Peter Cepeda

I’ve spent my career navigating inappropriate comments, unwanted contact, and blurred lines—often in silence. This is my story about workplace boundaries, how I’ve handled violations, and why it’s time we stop pretending men can’t be victims too.

I swore I’d never be a janitor like my dad. But in tech, I became one anyway—cleaning up code, teams, and culture behind the scenes. You only notice the janitor when everything’s broken. And that’s the point.

Overcompensating—whether with effort, responsibility, or control—often leads to burnout and missed expectations. In trying to avoid failure, we create it elsewhere. Here’s why we need to protect people over products and build systems that don’t rely on heroes.

When I returned to being an IC, a trusted teammate and I clashed for the first time. Here’s what caused the tension, how we worked through it, and what I learned about leadership, trust, and shifting team dynamics.

After stepping down from management, I reflected on my final review. It wasn’t surprising — but it was revealing. Here’s what it said, what it missed, and what it taught me about leadership, growth, and the systems we operate in.

Undermining doesn’t always look like sabotage. Sometimes it’s a private thread. Sometimes it’s a well-meaning idea dropped into a pull request. But when roles get blurred and decisions bypass the people doing the work, dysfunction takes root.