Stuck Between Engineer and Leader
The insight I gained from living as a builder in 2 worlds
Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself
My name is Clint, oh, C for the Clarity,
Want to ship? You must want to talk to me.
I guess now, I sit between the build and responsibility,
Of being an entrepreneur of TWB, well TWM…
Fresh outta corp into trusting me, fully.
…haha 🤣
For real tho…
What’s up, I’m Clint. Built software. Led teams. Now a founder helping builders who are ready to make the leap but can’t quite see the path yet. Every post is one conversation closer to clarity on ownership, execution and momentum.
Hello, Nice To Meet You
So, here’s my story.
It’s 2000, I’m wearing the cap and gown, smiling. I did it.
I didn’t want a plain CS degree nor did I want a MIS degree either—I was too hungry and wanted more. One was too technical and the other too business-ey—plus, I had already decided on my minor being business.
So, I landed what felt like he middle—Computer Information Systems.
This decision put me in the software engineering building and the business building, all at the same time.
I looked for others like me—but I was the only idiot that did that.
C++ on one side then Accounting, COBOL, business strategy on the other.
Both buildings, 2 knowledge streams, 2 personas and a single person trying to hold them simultaneously—me.
I thought everyone did something similar.
Surprise! No one did.
And I would spend the next twenty years learning exactly what that meant.
Names Are Important — What's yours?
After walking in the heat with printed CVs and several rejections later, my first job out of college was software support—not a bad start.
I was taking calls from angry customers, had 90sec to close—20mins ceiling. The goal given—get them to accept an upgrade then get the hell off the call.
I failed every time, I stayed on the phone too long and tried to actually fix the problem—I got written up for caring about the wrong metric.
Well, that didn’t fit me—ya, think?
What followed was a rollercoaster ride, from leading implementation on teams, then contracting as an entrepreneur, then development as a software engineer, then leadership as a manager. Every role, same position—in the middle
Not just a specialist builder, kinda a translator.
Business people who didn’t understand technology were just lost, while engineers who didn’t understand business were building systems that didn’t match users.
I was sitting in the middle, again, and again. I thought, is this punishment of knowing too much?
While in the chaos of trying to find my way—with young children and a job I didn’t like that much—I made a pact with my younger self: when my kids came of age, I was going back to entrepreneurship.
Fast forward…
AI is dominating, everyone and their momma is a founder, startups are everywhere, all while the world is on fire—and what a time to be a founder, right?
The universe has a way of reminding you of your identity commitments.
So, What Do You Do — Again?
If I have to answer that question one more time, haha.
I’ve learned, if you cannot say what you do in one clear through-line, you’ll be eaten alive.
This force reflections: As an early founder who hadn’t shipped much yet, an engineer learned on the job who are ready to make a leap to ownership, a leader who see too many paths and can’t stopped thinking like a builder.
You are capable in every room, yet stuck between all of them.
To find my way on this journey, I found GitHub Copilot trials show a 55.8% increase in task completion speed using AI, solo-founded AI startups went from 23.7% of new companies in 2019 to 36.3% by mid-2025, and a full solopreneur AI stack now costs $3,000–$12,000 annually.
The gap between vision and execution—the one I spent 20+ years living in—has closed dramatically.
But here’s what everyone is realizing.
AI closing that gap doesn’t reduce the energy requirement, it actually intensifies it—by a whole lot.
Because now, differentiation doesn’t come from who can build—anyone can.
It’s now focused on who can think clearly about what to build, stay discipline on the path and actually ship a solution to a real problem—fast.
That’s good taste, clear vision, and a defined distribution path.
All of which dependent on a very clear mind.
If you’re running on depleted energy, AI just helps you build the wrong thing faster.
Do You Have The Energy For This?
Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz spent two decades studying elite performers and came back with one finding:
Performance degrades when energy is misallocated, not when hours run short.
Knowledge workers, like us, switch between apps and tasks 1,192 times a day—that’s once every 24secs.
Every switch leaves attention residue that bleeds into the next task before the previous one is even closed—wow.
Think about that, when people call during your juggling of tasks hours because it’s convenient for them—they pull hours of conversation for their benefit without thinking about what it costs you, cause why?
Those are free withdrawals from your energy reserve that is certainly not unlimited, but it serves them well—reasons to protect your time as a builder.
For two decades I was the translator in rooms where nobody wanted a translator—I can’t be the only one.
That’s just who I was—not self-identified, history-proven. But I was doing it while running down a reserve I never thought to protect in all roles.
McKinsey found executives in flow states are 500% more productive and what breaks that is dysfunction, impression management and some relationships that cost more than they return.
Finding your tribe—the people who support your growth while pushing back, even when you argue.
That is not isolation at all, it’s really just finding your real team—the difference between attractors to the mission and detractors from it.
Attention Residue: The mental “lag” or leftover thoughts from a previous task that clutter your brain when you try to switch to something new.
Flow State: Being “in the zone”a total immersion where time disappears and your work feels effortless.
Impression Management: The “social filter” used to curate how you look, act, and speak so others perceive you a certain way.
Built In Breaks + Balance of The 4 Energy
I’m back running 2 miles every 2 days or so—I fall off sometimes, but I’m back, with some meditation too.
As a builder we have to think like a runner; they don’t push hard the whole race. They plan when to push on the hills, when to hold on the flat, when to grab that cup of water every mile, and when to let the heart rate recover before the next surge.
That’s energy strategy.
And every accomplishment is WINS—Will Identify Next Steps.
Pick small slices, have a definition of done on those slices and let your wins breathes dopamine into the next step.
Stick to your principles and core values—prevent burnout by forcing yourself to take breaks, have a clear path towards shipping that mvp, and do not waste time on people who have a problem with you that you cannot resolve.
Your vision is the end goal and your mission should be adaptive toward that vision—move with intent, more now in the AI era than ever before.
Behind the Build: This is my story—the ‘What’ and ‘Why.’ If you are a builder who needs the ‘How,’ I have documented my technical thoughts, AI prompts, and logic for specific solutions in the Technical Log.
I’ve Been Trying To Find You
What I intend for this publication is to help reveal what happens when a builders stops fighting the middle—it’s who you are—and starts working from the insights gained from it.
If you’re like me and still stuck between engineer and leader or any space-between and are very driven by the possibilities of AI—let’s connect.
If you’re ok building systems alongside other founders, leaders, engineers, and entrepreneurs trying to keep their momentum—I want you here.
If sometimes the fog creeps in and willing to push for clarity through the systematic balance of energy through one conversation for the purpose of delivering value—that’s what these articles, this podcast, this ongoing story are for.
Being stuck between two worlds felt like a problem early on for me, but was never the real problem, it was only the signal.
The engineer who understands the business and the founder who can still build.
If you feel any of this, we’ll have a similar start.
Follow along leave a comment.
Let’s talk
Let’s ship.
You are exactly who the room needed!
…And I can try to change but that’s just where I am now,
Man, you was who you was ‘fore you got here
Only The Energy can judge me, so I’m gone
Either love me or leave me alone
Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Which version of this is YOU?
Drop your story
Research Notes
Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. — “The Making of a Corporate Athlete” — Harvard Business Review
Mullainathan, S. & Shafir, E. — Scarcity research — Behavioral Scientist
Leroy, S. — Attention residue research — University of Washington Bothell
Peng, S. et al. — GitHub Copilot productivity study — arXiv
Context switching statistics 2026 — Speakwise
Social energy research — PsyPost
State of Micro-SaaS 2025 — Freemius
Neuroscience of decision fatigue — Global Council for Behavioral Science
This perfectly captures what it feels like to live between building, leading, and trying to make sense of both worlds.