I’m Miguel Pimentel. I live in Minnesota and work as an Engineering Project Manager for the City of Crystal. While I spend my days managing the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure, I use this site to document my work in software development and data analysis.
This is my digital garden, where I cultivate thoughts, collect interesting discoveries, and document my ongoing learning journey. Unlike traditional blogs, these notes grow and evolve over time through continuous care, connected by ideas rather than chronology.
Professional Background
My daily focus is the delivery of municipal projects. This includes everything from the design of street resurfacing plans to the management of large-scale road and utility contracts. My role requires a balance of technical oversight and coordination. I handle contract specifications, cost estimation, and final construction inspections while ensuring compliance between private agencies and public entities.
I began this journey over twelve years ago as a Civil Engineering Technician in the Dominican Republic. I eventually moved into project management, where I now rely on GIS and CAD systems to manage the lifecycle of physical infrastructure.
With over 10 years in public construction, I’ve developed a systems-thinking approach that carries over into how I organize knowledge and approach problems—whether technical or otherwise.
The Self-Directed Path
My approach to expertise is non-traditional. While studying at INTEC, I found that I lacked the drive for traditional academics and eventually moved away from a formal degree. However, as I gained experience in the field, I discovered a profound motivation for learning that school had not sparked.
This shift defined my career. I have spent the last decade in a process of self-directed mastery. I taught myself how to build software and use data analysis to solve specific problems. I believe that an engineer’s value is found in the ability to understand a system and improve it, regardless of whether that system is built of concrete or code.
Areas of Experience
My background is a mix of technical precision and public service:
- Public Infrastructure: Managing municipal projects, designing residential road plans in AutoCAD Civil 3D, and overseeing construction site inspections.
- Digital Tools: Building Obsidian plugins and Firefox extensions to optimize my personal workflow.
- Data Analysis: Developing Python-based prototypes to help stakeholders explore and understand public data, such as our Adopt-a-Drain program.
- Public Safety: A past chapter as a licensed Firefighter and EMT, which provided early experience in managing systems under pressure.
What You’ll Find Here
This website is my public notebook. It is a place to connect the dots between engineering management and digital creation. I share content covering:
- Infrastructure Management: Insights into public works, contract strategies, and CAD/GIS applications.
- Software and Automation: Documentation of my coding projects, technical tutorials, and personal knowledge management.
- Process Improvement: Applying an engineering mindset to learning new skills and optimizing workflows.
The garden contains atomic notes—focused, self-contained thoughts that can stand alone or connect to form larger ideas. I’m currently implementing a growth system (🌱 seedlings, 🌿 budding, 🌳 evergreen) to indicate the maturity of different notes as they develop.
The Free Facts collection showcases my favorite type of discovery—those wonderfully random pieces of knowledge that serve no practical purpose but satisfy an itch of curiosity. I also maintain a growing collection of Words I Like because language fascinates me, and a Uses page documenting the tools that power my daily workflows.
Want to learn more?
- Read my full story on my Blog’s About page
- Check out my omg.lol profile
- Explore Uses if you’re curious about tools and workflows, or dive into Encouragements if you want to see how I approach motivation and habits. Each note connects to others, so follow your curiosity wherever it leads.