The Accidental Techie

Issue #14 Hey there, fellow accidental techie! 👋 Reader, think about the last time you explained a technology issue to your executive director or manager. What expression did they make? Not rhetorical. That expression is data. Most accidental techies do genuinely good work. They build skills, they cultivate relationships, they lead real projects. And then they walk into a meeting and describe what they did in task language, leadership nods politely, and the budget conversation goes nowhere....

Issue #17 Hey there, fellow accidental techie 👋 Have you been surprised by a renewal? Maybe it was the invoice that came in higher than last year, with a line about "standard price adjustments" and no explanation of what standard meant. Maybe it was the afternoon you tried to pull your donor records out of a platform you'd decided to leave, and learned that the export costs extra and the window to do it closes 30 days after you cancel. Maybe it was a consultant who quoted you a clean project...

Issue #16 Hey there, fellow accidental techie 👋 Last week an email showed up asking you to update the bank routing number for a vendor payment. It looked right. Right logo, right signature block, even the right tone. You paused for half a second, then moved on to the next fire, because four other things were due today and this looked like routine business. That half-second pause is worth paying attention to. It's usually where these things go wrong, or where they get stopped. You didn't sign...

Issue #15 Hey there, fellow accidental techie! 👋 Reader, your executive director forwarded you an article last Tuesday. Subject line: "We need an AI strategy." The article attached was 2,400 words long. By paragraph three you were already behind. By paragraph seven, you'd been informally volunteered to explain what a large language model is at the next all-staff. You're the accidental techie. You've kept your org's CRM running without formal training, survived the move from Dropbox to Google...

Issue #13 Hey there, fellow accidental techie! 👋 Reader, quick question. Look at your project list right now. How many of those items are there because something broke? How many because someone complained? How many because a vendor sent you an email at exactly the right moment of weakness? If the honest answer is "most of them" — you're not alone. You're just doing what accidental techies do. The work gets defined by whoever is loudest, whatever is most urgent, and whatever landed in your...

Issue #12 Reader, let me ask you something. When was the last time someone in your organization actually understood what you do? Not the "you fix the computers" kind of understanding. I mean genuinely grasping the complexity of what you’re managing, the high-stakes decisions you’re making without a playbook, and the sheer number of systems you’re holding together on a shoestring budget and a lot of caffeine. If you're like most accidental techies, the honest answer is: rarely. Maybe never. We...

Issue #11 Hey there, fellow accidental techie! 👋 Reader, let me ask you something. When did you last stop and actually take stock of how much you know? Not in a "humble brag on LinkedIn" way. I mean genuinely sitting down and acknowledging that you have built real, hard-won technical knowledge — not because someone trained you, but because you figured it out under pressure, often alone, usually while something was on fire. If you're like most accidental techies, the honest answer is probably:...

Issue #10 The Accidental Techie Radar Hey friends, 26NTC just wrapped, and the nonprofit technology community showed up. I joined virtually this year — Gozi and I presented our session remotely — but the energy from Detroit came through the screen loud and clear. The throughline this year was hard to miss: the sector is finally starting to name what so many of us have been living. The accidental techie experience in the AI era isn't a niche problem. It's everywhere. And more people are asking...

Issue #9 The Accidental Techie Radar Hey friends, This edition is a little different. No deep dive into a single framework today. Instead, consider this the kind of catch-up you'd have with a colleague over coffee. What I've been building, what I'm paying attention to, some reading worth your time, jobs worth considering, and books worth buying from an independent store. A lot is happening in the nonprofit tech world right now. Some of it is exciting. Some of it is worth watching carefully....