git log --author=bill --since='the 90s'

The Story

Every company says they have experienced engineers. Ours has been shipping production code since the year the World Wide Web was invented. Coincidence? …Yes. But a fun one.

the founder

William “Bill” Lawson

Senior developer, cloud architect, database designer, recovering CTO, co-inventor of a U.S. patent, and the only person at this company who requires sleep.

Bill has spent 35+ years building software at every altitude of the industry — Fortune-500 giants, scrappy startups, and plenty in between. He's been the architect, the manager, the CTO — and through all of it, the guy who never stopped writing code, or sharing what he knew with anyone who'd listen — sometimes more than they bargained for.

The throughline: user-friendly isn't a feature, it's the whole point. Bill started his career on the phone with customers, listening to what they actually needed — and three decades later he's still very particular about software that feels good to use: snappy, obvious, respectful of your time and your eyesight. Hand him an app that throws a needless popup or puts a hurdle between you and what you came to do, and he gets genuinely annoyed — software that wastes your time doesn't respect it, and isn't worth yours.

And he's chased the new the whole way. Every leap — C++ to the cloud to AI — has been the fun part, never the threat. With AI in the toolkit now, he says he feels like a newborn developer again: wide-eyed at what's suddenly possible, but carrying 35+ years of hard-won instinct (and a few great mentors' lessons) for what to build and what to run screaming from. The cutting edge is the only place worth standing — everywhere else, you're left behind.

He lives in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, where Codecenter LLC is registered, headquartered, and occasionally supervised by a cat.

Full résumé on LinkedIn

The founder, moments after the capital expenditure committee voted 1–0 to acquire new tooling.

cat /etc/passwd

The whole team, no scrolling required

Two members, one payroll entry, and a support staff that works strictly for treats.

Bill Lawson

founder · principal engineer · human

35+ years of production software, B.S. Computer Science (Millersville)
Architecture, AWS, Python, databases, and the wisdom to keep it simple
Sets the standards, owns the architecture, and answers for every result
Weaknesses: needs sleep, coffee, and a second monitor (in that order)

Claude

pair programmer · ai · (this bio is self-reported)

Drafts code, docs, and tests at speeds that make Bill mutter “show-off”
Available at 3 a.m. without complaint, overtime, or HR implications
Takes code review feedback like a champ; has never once sulked
Weaknesses: cannot drink the coffee, claims no equity, occasionally too enthusiastic

How it works in practice: Claude generates at machine speed, and Bill applies the judgment — what the request actually is, where a design will buckle under real load, what a user will trip over, and what we're simply not shipping. His instincts for usability and reliability, his “absolutely not, we're doing it the right way.” Every deliverable ships with a human's name on it.

Izzy, a black-and-white tuxedo cat, staring intently at the camera — Izzy

QA dept · feline division

Brady, a tan Yorkshire terrier with big ears, sitting and looking up — Brady

morale & door security · canine division

Support staff. Compensation: head scratches, belly rubs, treats, naps, and the occasional keyboard walk.

evidence locker

A career in candid photos

Exhibits A through H, spanning roughly twenty years of home offices, hardware, and at least one extremely unimpressed cat. Click any photo to enlarge.

Bill at the keyboard in a black-and-yellow racing-style chair, coffee mug in hand, with the new CNC Manufacturing homepage — “Aerospace-grade precision machining” — on one monitor and its code open in the editor on the other — Launch weekend: final touches on the new CNC Manufacturing site — that’s it on the left monitor, its code on the right, and the mug pulling a double shift. cncmfg.com →(opens in new window)

Bill’s current dual-monitor setup on a tile-topped kitchen table, the CNC Manufacturing site on one screen and an editor on the other, with the racing-style chair pulled up, a full pot of coffee standing by, and a calculator and small plush pig on the tidy desk — The 2026 command center. The chair says racing, the table says Sunday dinner, and the Casio by the coffee pot has been on payroll since grade school. Desk policy: no clutter — coffee and support piggies exempt.

Bill leaning into the frame at night in a red hoodie and glasses, half-smiling, while a laptop scrolls green logs and a big ViewSonic glows with code — The natural habitat: logs scrolling green on the laptop, an editor full of code on the ViewSonic, zero meetings on the calendar.

Bill in 2008, arms crossed and looking faintly pleased with himself in a striped sweater, between two Dell setups and a whiteboard that reads “Out of Office” — 2008. The whiteboard says “Out of Office,” but the “I’d rather be coding” sticker by the marker tray tells the truth. Two Dells, two towers, one mission statement.

Mid-2000s Bill kicked back in a red tank top at a white desk, a boxy CRT looming in the red cabinet behind him and a cream Brother laser MFC holding down the shelf — The mid-2000s command center — every box in this frame is a museum piece now. Except the printer: a Brother laser MFC is the only one I’ll ever buy. Just get one.

A younger Bill in a blue tee perched between two open laptops, a desktop glowing in the corner and a kid’s “Happy Father’s Day” drawing taped to the wall — Father’s Day art on the wall, two laptops on the desks, and a desktop glowing in the corner — three screens, which back then meant three actual computers. Driving a wall of monitors off one machine wasn’t a thing yet.

Bill reclining in a bright orange shirt with a laptop on his lap, a black-and-white cat planted firmly on the armrest beside him — The QA department holds its daily standup. Attendance: mandatory. Findings: everything is a chair.

A “Thank you, Bill!” card from Help Hope Live — a tiny Yorkie puppy caught mid-cheek-lick while Bill grins with his eyes shut — A thank-you from Help Hope Live, the national nonprofit where I spent five years as CTO — a cause I’ll always love, and some of the most wonderful people I’ve worked with, helping families raise the funds for medical and transplant care. Help Hope Live →(opens in new window)

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