"Growing up I was always fascinated by computers. The first computer we got at home was a Tandy that Mom bought secondhand from a co-worker at Fisher Controls. I used some early Apple computers at school, but that was more for scripted play and keyboarding exercises. When I was on my own, trying to figure out how to load games from a cassette deck, it made me realize that I needed to learn more about these mysterious wonders. [...]

Upon graduation it was time to go to the University of Iowa. I was undecided but had chosen to pursue actuarial science. Many people I respect had encouraged me to take a route more along the lines of my passion, like computer science, but I didn’t listen.

I didn’t think I wanted to write software. Well, one semester and one week into my freshman year, I walked out of a computer science lecture (required for actuaries) knowing in my soul that I was in the wrong major. I went to my advisor, changed to computer science and never looked back.

Twenty years later, I’m very lucky that I get to exercise my passion at my job with people who share the same love for computers and software that I do."