About -> Me
I'm Nicholas Quandt, though I've never once introduced myself that way. Nick works. Quandt works. Whatever you're comfortable with.
Formal names are always weird to write out when referring to yourself.
I'm a Staff Software Engineer at Milwaukee Tool, where I work across our web properties (milwaukeetool.com, milwaukeetool.jobs, empirelevel.com) along with internal product data systems. My stack is mostly dotNET (Framework 4.8/Core 6-10) and React. I've also been involved in cross-departmental architecture work and led some of our early AI tooling pilots with Copilot, Cursor and Claude Code.
I've worn many hats, though the constant has been doer.
My Starting Point
I started programming at 11 with Small Basic and Visual Basic, making little graphics widgets and Windows Forms applications; I feel like it's what most kids did when Visual Studio 2008 was their first IDE. My first professional work, at 15 years old, was an Autodesk Inventor plugin using C# that let a manufacturing company generate 3D models from pricing sheets. Beyond that, I've spent years tinkering: building toy browsers, experimenting with GTK, playing with embedded assemblies and dynamic AppDomains, and creating basic compilers. The barrier to entry in software is fairly low in my opinion. Once you have a computer, why not try everything?
I like to imagine the thoughts developers had as they formed their opinions and decisions for various software.
I was excited to see dotNET become open source. I enjoy learning about a system through the source code.
What I Believe About Software
I believe the best software solves real problems. It improves quality of life, quality of work, quality of experience. There's too much bloat in the world right now. Over-worked, over-spread, over-copied software doesn't serve anyone.
I try hard to not rebuild existing things. (It's actually really difficult)
I'm inspired by developers who build tools that actually move the craft forward: Evan You with Vue, Rich Harris with Svelte, David Fowler's work in dotNET. What I admire isn't the fame. It's the clarity of purpose. They saw a genuine gap, built something to fill it, and made other developers' lives better.
I don't need to be the guy. I want to be a guy where someone looks at my work and thinks, "huh, he's onto something." Whether that's through tools, patterns, writing, or just sharing what I've learned.
Where I'm At Now
I've been at Milwaukee Tool for over four years. I'm a Milwaukee native, and I've always rooted for the company. I used Milwaukee tools long before I worked here. The role came through a friend's referral, and it aligned perfectly with my interest in dotNET.
Beyond the Keyboard
When I'm not coding, I'm tinkering in other ways. I boulder (indoor rock climbing without ropes) often at Wisconsin gyms, and I built my own climbing wall in my basement. I somewhat frequent Chicago to try different gyms as well. I was a collegiate pole vaulter, and was able to translate much of that talent to climbing.
I have a 1990 Nissan that I wrench on, and I prefer to do all my own house and car maintenance. I have a PC setup under my floor. I like doing things myself. I find satisfaction in handling my own needs and understanding how things work.
I'm married, have a dog and a cat, and I've lived mostly in Wisconsin with a stint in Arizona. I mostly read non-fiction: articles, textbooks, self-help, how-to, cooking. I can never really get into fiction. I'm a coffee fanatic, I appreciate good beer, and I'm a big fan of anime, The Matrix, Speed Racer, and Transformers. I think that means I'm a nerd, geek, dork, weeb, or other. But I'd say I'm also pretty active, especially with climbing.
At some point, I want to document more of these projects, maybe as write-ups on my website: the climbing wall, the deck, the under-floor PC setup. It's all part of an impulse I have: build things, figure things out, share what I learn.
On AI
I've been hands-on with AI tooling at work, piloting Copilot and Cursor, thinking through how these tools fit into real engineering workflows. My take: AI is a tool like the IDE before it, or like Word as an extension of Notepad. It's an aggressive shift in patterns, but fundamentally it's an augmenter, not a replacement.
The most effective way to use AI is as a learning companion. Use it to grow your understanding by at least 1%. If you're just asking it to complete your work, you're missing the point.
Use it to learn. Give it context. Be specific. Don't expect to hole-shot anything. And remember: automate what you know well so you can explore what you don't.
What I'm Building Toward
I want to build tools that reduce friction for other developers. I want to write about the things I figure out. I want to work alongside people who get excited about solving hard problems.
Right now that means: shipping more open source work, writing more consistently, and finding the next thing that makes me think "why doesn't this exist yet?"
My goal is to bring value where it's needed and be accountable where I am.
You can find me on GitHub and LinkedIn . Reach out if you want to talk about dotNET, climbing, building things, or anything in between.
I'm actively building this website. Be on the watch for updates.