Paul Ort

Introduction

I’m a software engineer living and working in New York City.

I’ve been making software professionally for >16yrs, non-professionally for >30yrs, and feel like I’m just getting started and everything is new again with the mixed bag of AI.

Before moving to NYC in 2015, I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma (~18yrs), Karachi (~4.5yrs) and Islamabad (~2.5yrs), Pakistan, and other places in Nepal, England, and Germany.

I’m a classical violinist and pianist, and maintain strong commitment to those instruments, though my primary professional pursuits have been in computing.

These days I’m primarily occupied with my family, my church, and my work.

Now (updated July 2026)

• Preparing to welcome Ortling 3
• Making software at Gusto in NYC
• Reachable via e-mail and LinkedIn
• Reading and thinking about:
  • Technopoly
  • The Tech Exit
  • The Opt-Out Family
  • The End of Education
  • Inside the Box
• Playing some classical violin and piano

Influences

• Books
  • The Beginning of Infinity
  • Gödel, Escher, Bach
  • A World Without Email
  • So Good They Can’t Ignore You
  • Digital Minimalism
  • Code Complete
  • The Pragmatic Programmer
  • Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests
  • Domain-Driven Design
  • Seeing Like a State
  • Where Good Ideas Come From
• Ideas
  • Deliberate Practice
  • eXtreme Programming
  • Test-Driven Development
  • First Principles
  • Zero-Based Budgeting
• People
  • Jonathan Edwards
  • Gustav Mahler
  • Leonhard Euler

Thanks

• DOS and QBASIC
  • for introducing me to computer programming
• Das Keyboard Ultimate
  • for helping me learn how to type
• Slackware 12
  • for helping me learn the command line
• Mandrake Linux
  • for introducing me to Linux, partitioning, and dual booting
• Red Hat 7.2
  • for introducing me to package management
• Slicehost
  • for introducing me to server administration