I figured there is no better way to establish a presence in a new environment than to say, Hello World!
My Background
My journey in the world of computer science started at a young age. As a young child, I remember writing out BASIC programs from a book with my dad on a Timex Sinclair 1000 machine. It was a momentous day when my father got the 16k expansion memory box that plugged into the back of the small black box that was little more than a keyboard.
I drifted away from coding in the following years - relying more on programs and games you would install from a cassette tape or floppy disk. In high school I gravitated to science and engineering and learned Pascal. However, in college I moved into the physical sciences and earned a degree in chemical engineering.
After several years working in the environmental consulting and remediation field, I returned to school to earn an MBA in finance and accounting. However, it was there that I started moving back into the realm of computer science and coding. One of my professors was passionate about databases and believed it was a very important skill for business literacy. His belief proved out true for me as I started my new career in corporate finance building and running databases. It was a key driver of efficiency and quality.
Where I Am Now
Now, after 20 years in corporate finance and accounting, I am finding myself formally in an IT function as a product owner. I am entering my third career and I could not be more excited. With my engineering background, I have always been curious to learn how things work. In this era of AI, the opportunity to learn has never been greater. I firmly believe that to be a superior product owner and lead development vision, you need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with the toolsets.
What You Will See Here
My goal of posting on dev.to is to engage with the professionals who are driving innovation and to share what I have learned for others who may be on a similar path. I imagine there will be errors and simple concepts that I spend too much time explaining. However, I have found that there truly are no stupid questions. Sometimes we need to return to the basics and test ourselves against them. We should always be honestly fearless with ourselves and hold ourselves accountable to what we truly understand. That is authentic growth.
I will also make a commitment to you. While I will use AI to learn and to (likely extensively) help write code, the text prose you read will always be my own. I firmly believe in the writing process as a critical step in learning. Outsourcing human cognition is one of the great dangers of AI.
Let's enjoy the journey.
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