I solve puzzles.

That may look like observing people work and translating their frustrations into solvable problems. Or maybe designing a solution for someone else to encode in software. Or even writing the code myself. Sometimes it's identifying and removing progress blockers.

Regardless of the task, my work feels like a game when I'm at my best. But it's not just a make-the-numbers-go-up game. I need to know the numbers we track are the right numbers. The right numbers represent both progress and cost to avoid unintentional harm.

I know I've "won a game" when my gut tells me I've distilled a problem to its essence. When the solution is clear and elegant.