About

Plain Text Systems is run by one senior software engineer with more than fourteen years of experience building and shipping production software. Most of that time has been spent on backend systems that serve millions of users, and in recent years on putting AI to work inside real products: the kind of systems that have to stay up, stay fast, and not cost a fortune to run.

That background runs from a software consultancy, taking client projects from a first conversation to a live deployment, through engineering and leadership roles at startups and larger technology companies. It means designing distributed systems, leading backend teams, and building the parts of a product that quietly decide whether it holds up: payments, reliability, monitoring, and cost control.

I started Plain Text Systems for a simple reason. AI tools now let people build real software without an engineer, which is genuinely good, right up until the software has customers and nobody knows why it broke. That gap, between a working prototype and something you can depend on, is the work I do.

I specialize in the software small businesses actually run on: the audit that tells you whether what you built is safe to ship, the hardening that gets it there, the automation that takes repetitive work off your plate, and the ongoing support that keeps it running. I work directly with the people I build for. There is no team behind me relaying messages, because the point is that there isn’t one.

The name is the philosophy. Plain text is the format that outlives the tool that made it: readable, portable, and yours. I try to build software the same way. You should be able to understand what you own, take it with you, and never be locked in.

The details

• Run by one senior software engineer
• Legal entity: Plain Text Systems LLC
• Based in Irvine, California
• Serving Orange County and Southern California, and remote clients elsewhere
• Contact: hello@plaintextsystems.com