I started programming 10 years ago this fall, and in many ways it’s shaped who I am today. But my future could have been totally different: I almost quit before I even started. My introduction to programming was a large “Intro to engineering” class of 200 undergrads at the University of Michigan. For the longest time, I thought I was the only one in my class who didn’t fully get it. I was so close to concluding that coding just wasn’t right for me. I’m so glad my 19-year-old self
Chief Technology Officer at Jopwell How did you get into technology? My interest in making things started when I was young. My mom’s an art teacher, so my brother and I were always working on different projects around the house. I played with an astounding amount of LEGOs and got super into origami at some point during middle school. It wasn’t until college that I learned about programming as a craft, where you can create stuff that is in itself an intellectually stimulating discipline and could also be a
What made you decide to work in tech? I remember watching films growing up where “hackers” were glamorised and I think that instilled an intrigue in me. However, I didn’t realise I wanted to build software until I started university and began to play around with iOS and Objective C. The joy I got when I first built something that lived on my phone hasn’t yet disappeared and I think that’s why I continue to do it. What was your perception of the tech industry before entering it, and what
Who are you and what do you do? I’m a web developer by day. I try to understand and get better at all things security. What made you decide to work in tech? My father taught math, mathematics was his thing. Back in 06, me and my sister really got into computers. My dad saw it as a viable option and got us a computer and a C++ book. Fast forward a few years, a friend of mine who was working in a php agency in New York asked me
What made you decide to work in tech? After several years of working as a structural engineer, I started to feel bored and unchallenged by the slow pace of construction projects. A project I might be working on would typically not finish for several years and most of my projects required the same types of calculations over and over. I wanted to work in an industry that was faster paced with more innovative technology and decided that that was the “tech” industry. What was an obstacle you faced and how did you overcome that obstacle?
Lead Mobile Developer at LegalShield http://forge42.com What made you decide to work in tech? I’ve always been drawn to programming, ever since I was 13. I remember I used to spend all my time reading as many programming books as I could to build my own games and simulations. This idea of being able to manipulate and create new experiences fascinated me. So I knew I would pursue some sort of engineering education. In high school, one of my teachers, Mr. Tom Guarino, always
Software Engineer Intern at Microsoft What made you decide to work in tech? Growing up, I played video games non-stop with my brothers and it always fascinated me how reality could be recreated virtually. As a kid, I remember telling myself that if I did not make the NBA as a pro athlete I wanted to be a programmer and be around computers and/or video game production. Nonetheless, I unexpectedly ended up in the tech field late in my college career. As I was going into my junior year as
You seem passionate about your job. Oh, yeah. I love Slack. Slack is the greatest place ever! I feel like when I am not at Slack anymore (I don’t see that happening anytime soon) this [will be] my last job in tech. I’m not going to go anywhere else. I don’t think it gets better than here. Why is that the case? The team here is great. People here are really good people. I’ve worked other places where the people I was working with weren’t real people. You know what I
iOS Software Development, Training, and Coaching So, what made you decide to work with technology? Well, I got interested in computer graphics. If it weren’t for computer graphics I probably wouldn’t be doing anything with computers. I’m one of these hybrid design/tech type people, and it all came together with computer graphics. It’s programming, it’s visual, you have to think about a range of things and they all have to come together otherwise you don’t really have a solution. How was your time at Apple? Apple was amazing.
How did you start, or what made you decide to work in tech? I was 7 and my mom got our first computer, and she was showing me the stuff she did at work because she was in combat plans at the Air Force so she used to have to use Basic to do stuff. When we moved to Alaska, the people at my school knew I liked computers and I was in the gifted program, so they said, “Here, we’re going to send you off to this thing down