Second Generation, Ltd.

• Full stack web application development
• Peer leadership
• Coaching and mentoring junior devs
• Ongoing contribution to business strategy
• Project coordination and facilitation
• Constantly improving SaaS offering to expand into new markets and support new product offerings
• Technical environment includes: Ruby, Rails, React, Underscore.js, Sass, PostgreSQL, MySQL, PHP, HTML/CSS, RSpec, Cucumber, Linux, Vim, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, and Google Cloud Platform

Senior Software Engineer

Kynigi, LLC

• Founded a startup to bring modern and easy to use HR software to small and medium businesses that lack the time, training, and patience required to effectively use big, complicated systems
• Design, develop, and currently maintain Kynigi, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applicant tracking system
• Plan, deploy, and manage all server technology
• Develop and manage all marketing efforts including advertising, emails, social networking, and direct client presentations
• Technical environment includes: Ruby, Rails, Sass, JQuery, PostgreSQL, HTML/CSS, RSpec, Cucumber, and Azure

Founder

Copyedit Mom, LLC

• Founded a startup that focuses on connecting talented stay-at-home moms to individuals and companies who need help
editing documents, emails, books, blogs, etc.
• Leverage social network opportunities through Twitter and LinkedIn
• Develop and cultivate ongoing client relationships of every size, from multi-billion dollar companies to retired individuals
• Manage ongoing business operations including sales, marketing, and billing
• Manage and lead a distributed team with non-standard working hours and an irregular work schedule

The J.M. Smucker Company

• Full stack web application development of brand websites and web campaigns
• Developed solutions for new brand websites and web-based marketing campaigns
• Supported and guided team efforts to adopt and practice Scrum
• Coached and mentored all team members
• Technical environment included: PHP, C#, Javascript, HTML/CSS, Pimcore, Knockout, MySQL, Codeception, and PHPUnit

Contract Software Developer

AvatarFleet

• Co-founded a software company to specialize in and focus on SaaS applications
• Led a programming team, including coaching and enforcing OOP best practices
• Daily hands-on experience with sales, marketing, finance, customer service, and technology
• Created ComplianceCare, an online compliance and document management system
• Standardized all web development to simultaneously support all mobile and desktop browsers
• Implemented and coached Agile processes, including TDD and ATDD
• Implemented and managed DevOps and test automation with full continuous integration and monitoring
• Planned, deployed, and managed all server technology
• Technical environment included PHP, Javascript, HTML/CSS, Perl, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Linux, Vagrant, Codeception, and PHPUnit

Co-founder, CTO, & Lead Software Engineer

Avatar Management Services

• Created ApplicantCare, an online applicant tracking system
• Created AssessmentCare, an online personality assessment application
• Designed and administrated databases that drove our software
• Built and administrated all server technology for our software
• Created custom software that supported the needs of the business and its clients
• Led a team that included programmers, web designers, and system administrators
• Technical environment included PHP, Javascript, HTML/CSS, Perl, R, PSPP/SPSS, C#, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Linux

Computer Programmer

Self-Employed

• Full offering of hardware and software services, including data recovery and system restoration
• Custom website development
• On-site repair and training
• Technical environment included PHP, HTML/CSS, Windows and Linux

Consultant

Franciscan University of Steubenville

• Member of a Network Field Maintenance Crew
• Solved any and all computer problems for staff and faculty
• Technical environment included VB 6, Red Hat Linux, Windows Server, and Novell NetWare

Helpdesk Technician

Founder | Leader | Software Engineer | Problem Solver

I have spent my career doing more with less while building and leading high-performance, winning teams. I discovered that operating tactically is necessary, strategically is superior, and philosophically is life-changing. I turn learning into action and I am always learning. I believe in extreme respect and gratitude. I am passionate about family, friends, sharing knowledge, and getting things done.

As Artificial Intelligence continues to improve, more and more of the "how" goes away. People who ask good "what" questions will be the big winners.

Nick Wagner

Leader | Catholic Speaker | Software Engineer | Problem Solver

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You don't have to solve all of the problems today. You just need to work on the next challenge.

Get your priorities right, and everything else will start falling into place.

AI isn’t coming; it’s here.

The good news: We're all beginners.

Anyone can learn to code the same way anyone can learn to sing. Not everyone can be the next Whitney Houston.

If you find coding interesting, learn it and go deep! But don't feel pressured to fight your natural talent and passion so you can fit into someone else's narrative.

"…and old school leaders age out."

Too many successful people got comfortable, and when you're comfortable, you resist change, even change for the better.

I help companies get ready for the future of work.

People DM me stuff like this all the time…

My prediction:

Work from home has stabilized and if anything, it will increase again over the long term as digital tools get better and better and old school leaders age out.

This doesn’t mean that the office is dead…

But RTO has been flat since late 2023. (see below)

Why do we think 2026 will somehow be different???

If I’m wrong I’m wrong…

But this person and the army of people in behind them don’t seem like “frogs” that are willing to be boiled…

Agree?

Anyone can delegate tasks.

Great leaders delegate authority.

"…replace optics with outcome-driven leadership."

I like to simply call that "leadership."

Butts-in-seats management rewards attendance over results, destroys motivation, and kills team cohesion.

Called the “Office Whisperer” by The New York Times, I help tech-forward leaders replace overpriced vendors with staff-built AI solutions

Why Remote Work Wins Despite the Executive Obsession With Offices

– Dr. Joanne Hebert, DBA, Adjunct Professor at Walsh College and Gogebic College, highlights a major divide between executives favoring office mandates and professionals who thrive remotely.

– Executives rely on proximity bias, assuming physical presence signals productivity, while research shows no performance boost for remote-capable roles in marketing, sales, or research.

– Managers align with their teams, preferring remote work and feeling ignored under rigid hybrid mandates—leading to disengagement and attrition.

– Loosely structured hybrid setups erode team cohesion when in-office days lack coordination, leaving workers disillusioned after pointless commutes.

– Generational and functional gaps drive this divide: executives prioritize optics and culture, while knowledge workers focus on digital productivity tools and results.

– Hybrid models can work—but only when anchored in purpose. Dr. Hebert recommends coordinating in-office time around project phases, mentoring needs, and social anchor events.

– Team-based scheduling within broad guidelines proved far more effective than random flexibility or blanket mandates.

– To bridge the divide, organizations must design hybrid systems around role-specific needs, empower teams, and replace optics with outcome-driven leadership.

Read more in my article for The World Financial Review: https://lnkd.in/gGQus6pT

Embrace Continuous Learning
“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

Open article: Embrace Continuous Learning by nickwagner.blog

The future of work is outcomes, not hours.

Distributed teams are reshaping how we define productivity, collaboration, and trust.

It's no longer a contest about who shows up first or who works late. We're finally starting to focus on real impact and results.

The choice to learn is a choice to win.

Anything else is a choice to become irrelevant.

Work from anywhere isn't the future… It's here now. Companies that care more about real leadership and real results over butts-in-seats are winning.

The old guard trying to force people into offices—because they think babysitting their team is going to work this time—are losing.

And no, I don't expect my EMT to save my life over a Zoom call. And I don't want my garbage man trying to pick up my trash by using Google Meet. But my knowledge workers just need a laptop and an internet connection to be massively productive.

99% of people are focused on the Fortune 100 return to office push. This is the WRONG place to be looking…

The next wave of high-performing companies aren’t even doing hybrid - they’re FULLY flexible.

And the reality is…Corporate America is failing at hybrid anyway…

People don’t want full-fat milk at the office…they want full-fat flexibility!

Here’s 7 reasons why flex is the future:

1/ Flexibility is STILL the norm

Despite all the RTO headlines, two-thirds of U.S. firms still offer location flexibility. The only big bump in mandates came from government agencies. The market has balanced out - and no, not at 4 or 5 days in-office.

2/ Flexibility undeniably = faster growth

Between 2019–2024, Fully Flexible companies grew 1.7x faster than the mandate crowd, rulers out, ready to slap wrists. Even after controlling for size and industry, the advantage was 1.3x! This isn’t about being all kumbaya…it’s about cold hard cash.

3/ Fortune 100 are “fake flexing” and it’s hurting them (maybe they know it and don’t care…maybe they’re naive…maybe both…)

On paper, 71% are ‘flexible.’ But nearly half now demand 4–5 days. Let’s call it what it is: fake flex. Big logos can play office all they want, but RTO is NOT where the edge is (see #4).

4/ Smaller firms are eating their lunch

While the giants posture, two-thirds of companies under 500 people are Fully Flexible. And here’s the wild part…they cover half the U.S. workforce and are driving nearly ALL net employment growth. Real flexibility is fueling the economy, not RTO - and that’s where the talent is heading.

5/ Mandates don’t equal compliance

Required office time is up 12% since early 2024. But ACTUAL attendance is only up 1–3%. You can force policy all you want, but you can’t force people. And you DEFINITELY can’t force performance.

6/ The office is evolving, not dying

61% of firms combine flexibility with access to space. Offices are becoming hubs for connection and brand…not shrines for the egos of CEO’s (who don’t even go in, lol). 
7/ The time for asking questions is over…the answer is here

Flexibility isn’t “winning.” It already won. The only question left to ask is how harness it to:

- Grow faster
- Attract and retain talent
- Redefine the role of the office

TAKEAWAY:

We need to STOP obsessing over what the Fortune 100 is mandating. They’re looking backwards…

The companies that embrace full-fat flexibility will be the ones who actually thrive in the decade ahead.

Big thanks to Brian Elliott and Flex Index for surfacing the hard data amidst all this noise…

I’m hosting a webinar with him and Prithwiraj Choudhury on September 16th to discuss all this in more detail.

Stay tuned to my feed for more info.

The moment you believe you are an expert is the moment you stop growing.

Taplio

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