Hi. I’m Kevin.
You might also know me as mcWanke on a few places like Reddit and the Plex Forums.
Welcome to my corner of the internet. It’s a quiet place, but I use it as an outlet to share knowledge, ideas, and a few random thoughts here and there with anyone who is interested in listening.
From a professional standpoint, I have leveraged a Computer Engineering degree from Purdue into a pretty amazing and broad career creating engineering solutions for all kinds of problems. For recent roles I have built up a strong focus on empowering engineering teams to create high-impact solutions through team culture, process, and having a little bit of fun in how we do things.
I am proud of the work and features that we built for millions of users at Plex across the discovery and social side of the platform. This was an effort kicking off when I joined and over 4 years we built out a platform that focused on user engagements, creating spaces for user generated content, and working hard to build trust with the community through a moderation system.
Also while at Plex I worked with the Test Engineering team and also had the opportunity to lead the Personal Media engineering group. There we were able to rework the server release cadence, providing more value in structured monthly releases, finally get HEVC streaming released, and also were able to get a machine learning model released for automatic subtitle syncing for playbacks that had a bit of magic sprinkled in. Besides the big features and myriad bug fixes, I always loved engaging with the user community in the forums and on Reddit. This culminated in a multi-year campaign that I created to run AMA styled fireside chats with users. While the answers weren’t always the ones that people would have liked to hear, building relationships with the people using the platform every day was a rewarding and fulfilling effort that I truly enjoyed. Besides, like the old commercial used to state: I’m not just an engineering Director, I’m also a client! [Note: This was a Hair Club for men commercial reference from the 80s, so some of you might not get this one 🙂 Also – I have been a Plex user going on 14+ years now]
This site is also about my personal projects. I am a huge Home Assistant / smart home fan and have spent countless hours building and tweaking my setup. This is a space where I can share some of that effort with you. I hope it can help you in your journey in some way. We will also get into other projects, ideas, and a few blog posts about random stuff. Sorry not sorry in advance.
At the end of the day this site is a reflection of who I am — an engineer who loves the idea of engineering and creating solutions. I am also a leader who loves building teams and empowering people in psychologically safe environments. I am a huge believer that culture is the glue that strengthens foundations and the bedrock upon which truly great engineering efforts are built. I am also a husband and a father, a tinkerer and a developer.
I truly mean this: Thank you for reading these words. If something here resonates with you — whether it’s a blog post, a Home Assistant deep dive, or something about how I think about engineering leadership — I’d love to hear from you. There’s a contact page if you want to reach out directly.
And as always: How can I help?
— Kevin