Who am I?

Who am I ?: I am truly a child of the Silicon Valley. My parents grew up here, both hailing from imigrant families in the 50s and 60s, they rooted themselves in various places in the Bay. I have been working in the tech industry since 2013 at the ripe age of 16. I have come a long way since then but by no means "know it all". I have only ever worked in the Information Technology space. I have dreams of becoming the best CTO in the world. Maybe one day I will get there. 

     I was very lucky to have a father that worked in the industry and even luckier that someone belived in him to teach him the trade in the early 90's. I have always been facinated by Tech and computer history. The day I saw our 90's PC hooked up to a 32inch Zenith CRT via S-video, I was changed forever. Something about that moment unlocked a wonder in me that has only grown in the following years. 

     Growing up I was always asking questions, much to my parents detriment,  "Why" was my favorite question of all. With each "why" I found that I could learn more and more about a topic until they were exhasuted from answering. It still was not enough. Then one day I found the best website of all time. Google.com. As Google's search engine improved, so did the answers I would find. This was not my source of all truth, but I learned to use it as a tool. I was always encouraged to explore and discover new things but always within the walled garden of my parents home. I wanted to know more about the world then just 10 feet down the sidewalk. (My parents belived in the art of sheltering). This developed a strong sense of curisoity and wonder about the world. I knew there were so many things to discover out there. I just had to get there. I had to be curious. 

     I was the kid on christmas that got a new toy and within the hour it was already taken apart, rarely put back together. This was never to disrespect the person who gave me the gift. It was an honor, something they had given me had intrested me so much I needed to know how it worked. I HAD to know. This trait continued into my teenage years. 

     In 2010 my dad would pick me up from school and take me to his work. I was 14 at the time. He was working in IT for a clinical research company. The company is long gone by now but it was the people there that left a lasting impact. Needing something to do I was given old PC's to play with and "projects" to do. My dad's cube sat next to an office, within it sat a man named Ken. I wanted an office of my own. Whatever it took, I was ready to work hard. My dad never wanted that for himself, It was a big mystery to me all my life. My father is a simple man who has achived great things but sadly downplays his own achievements. He wanted an uncomplicated life. As I have aged he became more man to me then a god. I see the humanity in him now. 

    My dad's boss was named Jim. He saw that I was comfortable with technology and not afraid to get my hands dirty. He would give me PC's to repair. I would try to get them working, because if I did, it meant I got to play video games instead of homework. I miss Windows XP.  A few years down the road, at a company called ELO Jim hired me as an intern. This was my first official IT role. Jim let me loose, showing me anything and everything. Why he let a kid like me touch critical network infrustructure I will never know. Boy did I break stuff. One time I shut down the Active Directory server while messing around in the server room. Some executives at the Japan office called at 2 Am their time wondering why they got kicked out of the system the day before a presentation. It was times like these that taught me it was okay to make mistakes. Yeah, someone may give you a nasty phone call, but life goes on. I look back on that job now and man was I a terrible tech. I cringe at my youthfull arrogance. Do not pay a 16 year old kid corporate levels of money, you will only stroke his ego. However, it was a start. An important one, the pains and trials that followed in my career challenged me and helped me become who I am today. So... Who am I? Hopefully this website helps answer that question. Let us learn together shall we?