Monkey Bikes and the Power of Having Good Stories

Only in the last few years have I realized that a good life is made of good stories. Don't get me wrong: accomplishments are nice. Having a great job title can be pretty cool too. Being rich is certainly not a terrible thing either. But I believe that most of those things come as a result of living a life full of good stories. If you've traveled South America on a Monkey Bike, swam with sharks, killed it at your local karaoke night, or had any other kind of interesting thing happen, you've put yourself in a good position for success in a few different ways. For one, you've got something to talk about at fancy dinner parties. Everyone loves to hear something interesting. Also, having good stories means you are living an interesting life, and that gives you a set of skills that helps to make you unique. Swam with sharks? Congratulations...you just learned how to be cool under pressure. Completed the Monkey Bike challenge? You learned self-reliance and perseverance. Killed it at karaoke? You put yourself out there and conquered your fears.

Monkey Bike racing is a thing. And its on my bucket list.

But having good stories is not just about having done awesome things. Its also about having done lots of different things. During my years in hospitality I worked with a guy who worked as an EMT in one of the more dangerous areas of Mexico. He also worked as a beekeeper. To this day he's the only beekeeper I've ever known. If I ever meet another beekeeper, my friend will be the only beekeeper I've ever known who's also been shot at. Anyway, those two jobs, and every other odd job he'd ever done, gave him the kind of personality and stories that were perfect for someone working in hospitality. Whatever actual skills he'd learned as a beekeeper probably didn't translate well to a career in hotels and resorts. Same with his EMT background, although being cool under pressure comes in handy when you work around large groups of drunk casino guests.

I've talked a bit about my background. I went to school to become a doctor but lost interest right before graduation. I moved to Japan after college and worked as a teacher for a few years. I then became a corporate trainer for one of the country's largest kids' english schools. When I decided to return to America I moved to Las Vegas and worked in hospitality for about 10 years. During that time I also started painting and did live shows where I put on some hiphop, put on a mask and painted in front of a small drunk crowd of tourists.

This was me about 17 years ago. Clearly I have a thing for dressing up in public.

But only recently did I ever come to appreciate the true value of those experiences and what they've done for me as a developer. My company is currently revamping its client training platform, and due to my time as a trainer I am uniquely qualified to teach RPA development to an international crowd. Speaking Japanese in Las Vegas has only been useful for my occasional trips to the local izakaya but a recent Forbes article highlighted the Japanese firm Softbank's US$300 million investment in RPA firm Automation Anywhere and discussed how Japan is making a big push to have RPA software assist its workforce. To paraphrase a favorite Tony Robbins quote, I'm not saying these things to impress you. I'm saying these things to impress upon you that everyone is in this same position to use his or her very unique background to make a difference somewhere. Only a couple of years ago I was lamenting all the time I'd spent learning Japanese because I'd thought it a waste and I'd never need it for anything else in my life. Sometimes the opportunity appears right in front of you, while other times one has to go out and make it happen. But either way, we all carry around a toolbox full of tools that we pick up in our lives. And even if you haven't needed a 9/16 wrench for anything to this day, someday having one will come in handy.

A few weeks ago Punchcode hosted its Demo Day, where students all present a capstone project that they'd worked on for the final 3 weeks of the course. My cohort was 5 people and we all worked together on our final project. The most recent graduating class was made of about 15 students and presented 5 projects, all of which were influenced by the developers' backgrounds and life experiences. Punchcode's newest cohort just started and is of a similar class size and diverse student background. I'm excited to see what they will come up with.

(On a side note I was shocked and extremely honored to hear that a lot of Punchcode students read my blog about my experiences at Punchcode. I'm glad I was able to share my journey with you and be helpful in some way. Thank you all for taking the time to read my words.)

So my advice to them - and to any other beginner developers who stumble across this blog - is to use your background and your stories to your advantage. You will encounter people who have been developing for almost their entire lives; people who have plotted their goal and managed each step along the way to take them right to it. And that can be very intimidating. However, I feel that there is a great strength in spying your goal and taking the tools you've built uniquely for yourself and charting that course towards it. Your experiences are valuable in the way that you use them to always keep getting better. You'll be surprised in the tech world just how important your non-tech skills are, as long as you know how to use them.