What was your first computer?
I started playing with my friend’s Commodore 64 and Atari, but my first computer that my family owned was a PC with Intel 80286 CPU, 2MB of RAM, Monochrome screen and no mouse. This was after years — or at least what felt like years — of me asking my dad every day to buy me a computer.
How did you fall in love with technology, or at least realize you wanted to make tech your career?
My dad was a professor of electronics at a local university, so my love for technology was embedded from day one. However, it was only after playing all four games on the above computer became boring that I started coding and fell in love with it.
What is your favorite tech gadget?
Tech gadgets are one of the things I’m always excited about, but the main one is definitely my Pixel 3 XL. It’s amazing how much freedom, mobility and productivity can be squeezed in such a small device.
What book, blog or podcast do you recommend to others who want to advance in the tech industry?
For those looking to advance in tech leadership positions, “Managing Humans” by Michael Lopp is highly recommended.
What do you do when you are not at work?
Mostly spending time with family, cooking or trying to stay in shape at a local gym.
What is your favorite movie of all time?
“The Matrix” (1999) for sure
What is your guilty pleasure?
Eating lava cake after a really good steak. I’m not sure if it’s the combination of the two or it’s just that steakhouses make the best lava cakes, but for some reason, that’s when it tastes the best.
What’s a hidden talent few people know about you?
In third grade of elementary school, I enrolled in a musical elementary school in parallel with the classic elementary school. I have six years of education in playing guitar.
If you were a baseball player, what would be your walk-up music as you head to the plate?
This one got me thinking. There are so many songs out there, music for driving, music for focus, music for working out, but if I had to choose one and only one, I think I would go with “We Will Rock You” by Queen.
If you weren’t a CIO, what would you be?
Well, that’s easy, I would be a software developer. But, if the question was what I would do if I were not in IT? It would probably be something closer to electronics or really, any kind of research.
What was your first ever paid job?
Data entry. I was really fast on the keyboard as a kid, so I got paid to type other people’s books, documents or just do database entry. This was while I was still in high school.
Source: bizjournals.com
