I got my start in high school, with a somewhat brutal introduction to coding via Java. Luckily, the next year we used Python, and I was hooked. We were handed Raspberry Pis, kicking off my interest in hardware as well. I started my undergrad at the University of Toronto, picking up C and C++ in software project, and discovering Verilog through hardware courses. Eventually I took these skills to a research position working on compression algorithms for FPGAs, and a year-long internship working on security at Red Hat.
All the while, I kept coding outside the classroom. I started off small: a (somewhat broken) physics program for the TI-84, a patch for a
Reddit moderation bot. Then came my first big project: XKCDAltTextBot,
a script that brought the follow-up joke of the popular webcomic to Twitter. I dove into the challenge, even
refusing to use Tweepy so that I could learn the API calls myself. More than a test of skill, it become one of my most
popular projects, and I kept improving it for the next 3 years, until API changes forced me to shut the app down.
Since then, I've continued to experiment. I joined UTAT and wrote software for microcontrollers, eventually becoming the Firmware system lead. I contributed to numerous projects while gaining experience at Red Hat, and even got my RHCSA certification. Of course, I kept learning new things like Rust, GraphQL, and JavaScript as I went.
Complete shocker. I follow new technology, and experiment with unique or interesting stuff. Whether it's trying to create a breadboard circuit, or patching a bug myself, I prefer to get hands-on. I also like to discover how gadgets work, and sometimes that means taking apart and putting it back together well enough. And occasionally I like writing, which is why this is the 4th paragraph so far.
I also love communities. I spent years as a moderator of the Google Pixel and Android subreddits, and was a regular in the mailing lists and on Stack Overflow at Red Hat. I've also led a mix of teams and volunteered at various events.
It's not just computer mice and phones that I like to take apart — I'm a huge fan of design and learning about the decisions behind the physical and social world. I also enjoy outdoor sports like cycling, skiing, and kayaking.