The term “A Hero's Journey” is inspired by the classic Joseph Campbell book called The Hero's Journey which charts the common journey that most mythical heros of human history go through in their stories.
But I'm just one guy, the hero of my journey, but not the hero of yours or anyone else's. Hence why I use the name “A Hero's Journey” to describe my personal journey, as this is just my story. I hope to inspire you to be the hero of your story too.
I've always had big dreams.
If you're reading this, I'd speculate that you can identify with that notion as well.
So, with ambitions as grand as mine (we'll get to that later), what you see today is just the beginning of what will be a big, impactful life. Here are some of the things I'm doing today':
Now let's go back to the beginning...
Pre-2015
Like many in my field, my early interest in programming came from video game development. I learned my first programming language at around 8 or 9 years old (Visual Basic) before getting into 2D and then 3D game development with Game Maker and Unreal Engine respectively.
Before long, I was in high school and found myself making a very ambitious game I called Wake Up Call, leading a team of 15-25 volunteer developers at any given time.
Our World Reveal Trailer ended up garnering nearly 40,000 views, and we rocketed up to the top ten on Steam Greenlight, getting greenlit in just 11 days (remember Steam Greenlight haha) with a whopping 80-20 favorability score (which was far better than the average 50-50 score).
But after 3 years of development, at the start of my second year of college, I realized that we just weren't making the progress we needed to make, and that Wake Up Call was far too ambitious for what resources I had available to me. So I moved on...
2016-Present
I found web development in college, and being a far more attainable and sensible career for where I live (Phoenix doesn't exactly have much of any game development scene), I started to pursue that.
Turns out, I enjoyed web application development quite a lot, and this was the start of a good career!
I got my first job at a local software company called Infusionsoft (rebranded to Keap while I was there), on the marketing web development team. Then, I moved to Choice Hotels, building A/B tests for their booking flow until transitioning to building anything and everything account management.
In August 2022, I left my job at Choice to take a sabbatical, and now I'm searching for the next opportunity that will propel me forward in my career ambitions to become a thriving engineering leader.
2021-Present
The last few years, I've found new passions that have lit a fire under me again: financial technology, crypto, creative/design tools, and personal growth software for example.
These past few years have also been full of a ton of personal development and growth in my life outside of work. I've lost 80 pounds, gained a new confidence in myself that I've literally never felt before, and that's just the external stuff. I write about this stuff as well in my newsletter.
Into the Future
My ambitions ultimately stem from the core desire to leave the world a better place than I found it.
To get there, I'm going to be building businesses, creating products and services that deliver real value to the economy, making money, and using that money to do incredible things. Rather than Lambos, Rolexes, and $100 million yachts (I get sea-sick anyways), I plan to use my wealth to impact my community through community development investing and high-impact philanthropy.
Money is a tool to power impact.
And I plan to be really good at using that tool. Maybe you'll want to join me?