Part of moving forward in a meaningful way (in any aspect of life) is taking the time to reflect on the past. When I was in college I (naively) thought that using a computer for every-day work would be immensely unsatisfying. Well, 20-year-old me didn’t have the right idea.

20-year-old me wasn’t dumb, he just didn’t have the right context; context usually comes with experience and exposure to the rest of the world. The one thing he was fortunate enough to do well was go with the flow. A big reason why I’m doing what I’m doing today is because I was (and continue to be) open to trying new things and to follow what I find interesting.

I’ve certainly had my fair share of challenges as I continue my journey from bench chemist to theoretical chemist to software/data engineer, but every day presents a learning opportunity and that’s something I’ve had to learn to appreciate.