Dakotah Cote
Senior software engineer with 12 years of experience. I spent most of them writing code by hand. Today I design the system, direct agents to build it, and review and test what they produce.
years building software
remote since 2022
Bridgewater State, 2016
Berkshire CC, 2014
Skills
Languages
Frontend and mobile
Backend and data
Practices
How my work has changed
I rarely type the code myself now. A decade of writing it by hand is how I know what to ask for and how to tell when the result is wrong.
2014 to 2022
By hand, close to the metal
At General Dynamics I wrote C and C++ for embedded security systems, including secure boot.
2022 to 2025
By hand, full-stack
At Alchemy I wrote TypeScript across a React client, a GraphQL API and a real-time game service.
2026 on
Through agents
I choose the language and framework that fit the problem and direct agents to implement it. Then I red-team the result and test it by hand.
Experience
Resume as a PDFCompanion app for StarCraft: The Miniatures Game, built solo with agents.
Alchemy, Senior Software Engineer (Contract)Nov 2022 to Oct 2026Led game development: sheets, dice and rules for 25 tabletop RPGs, and the tools others use to build their own.
General Dynamics Mission Systems, Senior Software Engineer2018 to Nov 2022Lead engineer on an internal R&D program, a next-generation security system. Team lead and scrum master.
General Dynamics Mission Systems, Software Engineer2016 to 2018Secure boot on an unproven card, plus other major testing efforts.
General Dynamics Mission Systems, InternMay 2014 to 2016Half a million lines of code tested to over 90% coverage in three months, against a one-year plan.
Also building
- PR Review Cockpit: a code reviewer that reads the pull requests you're asked to review, posts the findings it's confident about and queues the rest for you to approve.