Brandon Fahey studied history, not code—now he builds Workday apps that put people, not technology, at the center of every problem.
Emma Coppin
Multimedia Content Lead, Thought Leadership and Customer Stories
Workday
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“Most of the time, people don't think in technology,” says Brandon Fahey. “Which is great because I don't either.”
That worldview shapes how Fahey approaches his role as a Workday Architect at Commit Consulting, where he builds Workday Extend apps to solve business problems. He works with powerful tools daily, but for him, technology is the means, not the end.
"People have a problem. They want to solve it, right? They really don't care how it gets solved, so approaching an issue that isn't a technical issue without a technical lens is very important."
Fahey took an increasingly common path into tech: the so-called "accidental developer" who evolved into the discipline rather than training for it formally. But a unique backstory shapes his perspective as a people-first technologist—one whose notable projects include building a humanitarian relief app during a live crisis in just three days.
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Fahey has a master's degree in history, which gives him real appreciation for the journey. "My passion is about the story, the process to get there."
One course that stuck with him was Public History, where the focus shifted from macro historical events to their less-discussed personal and community impacts. "We knew World War II happened, right, but what happened during World War II in Decatur, Illinois? There's no battles, there's no war, but there are people who experience those things at a human level."
In tech, it's easy to get lost in the macro: the scale, the power of modern computing, the growing range of capabilities. Fahey treats all that as secondary to real people, their needs, and their lived experiences.
"Machines are here to serve us," he says, "so everything that we do is for the human side of things."
People are chaotic, as any history major can tell you. Life doesn't navigate tidily or predictably — not in any era, including this one, where AI is driving change at a dramatic pace. Fahey leans into that chaos, in his work and in himself.
"I'm like a Jackson Pollock painting," Fahey says. "It looks really chaotic, but somebody sees something in there…I like to run without a leash. I like to be able to be my best self. And I think that's what allows me to empathize, listen, and build."
The chaos extends from his workdays to his life at home, where he tries to keep up with an adventurous 3-year-old daughter and the chickens his family raises, among other things. It can be hectic, he admits, but he wouldn't trade it. "When I travel for work, I miss it."
That perspective is important. Used ineffectively, technology just adds another layer of chaos. Fahey prides himself on cutting through the complexity to meaningfully address problems, including some very heavy ones.
"I like to run without a leash. I like to be able to be my best self. And I think that's what allows me to empathize, listen, and build."
That balance of chaos and purpose was tested in early 2022. Fahey was working for an elevator company that had implemented Workday Extend just months earlier when Russia invaded Ukraine. The company's European HR team came to him with an urgent request: tracking mechanics and their families on the ground around Kyiv, in case evacuation became necessary.
Fahey and one colleague built the application in three days.
"We built a humanitarian relief application for those affected by the war in Ukraine for help when they needed it the most," he says. The tool let employees log their location, flag where family members might need to go, and note whether they were sheltering with others, giving the company a real-time picture of who needed help and where.
For his part, Fahey doesn't dress up the urgency. "At the end of the day, it's just a problem to figure out," he says. "There was a great humanitarian story behind it, but you had a target that you had to hit, and that's what we did."
"We built a humanitarian relief application for those affected by the war in Ukraine for help when they needed it the most."
Recognized in 2025 as a Workday Developer MVP, Fahey is quick to reframe individual credit as collective effort. Building solutions, in his view, is rarely a solo act.
"Everybody who is involved in building the car, from the designer to the shop foreman to the assembly line to the person who drives it off the assembly line, is building a car," he says. "Would all of them say that they’re a car builder? Maybe, maybe not, but it's all involved."
Fahey may not think of himself as a developer in the traditional sense. But he's fluent in something arguably more valuable: translating what people need into what technology can do.
"The people I work with would say my superpower is being able to make things relatable," he says — an increasingly vital strength in chaotic times.
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