My Story
The Spark
Why does it rain? What is electricity? How does the human body work? What makes a computer tick? These are the kind of questions that occupied my mind as a young child. One of my earliest memories illustrates this rather well. It was my 5th birthday. I was at Chuck-E-Cheese opening my presents at one of their tables. All of the gifts I received have been lost to the annals of my memory. That is, all except one. I will never forget unwrapping my first video game, The Magic School Bus: Exploring the Human Body. I was so excited, that I ran around every table showing off my new game. I even did so with complete strangers. I could not contain my excitement. I absolutely loved that entire franchise. My mother would borrow the books from the library and read them to me at night. I watched the TV show more often than any other program. There was nothing I found more enjoyable than learning about the world around me. Every revelation was awe-inspiring to me. It is no surprise that my teachers often described science as my strongest subject year after year. My standardized test scores often reflected this as well. Doctor, archaeologist, astronomer, and astronaut were all on the table as future career aspirations. When my father introduced me to Star Trek, my love all things science deepened even further. I also discovered a burgeoning interest in astronomy, astrophysics, and aerospace engineering. But it was the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic that served as the paradigm shift in my life that would set me on the path I find myself on today.
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The Flame
On another one of my birthdays in the following decade, I was turning 11. My father had bought me my very first AAA video game and RPG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I wasn't sure what to make of it at the time, but unbeknownst to me, that game would become one of my all-time favorite experiences. A whole new world was opened up to me in more ways than one. It was not long after this that my father also bought me my own PC so that I could play my games without impacting the PC my parents used for work. While I had already been messing around with computer hardware and software for a long time, the impetus to customize, modify, and maintain my own system for gaming led me to realize that I really enjoyed it. Eventually, I was buying my own parts, building PCs, installing Windows, and keeping my system in shape on my own without assistance. As an upperclassmen in high school, I created my own tech support business as an expression of this passion. In time, this hobby drove a deeper desire to understand how computers work at the fundamental level and even design them one day. As high school came to a close, I found myself on the way to the University of Cincinnati to study Computer Engineering. Unfortunately, my experience at college was more abrasive than I expected. It took me a long time to get to where I am now. There were several intervening years where I leveraged my knowledge of computer systems to get CompTIA A+ certification for professional work. I provided remote tech support to US government offices in for a help desk call center. By the fall of 2020, I was once again on the path to graduation as a full-time student. I finally graduated in December of 2021 with my degree in Electrical Engineering Technology with coursework on the Computer Engineering Technology path.
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The Blaze
With my undergraduate education behind me, I have my eyes set on the future. I have grown and changed so much over the past decade. Should I have the opportunity, there is so much I want do with the skills I have gained. Over the years, video games have left such a significant impact on me that it would be my genuine pleasure to create them for others. I have come up with many ideas for several different genres. Also, I have not forgotten why I started down this path. I want to have a strong presence in the computer hardware development industry, particularly when the industry is in the current predicament of insufficient computer chip production capacity and diminishing returns with silicon chips. One day, I would like to have my own business in one or all of these fields. Regardless of where I end up, all I want for my life is to know that I contributed more towards a better world; a world that is easier for others to spend their short time on this earth with as much joy as they can find for themselves. If I can say that at the end of my life, then it will matter little which path I ultimately go down.