Sophia Hawes-Tingey

04/06/2026

This past month has been a journey through stories—of rebellion, resilience, loss, and growth—paired with the real-world work of building systems, community, and purpose.

From late nights solving integration challenges to honoring the life of a friend, from exploring AI-driven development to reflecting on what it means to lead with intention… one idea keeps returning:

What we build matters—but how we build it matters even more.

If you have a few minutes, I’d love for you to read and reflect with me:
🔗 https://bit.ly/3PR71pG

Take a moment to ask yourself: What are you building right now—and who does it serve?

In The King Must Die, by Kimi Ashing-Giwa, making taxation rounds at his older brother’s request is a task meant to keep Alekhai out of the palace so the Sovereign can rule for a few days without Alekhai breathing down his neck. It didn’t take long to figure out that a local chieftain has been p...

03/15/2026

This month has been a whirlwind of engineering leadership, AI discussions, political organizing, and community events. Somewhere in the middle of it all, I picked up a tiny green rubber duck wearing a knit hat that says: “You are ducking enough.”

It made me laugh — but it also stuck with me.

In my latest blog entry, I reflect on lessons from The Staff Engineer’s Path, the importance of scope and focus, the realities of guiding AI tools like Copilot, and the challenge of doing meaningful work without getting lost in endless side quests. I also talk about the advocacy work happening here in Utah and the small moments that help keep us going.

Sometimes the spark that keeps us moving forward comes from the smallest places.

If you’ve ever felt stretched thin between work, leadership, and life — this one might resonate with you.

Read it here:

In The Staff Engineer’s Path, Tanya Reilly points out that a staff engineer's reporting chain determines their scope. If they report to a director, they should clarify whether they’re expected to operate across the entire organization or focus on specific teams or technology areas. If everything...

03/02/2026

Shame thrives in silence. Authenticity thrives in truth.

In my latest blog post, I reflect on resilience — from military service to transition, from earthquakes to colonoscopies, from leadership books to legislative battles. What does it mean to own your story instead of letting it own you? What does it look like to choose courage when the ground shakes?

This piece weaves together leadership, identity, advocacy, and the quiet determination it takes to live aligned with your values — even when systems try to label you a “problem” to be solved.

If you’ve ever had to stand back up after a hard landing, this one is for you.

Read here: https://bit.ly/4l3EbgZ

Brené Brown, in Dare to Lead, advises us to admit to experiencing shame or admit that we’re sociopaths. Just the word shame is uncomfortable. It has more control over our lives they less we talk about it. It’s easy to let the crowd get in our head and hijack our efforts. Without clarity of valu...

02/04/2026

Sometimes the quiet moments tell the biggest story.

From Jane Austen’s parlor games to early debates about machine learning, from Ketanji Brown Jackson’s journey to a Utah legislative hearing, this piece is about what we do with knowledge, courage, and care—and why celebrating small wins matters more than we think.

Resilience isn’t built only in storms. It’s built when we pause to notice what’s been earned.

📖 Read here:

Passing the Word: Courage, Judgment, and What We Choose to Notice

01/27/2026

01/19/2026

A LEGO chrysanthemum sits at the top of my latest blog post — something built patiently, piece by piece, from a gift given on game night. It felt like the right image for a reflection that moves from Jane Austen to civil liberties, from machine learning to modern misinformation, and from quiet moral clarity to the very real consequences of legislative harm.

This post is about listening carefully, challenging false narratives, and choosing evidence and humanity over fear — whether we’re talking about technology, public policy, or people’s lives.

📖 Read here: https://bit.ly/4pHgmML

🌼 Sometimes justice, like this flower, is something we have to build deliberately — together.

In Emma, by Jane Austen, Mr. Knightley tells Emma that he said to himself that even Emma would think that Harriet Smith and John Martin were a good match. Emma asserts that Martin is her societal inferior. Mr. Knightly questions how it could be a degradation to her illegitimacy and ignorance to be m...

01/09/2026

This piece weaves together books, grief, technology, politics, and the quiet discipline of paying attention. From fiction to strategy, from personal loss to ethical AI, it’s a reflection on how reading widely and thinking deeply shapes empathy, resilience, and courage in a noisy world.

If you’ve ever found solace, challenge, or clarity in books—or needed to step back from certainty to truly listen—this one’s for you.

📖 Read here:

When the Darweesh family makes the trip down to Alamaxa by rail in The Daughters of Izdihar, by Hadeer Elsbai, Nehal’s father doesn’t look at her the entire ride. Knowing she is in Alamaxa when she steps of the rail, she wonders how women in the city wear such heavy attire when it is so damn hot...

12/29/2025

This reflection weaves together technology, books, community gatherings, faith traditions, and hard political truths to ask a simple but demanding question: how do we hold integrity together in complex systems—and in human lives? From distributed data to shared tables, it’s a reminder that care, empathy, and welcome are not optional if anything is going to endure.
Read here:

In Designing Data-Intensive Appilications, Martin Kleppman points out that you don’t need to operate at Google scale. Developers need to be aware of the constraints and trade-offs that occur in a distributed system. He goes into issues that arise when data is distributed.In Parts I and II, the dis...

12/11/2025

In a week filled with grief, courage, community, and unexpected grace, I found myself reflecting on what truly holds us together. From resisting efforts to silence voters to celebrating compassion as a transformative force, this has been a journey of standing up, healing, and choosing love again and again.

I wrote about all of it—loss, hope, justice, community, and the quiet power of compassion.
Read the full reflection: https://bit.ly/3XOvAEf

If it resonates with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In When the Tides Held the Moon, by Venessa Vida Kelley, Río lies with his head against driftwood. Two months of Brooklyn’s tap appears to be too much for a merman’s power of purification. Benny whispers to his amor to see if he is awake. In Tom Sawyer Abroad, by Mark Twain, Tom says the profes...

11/29/2025

✨ New Blog Entry: “Holding Truth Against the Tide”
In a world awash with noise, shifting daylight, and forces that try to reshape our humanity, standing firm in our values becomes an act of quiet courage. This week’s reflections travel from cozy kitchens to political battlegrounds, from dreams to democratic principles—reminding us why solidarity and truth matter more than ever.
➡️ Read the full post: https://bit.ly/4it57FP

Let me know what parts resonate with you.

In Brigands and Breadknives, by Travis Baldree, Bradlee asks Fern if she just absconded in the night. Finding it weird to talk to sentient cutlery, Fern claims it was a accident, to which Bradles says it “seems like a pretty long-running accident.”In a later scene, a pile of planks and pulled na...

11/17/2025

Step into a story of courage, love, and the transformative power of claiming your own path. ✨ Read the latest blog post here and let it inspire your night: https://bit.ly/3LRsJrn

🌙💙 Share your thoughts and spread the light!

In Dayspring, by Anthony Oliveira, the disciple whom Jesus loved introduces himself and tells his story.In Brigands and Breadknives, by Travis Baldree, Fern will bet everything that Viv’s face is one she really knows. Customers bustle to and fro with drinks and nibbles. Fern contemplates the unfam...