I am grateful to have been introduced to technology at an early age.
During my years at Kinderwood (Grades K-2) in Santa Clara, CA, and Oster Elementary School (Grades 2-5) in San Jose, CA, that’s when I first embarked on my technological journey. I started by learning to type on an Apple IIe which had painted key caps, making them unreadable. Poor hand positioning was met with a sharp smack of my teacher’s yard stick on the desk with the teacher loudly proclaiming: “Palms off the edge!!!” Needless to say, I learned to type pretty damn quick. It was here when I experienced my first video game. The memories of succumbing to dysentery in Oregon Trail still remain vivid, as do fumbling the 5.25" disk that were actually “floppy.” Although to this day, I’m unsure if I ever managed to beat Oregon Trail but it was because of this class I became interested in computers. Around this time that I was gifted a Nintendo Entertainment System, which would ignite my enduring passion for gaming and subsequently, a broader interest technology.
My after-school program at Rainbow of Knowledge stoked this gaming passion further, as I got the chance to play on platforms like the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. I became adept at deploying the “Konami code” which would enhance my gaming sessions. As I outgrew ‘Rainbow,’ I found solace just a few blocks away in Nickel City, which quickly became my second home.
Oh, those were the days!
During elementary and middle school, I explored a myriad of platforms and operating systems: Macintosh 68k and lest we forget, the elusive PowerPC. Windows NT, Atari, and even GameGear made the list. With a natural interest in programming, I dabbled with simple programming languages like PowerBASIC, TurboBASIC and with QuickBASIC, I could pose my own questions – and then supply my own answers – all within the confines of glorious Microsoft DOS. By the time high school rolled around, I had assembled my own computer, even coded my own website. When college rolled around, I acquired my fist Internet domain name which I’m happy to report, I still use to this day.
$ whois dogtoe.com
Domain Name: DOGTOE.COM
Registry Domain ID: 100135690_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.gandi.net
Registrar URL: http://www.gandi.net
Updated Date: 2022-11-04T17:15:11Z
Creation Date: 2003-07-06T06:17:18ZMy friends and I would often indulge in marathon gaming sessions, surviving solely on junk food and caffeinated beverages. We’d organize makeshift “try and lug your bulky desktop and heavy CRT monitor”-parties, deciding on the fly who got to host, sometimes scrambling for tables, network cables, and somehow making room for all the folding chairs. More formal “LAN parties” were sometimes set up in places like empty warehouses or vacant churches, while major ones were sponsored by gaming compnaies – quite a departure from our usual living room setups.
As time went by, my intense interest in gaming morphed into a fascination with programming. This pivot ultimately led to my first professional role at Synaptics as an Intranet Web Developer Intern. At the end of that year, I had concluded my 6-month Internship. But as fate would have it, there was an opening witin the IT Department, which I had fixated my “crosshairs” on. Out of 8 other candiates, I am grateful to have been chosen and been given the opportunity to build my IT career. Without the 8 years at Synaptics, I would not be the same person I am today.
