Talk to a Rōnin: Balancing Life, Boards & Beyond with Technical Account Manager David Cooper

If you’ve ever needed someone at Rōnin who can both architect a project and mentor a whole team, chances are you’ve crossed paths with David Cooper. Now a Technical Account Manager (TAM), David has been with Rōnin for six years, long enough to see both the company and his own career evolve in big ways.

He didn’t start as a TAM. In fact, he first spent some time politely dodging the “come work with us” pitch from Rōnin co-founder Byron McClain.

“Byron was relentless,” David remembers. “Every other month I’d get, ‘You ready to come over yet?’ and I kept putting him off.”

But Byron was persistent, as he knew David would be an excellent addition. The two had worked together years earlier, and that rapport carried forward.

Eventually, David took the leap, joining as a senior developer on a project and from there, things accelerated.

From Developer to TAM

David’s shift into the TAM role came when Rōnin landed a big opportunity at a large healthcare company. The challenge? Learning a complex product called Infor ETL from scratch. “We didn’t know anything about it,” David said. “So they asked me to dive in, figure it out, and hopefully build a team around it.”

He did just that, mentoring developers, growing the team, and making sure nobody got stuck spinning wheels. That mentoring piece, he says, is what sets Rōnin apart: “Most consultancies will drop a developer in a seat and leave them on their own. At Rōnin, it’s two brains for the price of one.”

As a TAM, David’s role grew beyond code. On recent projects like RegEd, he’s worn every hat: architect, mentor, scrum master, and client liaison. “The TAM is probably the most senior development role at Rōnin,” he explained. “You’re there to keep all the cogs turning—internally with our team and externally with the client. It’s about momentum.”

Remote, But Never Alone

Like many at Rōnin, David works remotely, though he lives close enough to the Nashville office to drop by for events. “I enjoy working from home, but I do miss the face-to-face sometimes,” he said. “When we do get together, it feels like a homecoming. You’ve been working with people every day but haven’t hugged them in months. Then there they are—it’s great.”

Even as a self-described “wallflower,” he values the camaraderie. “The culture here is strong. We’re all connected, whether it’s Teams chats, memes, or meetups. You know someone always has your back.”

AI: A New Daily Tool

David admits he was slow to adopt AI at first. But on his latest project, it’s become part of his everyday workflow. “We used to joke that developers spent half their lives Googling answers,” he said. “Now, with AI, you can drop in a well-written prompt and get an aggregated, specific answer instantly. It saves me five to ten minutes every time. That’s huge.”

While he hasn’t gone deep into AI coding agents yet, client environments don’t always allow it, he sees AI as an unavoidable shift. “Right now, it’s like Search 3.0. It’s not replacing humans, but it’s making us faster. And if we don’t use it, we fall behind.”

Life Beyond the Code

Outside of Rōnin, David’s world is full of adventure and family. He and his wife, Trish, are celebrating their 25th anniversary with an Alaskan cruise. “I’m more of a beach bum,” he admitted. “But this one’s for her. She’s wanted it forever.”

Boards have always been part of his life, skateboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding, and someday surfing in Hawaii. Recently, he’s been eyeing foil boarding: “It looks insanely hard, but if I had the chance, I’d force myself to learn. Anything with a board strapped to my feet—I’m in.”

Family life these days means embracing the “empty nester” stage. Their son serves in the Navy, and their daughter is finishing college. “We joke that we’re empty nesters, but our daughter still comes and goes. It keeps life interesting.”

Music fuels his coding sessions, specifically EDM and dubstep. “It sounds funny, but heavy beats calm me down when I’m working. The older I get, the more I like it.”

Building Something That Lasts

After more than 25 years in software development, David has seen plenty of projects and companies come and go. What keeps him at Rōnin is the trust and support. “We don’t just throw people into the deep end. We mentor, we check in, we make sure people succeed. That’s different.”

Looking back on his six years, David is proud of the teams he’s helped grow and the projects he’s guided to completion. “It’s not just about writing code, it’s about building people, too.”