2018 GMVS Peaks Magazine

Riding The Tech Wave
16
Kenny Carruthers had one of the more memorable
graduation “gags” when he stepped to the lectern
on the Big Day in 1994. He said he had a few
comments to make, and then produced a ream
of computer paper, the kind with the perforated,
hole-punched edges that was used in printers
“back in the day.” He proceeded to let the paper
cascade from the lectern like a waterfall, as he
regaled the audience with, among other things,
the exact number of hours (days) he had racked
up riding in GMVS vans in the past year (it was
a big number).
In many ways, Kenny’s speech was a peek into
what made him tick, as well as where things
would go for him. His skill with numbers as well
as computers has directed his professional life,
as has his penchant for travel.
After a PG year at GMVS, Kenny majored in
Computer Science at Bishop’s University in
Quebec, and admits to being “…a terrible
student…not from drinking or partying, but rather
because I spent most of my time working on my
own projects rather than on my schoolwork.”
Kenny took advantage of one of these projects,
an email program called Postmaster, which won
a competition for programming and landed him
a job with a startup in Silicon Valley.
For the better part of five years, Kenny worked
at the forefront of the tech world, working as
a software developer with “some super smart
people, many of whom would go on to develop
the iPhone and Android.”
In 2005, however, Kenny felt the itch to travel.
And travel he did. He quit his job, ditched his
apartment, put what little was left in storage…
and booked a one-way ticket to London.
It was difficult to follow the itinerary he provided
from there, but suffice to say there is little of our
planet Kenny has not traversed over the past
decade. A highlight for him was an eight-month
overland (no planes) trek from Istanbul to Cape
Town, traversing the Middle East, Egypt, Sudan,
down the treacherous eastern coast of Africa,
all the way to Cape Town.
From there, he headed to the West Coast once
again, spending the better part of seven years
trundling between Lake Tahoe, San Francisco,
home in Canada, and finally landing in Whistler,
BC. He was still in the computer world, and
embarked, (with the help of fellow GMVS
alumnus Brandon Dyksterhouse), on a desktop
app called Fileloupe, a project which has been
his main focus for the past four plus years.
Still infected with the travel bug, Kenny has
“settled” in Thailand. First in Bangkok and now
in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Kenny is
immersed in his work on Fileloupe, and plans
on a new version release later this year.
https://www.fileloupe.com/