X Google, Microsoft, and Meta SWE/PM teaching technical interviews, C++, Python, Data Structures, Full Stack Development, SQL, JavaScript, and more

Learn more about Austin

• Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  Like many people, my first use of a computer was motivated by an urge to connect. They were a way to socialize, play, and learn. From there it evolved into a natural curiosity of what made them tick and what it actually looked like to build the technology I was using daily .

• What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  To date the great evolutions have been the internet (More specifically the HTTP/HTTPS protocols), mobile touchscreen based computing (think the first iPhone), wide-spread cost-effective computing (Chromebooks, low cost android, Raspberry PI's etc.), and the recent advent of generative AI
  
  The next pivot point is going to be widespread adoption of general AI, particularly where it applies to robotics. At that point we'll see huge shifts in transportation, employment, and education.

• Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  My professional experience and interest almost exclusively stems from my curiosity of how technology works. It's driven me to work across a range of companies (From small startups to the behemoths of Google and Meta) and technologies like Xbox, Google Maps, and Oculus.

• Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  'Visionaries' are just the public face of the geniuses that work behind the scenes (Although Zuck and Bill are both really nice, brilliant people in person).
  
  My role models are all people you would have never heard of. Past managers, founders of small companies, technical savants, and close friends.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  Learning Computer Science is more about learning how to be comfortable in ambiguity than pure memorization. I regularly worked with inventors of computer languages that would need to ask other engineers how particular things worked because of the speed with which the state of the art changes. In computer science you might be really really really good, but there are almost no absolute experts.

• What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "Computer Science is too complicated"?

  Imposter syndrome is *real* and it is more prevalent in computer science than almost any field. Realize that everyone experience it and feels like they're way in over their head at some point.

• What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  Building cool things, fitness, sailing and cruises, impulsive travel, my cat, being mediocre at snow boarding and surfing, impulsive decisions, nights out, and evenings in.

• What makes you a Superprof in Computer Science?

  I had a ton of support when I was developing in my career. This is a way for me to pay it forward. I genuinely love working with others to help them grow and most of the students I work with become my personal friends. We don't just work together - we laugh, share stories, and get over hurdles together.