about me

Hello there! My name is James. With the help of various online books, videos & MOOC resources, I’m a self-taught programmer and currently working on OSSU’s curriculum for computer science. You can learn more about my journey on the blog section of this site.

my story/philosophy

After listening to a recent podcast, I was made aware of an obvious concept which I hadn’t yet thought too much about, what is “a Hero’s journey”? I realized then that I’ve always enjoyed success stories from either famous celebrities and entertainers to successful entrepreneurs and business people. Thinking of the struggles they must have faced and how they were able to overcome them has always fascinated me–yet I hadn’t questioned much about it. As I thought more, I realized we all have our own “Hero’s journey” of struggles and failures.

We seem to pay attention to those who are on the “top of their field' as the bar for success, and while there’s nothing wrong with it–perhaps it makes us lose sight of the process. After years of questioning “what I want to do”, I’ve finally found my answer or as least a life “philosophy”–that is, to set goals and strive for them. I believe it’s the process of overcoming these challenges that should be the focus.

Perhaps some of us may have had a head start and had recognized it much earlier than others–yet, I feel at it’s core, all of our stoires are the same wherever and whenever we are in life; We just need to persevere forward because this is our story and we are the author of our lives. As the speaker on that podcast goes on to say, that compared with our processions–we, ourselves, and our lives are the most important asset we have.

This blog is my story–it’s process and the continuum of my struggles, failures, and successes.

fun/funny facts

Around age 16, I was advised by my uncle to study programming. Sadly, my interest in the subject lacked passion at the time as it didn’t have a “cool” factor. In retrospect, I had the markings of a “computer science” student and had even spent my spare time building my own desktop computer. Instead, I majored in economics because I had thought opportunity cost was “cool”. :) And with a huge understading of opportuniy cost now, computer science finally feels “cool”.

I’m always open to connect unless you’re a bot looking to spam me, feel free to reach me on Linkedin or Email.