“The best way to get to know someone is to take the time to understand their journey.”
Where I am today all started as a kid when in 5th grade I got my first computer which was a Commodore 64. Never interested in stealing but in love with the puzzle of how things worked, in this case, how this new computer was able to control the AT&T phone exchanges. I used it to make free phone calls and to prank call the White House.
Unfortunately, not the wisest thing to do because back in the 80s, there was an unreasonable fear of hacking. Because of this obsession with my computers and the somewhat anti-social behaviour I was kept away from any computers until early adulthood.
I was kept busy with competitive swimming and became somewhat of a loner. I think by today’s standers, I may have been diagnosed with broad-spectrum autism. But at the time, it was classified as a learning disability.
Towards the end of high school, it became pretty clear that I was not naturally able to communicate or develop personal relationships similar to other teenagers.
Not wanting to be alone, I chose the most challenging career I could imagine that would force me to develop communication skills, and that was hairdressing.
Hairdressing was not my passion. Science, math and computers were, but I knew that I would find myself alone and lost in these fields. Happy with what I was doing but unable to communicate effectively with others.
Because of my attention to detail and need to find patterns in what I was doing, I became a very skilled hairdresser and started working with the best hairdressers in the world, Vidal Sassoon, Toni and Guy, Gram Webb, to name a few. My personality and personal skill soon followed; although I was pretty awkward for the first few years, nobody seemed to care as long as their hair looked good.
During this time is where I met my first wife and had kids, and develop several friendships.
After about five years of hairdressing, and because I now felt that I could communicate much better, I left and went to the University of Central Florida to study Chemistry.
Here is where I felt at home study Calculus, Physics and Chemistry. I love the research and the community. I also started getting involved with Linux and Programming again; all was good.
But eventually, I graduated and could not afford to stay. I had a family, responsibilities and started working in a Phosphate mine as a chemist and a laboratory technician, which I found incredibly dull.
Needing new challenges and have two very different skillsets, Chemistry and Hairdressing, I started my business specialing in hair color. At first, it was just me and eventually a salon and a team.
I enjoyed this and the challenges it brought, but I found myself programming the booking system, website, and server for fun.
My love of computers and programming from my childhood had never gone.
After more than 22 years working as a Chemist, Hairdresser, and business owner, I started studying and working with computers, drones and AI in 2012.
I didn’t go to school but instead sought out professors, industry leaders, and people technology community meetups and talked to them personally. I watched a lot of Youtube and read several scientific papers. Practice coding in python, c++, and javascript and revised my Linear Algebra and Calculus skills from my university days. I learned how to use Matlab, bash, vim, and several other tools. I did this because I had projects I wanted to work on.
This is where the fascination that I had with computers in 5th grade bring me to where I am today. When I find myself working with computers to control drones and teaching them to see. The main projects I work on are ArduPilot, OpenCV and Pytorch. To find out more please see my projects page.