Hello there! My name is
John C Waters.
I build solutions.
About Me
I am a software engineer at ELM, a utility infrastructure company, working across C#/.NET services, Python tooling, TypeScript/React frontends, and Azure.
My favorite projects start with a problem everyone has quietly learned to live with. I like digging down to the real cause, fixing it properly, and making sure it never comes back.
Lately that means building AI agents that do real engineering work, and the platform guardrails that keep a growing system safe to change.
Spare Time
I play Magic: The Gathering, sell TCG cards on the side, work on way too many side projects, and spend time with my two kiddos. Also: chips and salsa.
Professional Work
Platform engineering, reliability, and AI tooling I have built at work.
$ cat agent-platform.md
AI Engineering Agent Platform
Python / pydantic-ai / Azure DevOps / Bicep
An AI agent platform that executes real development workflows against Azure DevOps: typed run journals, crash-resume durability, model routing, and its own CI pipeline.
# Automates routine engineering work end to end and serves as the org's reference implementation for infrastructure-as-code patterns.
$ cat email-parser.md
Self-Healing Email Ticket Parser
Python / LLM architecture / Parsing
Parses 811 locate-ticket emails from dozens of inconsistent formats. Unknown formats trigger a single LLM call that generates a reusable static extraction profile.
# Zero AI calls on the hot path: deterministic, auditable parsing that gets smarter without getting slower or costlier.
$ Read More ->$ cat iam-as-code.md
Infrastructure and Access as Code
Bicep / Azure RBAC / CI/CD
Root-caused a production deploy 403 to a hand-edited Azure role shared by three services, then codified IAM in Bicep with a what-if drift gate in CI.
# Deploy permissions are versioned, reviewed, and drift-checked instead of hand-edited in the portal.
$ Read More ->$ cat readme-ci-gate.md
Documentation Compliance as a CI Gate
Python / Azure Pipelines / Developer experience
Replaced a 24-repo manual README audit with a machine-checkable contract: a Python linter, a shared pipeline template, and a required branch policy.
# Documentation standards are enforced on every pull request instead of decaying after a one-time cleanup.
$ Read More ->$ cat dispatch-reliability.md
Dispatch Automation Reliability
C# / .NET / Durable Functions / Datadog
Designed and built the Azure Durable Functions system that automates time-boxed regulatory dispatch calls, then hardened it: orchestrator refactors, recall handling, and an unsampled heartbeat metric with a liveness monitor.
# Silent failure of a business-critical workflow now alerts within minutes instead of going unnoticed.
$ cat team-ai-tooling.md
Team AI Tooling and PR Analytics
TypeScript / React / Claude Code / Azure DevOps
Own AI adoption and engineering standards across the org: a Claude Code plugin encoding PR, story, and release workflows as skills, plus an Azure DevOps extension dashboarding org-wide PR review health.
# Standards apply themselves at the point of work, and PR review bottlenecks are visible instead of anecdotal.
My Works
Here are some of the public solutions I have made.
Card Harbor
A Windows desktop app for organizing scanned TCG singles: camera-based card identification, pull sheets, and TCGplayer exports. Built with Electron and React.
Glissa
A Windows dashboard for running many Claude Code sessions in parallel, each in its own isolated git worktree. Published on npm.
Keeplings
A gentle habit app for Android and iOS where lapses let your companion rest, no streaks, no punishment. Built with Flutter.
Waters Massage Therapy
Local traveling massage therapy business with online booking. Built with Astro and React.
Dev's Daily Digest
A digital newspaper to keep up on the latest news, without scrolling through emails.
Let's talk
Want to talk shop, ask about something I wrote, or discuss a project? Send a message and I will get back to you within a day or so.