Firmware validation & systems engineer
I validate the firmware OEMs ship — and I still write the traces myself.
A decade of NVMe SSD validation for Intel, Solidigm, and OEM programs at Dell and NetApp. I train teams, document the failure, and build the tools that make the next sprint cleaner.
Proof points
01
OEM SSD firmware
Dell, NetApp, Intel — Gen3/Gen4 NVMe regression and CVE sprints.
02
International QA lead
Trained and led functional validation teams in Mexico.
03
Founder
McBride Tech Services — web, hosting, and IT for small teams.
04
Hardware & embedded
ESP32, Raspberry Pi, Arduino — sensors, robots, field tools.
Selected work
All work01
McBride Tech Learning Lab
Spelling Bee Challenge featuring mascot Bumble — a learning product still in active development.
McBride Tech Learning Lab02
BidSpark
Quote and receipt generator for DIY, entrepreneurs, and small-business owners, with AI-assisted quoting and negotiation.
BidSpark03
First Baptist Church of North Highlands
Web presence for a local church — hosting, access, and a site the congregation can actually use.
First Baptist Church of North Highlands04
Smart Pool Monitor
Measures pH and TDS, then surfaces real-time diagnostics on a TFT screen, a companion app, and a live water-quality dashboard.
Smart Pool Monitor
Stack I ship with
01
Product
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Vercel
02
Data & payments
- Neon
- PostgreSQL
- Stripe
03
Build tools
- Cursor
04
Systems
- Python
- C++
Who you are hiring
Not a ticket-filer. A liaison who can sit with developers, management, and operators and still own the root cause — hardware, firmware, or config.
At Cisco I ran UCS test lines and presented ISO 9001 metrics to non-technical stakeholders. At Intel I traced NVMe failures to the layer that actually broke. At Solidigm I found critical bugs before customers did.
I live in Elk Grove, California. I still build: BidSpark, a church site for First Baptist of North Highlands, a smart pool monitor, a home robot, and the systems my clients run on Next.js and Vercel.