Hi there👋 , my name is Tim and this will be my first post that touches the realm of blogging. My motivation for starting this blog is in hopes of it keeping me accountable as I venture through coding and upskill in Fullstack development. I'm not sure where this journey will take me 🛣️, but I have a lot on my mind and this seems like a good platform to share my ideas and expressions as I navigate closer to my goals. So, to start...
A Little bit about me
I am a San Diegan local who has lived in Southern California a majority of my childhood. I have always been fascinated in technology and have seen the maturity of tech grow from its early days of AOL and MSN Messenger
It was the 90's where all my fondly memories of tech took place. From my very first crush reply on MSN Messenger and throughout my high school days venturing the World of Azeroth. My love for tech continued to grow as I saw the tremendous impact it had in the community. Tech was booming, and I wanted to grow with it. It was this passion that pushed me in pursuing a career in the field. However, fast forward to my early freshman year, adulthood kicked in and for several reasons, I made the decision to join the United States Navy. As I was taking my General Ed., I realized how expensive this path would be, and financially, I was not in a position where I had many options. Being raised in a Filipino family, the Military and Healthcare are professions that are strongly tied in our culture, so it only felt right to not only continue that tradition but also obtain a debt free option to continue my education after my contract ended. So on August 2009, I flew a ✈️to Great Lakes, IL where I would train to be a Sailor and later as a Fire Controlman in the Advanced Electronic Computer Field.
This picture still puts chills down my spine...
And after 8 weeks of mental and physical challenges, I graduated.
I had not slept in over a day, hence my energetic smile 🥱
It was at this point I realized that I had a long road ahead of me before reaching my goals of entering into tech. But I want to stress that during those 6 years I met some of the most amazing people that I still call friends and family today. I got to explore different parts of the world where I met and experienced a variety of cultures and customs different from our own. And, It was during these years I grew as a person, where the Military taught me to be humble and to be grateful for what I had back at home. It also pressed leadership skills that were developed in the most stressful environments, where resources were often limited in supply(being on a ship for 6-10 months at a time at sea will do that).Speaking of supply...
Replenishment at sea, one of our more dangerous evolutions during deployment. My ship is on the right, below is a sneak peak of how tense it can get.
Most importantly, it was through our humanitarian efforts in Haiti's 2010 Massive Earthquake and our rescue and recovery operations of Hurricane Sandy in NY, NJ, where I saw how much impact a small community could have and still provide a large reach to communities in other parts of the world. It felt good to provide that help, but it also made me realize how much help the world needed and from where I was standing there was little help to go around. My 6 years in the Navy flew by at the blink of an eye and before you know it, it was time to get back into civilian life. The transition between the military and civilian life to be blunt, is downright hard. For 6 years all I knew was the military, every waking moment was planned out for me, my terminology only knew acronyms and none of them were relatable to the real world. This is all too common for transitioning veterans and I wish this process was better streamlined, but with like everything in the military your tossed into the deep end and learn to adapt.
Fortunately, my interest in tech was still high, the only difference was my "why". After experiencing the social impact we had in the military, I was still yearning to give more, only this time it would be in a different sector that had a larger reach. I wanted to be a part of tech where they mobilize a framework for good, where they put people at the heart of the business and focus on the outcomes of tech for social good rather than the mechanisms. And it was this "why" that carried me through my undergrad at the University of California, Irvine where I got my bachelors degree in Human Computer Interaction. Zot! Zot! Zot! Since graduating last year I have been investing my time learning the MERN stack environment. The goal for this blog is to hold myself accountable as I learn along the way, while also networking with a community that share the same interests in tech. If you have read this far thank you! Please don't be a stranger and reach out if you ever want to chat or work on something. My DM's are open. Till next time... 👋