a 6-month state-sponsored stay, right after I was diagnosed as autistic. I climbed out of that place. I ended up in a series of half way houses and group homes, and then I eventually found a way to my father. I went onto graduate high school while living under his roof, and then I went onto college.
I graduated college. I earned a 4 year degree in 2 and half years. The first to ever do so in my family. My degree is in Video Game Design & Development – no kidding. I’m a twice-published game designer, a game developer, a software engineer, and a technical leader. I have published two board games. One very good. One not so good. I got the great honor of getting to retell the story of Chicago’s rise from the ashes. A story of industry, and cooperation. One of balance, and grit and perserverence. It is my pride and joy.
I have spent 20 years working as a software developer in various roles – and nearly half that time, in leadership.
My professional career has been an adventure… #
Since I am autistic, I could not serve in the military. So upon graduating college with a degree in video game design and development, you know what I decided to do? I decided to work for a defense contractor. I worked on models and simulations that supported joint fires operations for USJFCOM. My work saved the lives of many of our warfighters. This is something I will always be proud of.
Since then, I have done other work in defense, educational technology, banking, insurance, startups, and healthcare. I am an expert in leading software teams, software development, project management, platform engineering, data engineering, cybersecurity, machine learning, data science, deep learning, reinforcement learning, and generative AI.
I led the Interactive Media team at Roto Group in Dublin, Ohio where we built children’s museums and science centers. My work is featured in some of the most prominent museums in the world including:
- The Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio
- The Kalamazoo Valley Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan
- The Exploritorium in San Franscisco, California
- The Canadian Science and Technology Museum, in Ottowa, Ontario, Canada and
- The Oklahoma Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Okalahoma (say that 5 times, fast)
I built the world’s most advanced network intrusion detection system for JP Morgan Chase, using blockchain technology (well, kinda – merkle trees are cool).
I was a Staff Machine Learning Engineer at DataRobot in Boston where I worked on the team that built and managed the COVID dashboards for Health and Human Services during the first Trump administration.
Until recently, I led Cloud Security Development at PNC Bank right here in Pittsburgh; I was responsible for securing some of the infrastructure that protects your bank accounts and private information online.
But a greater calling came to me… #
It is through all of these accomplishments, and others that I have been blessed with one of the most wonderful, adventerous lives I could have ever imagined. At 40 years old, I look back on the last 20 years of my career with so much pride, gratitude, and reverence for that experience. I see the abundance around me, and I realize I have more than I will ever need many times over.
When I think about this, I think about how I have all of this and I am happy, and yet I don’t own a home or have tens of thousands in the bank. If this is enough for me, and by all measures this is more than what so many have, why is $100 million dollars not enough for others? Why do they need billions? Why do they keep hoarding all the wealth for themselves? Aren’t they happy?
While many people spend their time thinking “Screw you, I got mine.” I’m sitting here thinking, “I got mine. Why the hell doesn’t everyone else have theirs?” Well, I am tired of waiting. I am going to get you back your share. I am going to hunt it down, and I am going to bring it back to you like a bloodhound fetches a pheasent. I shall lay it at your feet.
Because where I’m from, hasn’t changed… #
In my youth, while going through my struggle I had the great honor of being adopted by a black family, to be loved by a black mother, and to grow in friendship with a man I love like a brother. I love you Joe, Trois, Choicy, Aunt Rosie, and Miss Linda. I do this for you. I do this for my birth family. For Ashley, and for Ian. For my parents. I do this for you. For my Godson, and god-grandbabies I do this for you. Jonnie, Arykya, and Aryanna, I do this for you. And for every single family in Pennsylvania who is struggling, who have been left behind, I am coming back for you. I do this for you.
My name is Raymond. I am a Quaker, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a follower of the Way of Hermes, and I come as a sword. Follow me. Let’s go take back what’s ours.