Tracing back roots, a single question has been riding my coattails for longer than I can remember. Who (or what) am I? Maybe this is a question we’re all destined to endlessly ask ourselves, but I suppose, at least, this is a reasonable enough platform to try to start uncovering some answers.

From a young age, I found myself interested in technology and things. I spent much of my youth tinkering with various things. I’d take watches apart and rebuild them for no particular reason. These weren’t the complex mechanical watches from times gone past, but rather, their boring digital successor. Video games appealed to me, like most children, but they appealed to me more when I could hack (I use the word loosely) them. I was the kid selling cheat codes from a cheating device my parents got me for Christmas to other kids on the playground, for a dollar a piece. As the internet and I grew up together, this process bloomed into a more computer-focused interest. I spent a lot of time indirectly researching how and why computers worked the way they did. Before I could afford a Mac, when Macs were less common, I skinned my Windows based computer to resemble the Mac operating system. As time passed, this process of digital tinkering continued in new and different ways, further developing my technical skills, and, eventually kickstarted my career in tech.

However, despite my interest, and my abilities in tech, I couldn’t help but feel like there’s more for me to do with myself. Technology is great, but it’s all very temporary. Part of me wanted to do something that helps people on a deeper level than technology can, at least in the context that I’d been working with it.

In pursuit of this desire, I started University at Capilano in the fall of 2018 and I’m working on my Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Behaviour Analysis. I have yet to determine exactly what type of career I’m aiming towards at the end of all things, but I’m thinking of something leveraging psychology/behaviour and technology. Since I’ve been out of school for awhile, this is the first big step in my long term plan to turn my technological interests into something that provides real value to people.