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Q: What is the hardest part about your job?<br />
A: I don’t think there is one single hardest thing, and I’ll probably give a different answer to<br />
this depending on when you ask me. Right now, one of the hardest things for me is figuring<br />
out what we should be doing that will be the most useful and have the biggest impact. As a<br />
small company we can only do so much at once, so we want to make the most of our limited<br />
resources.<br />
Q: To what do you attribute your success?<br />
A: I was very fortunate to have the pieces that would give someone good odds of success. My<br />
parents helped and encouraged me. I was interested in learning. I spent a lot of time practicing<br />
the skills that I use today. My parents bought a Mac rather than a PC when I was little.<br />
That may seem insignificant now, but Apple had been the underdog up until I graduated from<br />
college. Having lots of programming experience on a Mac suddenly became very valuable. It’s<br />
difficult to point to specific things. The world is complicated, so the best you can do is prepare<br />
yourself as well as you can and keep an eye out for opportunities.<br />
Q: What are you most proud of?<br />
A: I’ve always wanted to be able to make something that others can use and enjoy. While it’s<br />
fun to write code and build something that I want myself, it’s even better to release it to the<br />
world and find out there are others out there that like it. In high school and college I enjoyed<br />
receiving emails from strangers who appreciated the software I wrote, and it still feels good to<br />
get those now. It’s great to be getting on an airplane or standing on the subway and see someone<br />
using the app that we made — both of which have happened. It’s one thing to know in<br />
your mind that people find our apps useful; it’s even better to see it in person.<br />
Q: What did you want to be when you were in high school?<br />
A: I loved working with computers and I’d started to learn programming then. I spent way too<br />
much time in front of a computer in high school, and I still do now. Making apps is a universal<br />
term now, but that’s what I was starting to do in a limited fashion back then.<br />
Q: Have you seen yourself change a lot since then?<br />
A: I’m close to the same person that I was in high school, although I’d like to think I’ve gained<br />
a lot of experience and made myself a better person since then.<br />
Q: How did <strong>MPH</strong> contribute to your success?<br />
A: At <strong>MPH</strong> I had the opportunity to take computer science and math courses that wouldn’t be<br />
offered elsewhere. Those courses, combined with programming I did on my own, made it possible<br />
for me to take more interesting courses once I got to college. In my second year I was able<br />
to take higher level courses that would normally have to wait until the third or fourth year,<br />
which really helped me go deeper into what interested me. <strong>MPH</strong> also gave me a great group of<br />
friends that I still have today, despite us being scattered across the country.<br />
Q: What advice do you have for <strong>MPH</strong> students?<br />
A: Take advantage of the opportunity to try ideas that may seem far-fetched or ridiculous.<br />
Even if you come up with some idea that seems too complicated or too difficult to make work,<br />
see if you can get something started. Crazy ideas have a way of growing legs, especially at<br />
<strong>MPH</strong>.<br />
winter 2017 | 9