The story behind TechTide AI

I grew a LinkedIn following from 500 to 56,000 in under two years by building in public, sharing what I learned, and helping others make AI work.

This site is for the people who follow that journey. If you want the real story, the lessons, and the receipts, keep reading.

From Wendy's help desk to shipping AI agents. From zero credentials to building for real companies. Here's how it happened.

56,000+LinkedIn followers
13 yearsfrom Wendy's to AI
100+builds shipped
1000speople helped
The 13-Year Arc

From help desk to AI developer

No shortcuts. No trust fund. No credentials that opened doors. Just work, learning, and building in public until people started paying attention.

2013

Wendy's Help Desk Tier 1

First tech role. Handling support tickets, troubleshooting issues, learning how to solve problems under pressure. No credentials, no connections, just showing up. This is where tech started.

2015

Ohio Health

Moved into healthcare IT. Bigger systems, higher stakes, more complexity. Learning enterprise tech from the inside.

2017

MSP Work

Managed service provider life. Multiple clients, different stacks, constant firefighting. Learned to build and fix systems fast.

2019

Full-Stack DevOps

Transitioning businesses from on-prem to cloud. Infrastructure, migrations, the full stack of operations. Building systems at scale.

2022Turning point

Started Coding + AI

Finally started writing code. GPT-3, then ChatGPT dropped the same year. Saw the opportunity. First agent systems, first automations with AI.

2024Turning point

TechTide AI Founded

Launched my consultancy. Multi-agent systems, production AI builds, real guardrails. Clients hiring me for shipping, not demo theater.

2025Turning point

Building in Public

Started sharing what I was learning on LinkedIn. Documented builds, failures, lessons. Community started growing. Lovable Senior Champion.

2026Turning point

56,000+ Followers & What's Next

Community exploded. Speaking at events. Scaling what works. More shipping, more teaching, more community. The story continues.

“Nobody handed me anything. I just kept building until people noticed.”

That's the real story. Not a highlight reel. The full path.

Currently Shipping

What I'm building now

Not a roadmap. Not a vision deck. These are the things I'm actively shipping, building in public, and iterating on.

View full status
Updated live as I ship
Community

Beyond the builds

Building in public means being part of something bigger. Here's where I show up, contribute, and help others level up.

LovableSenior Champion

Recognized as a Senior Champion in the Lovable community. Helping builders learn AI-assisted development and ship faster with modern tooling.

lovable.dev
Hope MakersSpeaker & Community AI Expert

Featured speaker and AI expert for the Hope Makers Collective. Sharing knowledge on AI development, automation, and helping the community leverage AI tools to amplify their impact.

hopemakerscollective.com
LinkedIn Community56,000+ followers

Daily posts on building with AI, lessons from shipping, and real talk about what works. No fluff, no guru posturing. Just documentation.

Follow on LinkedIn
Open SourceContributor

Contributing to tools that help other builders. Templates, starter kits, and documentation for AI development workflows.

GitHub

I believe in giving back. The people who helped me when I was starting out are the reason I'm here. Now it's my turn.

MANIFESTO
What I Believe

The principles I build by

Not platitudes. Not marketing copy. The actual operating system I run my work and life on.

01

Ship, don't pitch

Ideas are worthless. Shipped products are everything. I'd rather show you a working demo than a deck.

02

Production over demo theater

Anyone can build a cool demo. Real work means logging, permissions, evals, observability, and rollback paths. The boring stuff that makes things actually work.

03

Operator-first mindset

I think like someone who has to run the system, not just build it. Because I've been that person. Maintenance matters.

04

No credentials required

I didn't wait for permission. No CS degree, no bootcamp certificate, no VC backing. Just build, ship, learn, repeat.

05

Transparency is the strategy

Building in public isn't marketing. It's accountability. When you share what you're doing, you can't hide from your failures or inflate your wins.

06

Help others climb

The people who helped me when I was starting are the reason I'm here. Paying it forward isn't optional, it's the whole point.

“Build things that matter. Share what you learn. Help others do the same.”

Alex Cinovoj
Press & Speaking

Featured & mentioned

Talks, articles, and places where my work has been recognized. Not for the ego, for the record.

Speaking2025

AI for Impact: Building Tools That Matter

Hope Makers Collective

Featured speaker on leveraging AI development skills to create tools that help communities and amplify positive impact.

Read more
Speaking2025

Building Production AI Systems

AI Dev Conference

Workshop on multi-agent orchestration and production guardrails for AI systems.

Mention2025

Top AI Builders to Follow

LinkedIn News

Featured in the roundup of AI practitioners building in public.

Article2024

From Zero to Production: AI Agent Development

Dev.to

Deep dive on shipping AI agents with proper logging, evals, and rollback paths.

Read more
Speaking2024

The Operator-First Approach to AI

Tech Meetup Ohio

Talk on building AI systems from the perspective of someone who has to maintain them.

Mention2025

Lovable Senior Champion

Lovable Community

Recognized for contributions to the AI-assisted development community.

Want me to speak at your event?

I talk about AI development, building in public, and the journey from zero credentials to shipping production systems.

Get in touch
Newsletter

Automation Vibes

Weekly insights on AI automation, building in public, and lessons from shipping. No fluff, no guru posturing. Just what I'm learning and building.

Weekly AI insightsBuild-in-public updatesTemplates & resources

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something real?

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