moralesworld.com
Owner
Pedro M. Morales
Role
VP of Engineering, Alpine Software
Location
Rochester, NY
Status
In production since 1999
Built with
Static HTML, CSS, and vanilla JS
Classification
Public

Pedro M. Morales

Engineering leadership, platform architecture, and production AI. Still hands-on.

Abstract

I lead engineering at Alpine Software in Rochester, NY, which builds records management software for fire departments across the U.S. Before that I was VP of Engineering and de facto CTO at VisualDx, accountable for engineering, AI/ML, security, and compliance on a clinical decision support platform. This document describes how the work is structured, what it has produced, and the decisions behind it. It also covers the work I do off the org chart, because it runs on the same discipline.

Pedro M. Morales, smiling, wearing blue-framed glasses, a navy blazer, and an open-collar check shirt.
Owner. Pedro M. Morales, Rochester, NY.
1

System context

Who and what the role connects to.

System context diagram Pedro M. Morales, VP of Engineering at Alpine Software, at the center, with what his work has connected to across his career. Solid connections are professional work: an engineering organization of 135+ engineers at peak at NextGen Healthcare, a clinical platform consolidated from three codebases to one at VisualDx, security and compliance under HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II, and agentic AI in production. Dashed connections are off the org chart: a home lab and builds such as a 12x16 shed. leads architects accountable ships runs builds OrganizationEngineering org135+ engineers at peakHiring, standards, culture PlatformClinical platformThree codebases into oneReact Native, APIs, SDKs, MCP ObligationSecurity and complianceHIPAA, SOC 2 Type IIEpic, HL7, FHIR Person Pedro M. Morales VP of Engineering Alpine Software 25+ years in software Still writes code SystemAgentic AIIn production in 4 functionsEach with a cost model InfrastructureHome labUniFi, VLANs, a rackTwenty years running BuildA 12x16 shedModeled before it was cutPermitted on the first pass

Person Pedro M. Morales VP of Engineering, Alpine Software. 25+ years in software. Still writes code.

Professional work

Off the org chart

Figure 1. System context, across the career to date. Select a box to see the evidence. Professional workOff the org chart
2

Career history

Drawn to scale, one unit per year. The open end is the current role.

  1. 1999 to 2013

    Technical roles, progressively senior

    Constellation Energy and others

    Where the habits formed.

  2. 2013 to 2019

    Engineering and quality leadership

    Paychex

    Cloud payroll and time SaaS for millions of users. Continuous delivery and automation strategy.

  3. 2019 to 2022

    Director, Software Quality Engineering

    NextGen Healthcare

    Enterprise-wide quality strategy and a migration to AWS-native pipelines.

  4. 2022 to 2024

    Director, Software Engineering

    NextGen Healthcare

    A 135+ person global organization. EHR-integrated platforms on Epic, HL7, and FHIR, under HIPAA.

  5. January 2024 to September 2026

    VP of Engineering, de facto CTO

    VisualDx

    Three codebases rebuilt into one React Native platform in ten months, zero downtime at launch. Accountable for HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II.

  6. September 2026 to today

    VP of Engineering

    Alpine Software

    Engineering for RedAlert, the records, reporting, and alerting platform built for the fire service.

3

Measured results

Every number here is verifiable.

MeasureResultTo scaleContext
Engineering organization 135+ 135+ Engineers led at peak in a global organization at NextGen Healthcare.
Platform consolidation 3 → 1 Legacy codebases replaced with one React Native platform at VisualDx, in ten months.
Downtime at launch 0 launch The rebuilt VisualDx platform went live without an outage.
Regression coverage 93% 93% Automated at NextGen Healthcare, with full cycle times under 30 minutes.
AI in production 4 EngContentSalesHR Functions running agentic workflows: engineering, content, sales, and HR.
4

Decision records

How I decide, with the tradeoffs.

DR-001Accepted

Treat culture as an engineering problem

Decision
Instrument it, hold the line on quality, and hire people who raise the bar.
Tradeoff
Holding the bar means some seats stay open longer than anyone would like.

DR-002Accepted

No AI workflow ships without a cost model

Decision
Every agentic workflow gets a cost model and a governance path before it goes near production.
Tradeoff
Fewer demos. The ones that ship have a budget and an owner.

DR-003Accepted

Treat distribution as architecture

Decision
APIs, SDKs, and MCP were designed in from the start of the platform rebuild.
Tradeoff
More design work up front, before any of it was visible to users.

DR-004Accepted

Stop solving what is already solved

Decision
After four generations of a hand-built home network, I bought a Dream Machine.
Tradeoff
Less control over the stack. My weekends came back.
5

Reference builds

The same discipline, different materials.

SketchUp model of a 12 by 16 shed frame, with studs, headers, and roof trusses colored by member type.Modeled The finished shed: gray siding, green double doors, and white trim on a gravel pad.Built

Figure 2. The model that became the permit application, and the shed it became.

A 12x16 shed, designed before it was built

Framing, trusses, openings, and foundation modeled in SketchUp before a board was bought. Permitted on the first pass, framed mostly solo over six weeks in 2020.

Read the build
A network rack with a labeled patch panel, a PoE switch, a UniFi Dream Machine, and a UniFi NAS.

Figure 3. The rack today, labeled to the port.

Twenty years of home network

DD-WRT, then ClearOS, then pfSense on a server built from spare parts, then UniFi. A story about deciding which parts of the stack to stop doing myself.

Read the write-up
6

Writing

All posts
7

Open items

OI-001In development

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Has Pedro worked in HIPAA-regulated environments?Yes. He maintained HIPAA compliance and SOC 2 Type II at VisualDx, and led compliance across enterprise EHR platforms at NextGen Healthcare.

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