In His Own Words

1. You have a University degree in Computer Science but did not immediately start working in the software industry. Was there a specific challenge which stood in your way?

Well, the first mistake I think I made was not narrowing my major down earlier in college. I was interested in physics, math, and computer science but it wasn't until 2nd year that I actualized my inner geek. If I had known earlier, I might have keyed in on the co-op program at the University of Victoria. A few of my classmates took advantage of it and I think it really helped them out long-term. And I don't think it helped that I graduated right around the time of the dot-com bubble bursting.

One of my aspirations for a career was to develop video games. By the time my schooling was coming to a close, I had a much better idea of what this would entail and how difficult an industry it would be to crack. Instead I went into the retail sector and moved into management. I was always a bit of a people person, even for a geek.

2. How do you think this other experience helps you at Hired Guns?

I learned a lot about what it takes to run a successful business. I learned about maintaining customer relations with strong service and support. I saw first-hand how a large organization had to make difficult decisions to ensure the long-term viability of the enterprise. I learned to manage my time well and to train and be trained.

I also learned that I didn't want to be a cog in a machine. I had too many ideas which could not be readily incorporated into the bureaucracy and infrastructure of a corporate behemoth. While toiling away in the maintenance of the greater machine, I was often daydreaming of new directions for marketing and promotion, how novel technology could be employed to make everything run smoother, and otherwise expecting too much.

3. You sound like you have a few ideas for what you want to work on coming up. Any tidbits you want to give us?

It is certainly true that I have quite a few ideas up my proverbial sleeve. It is not the idea itself but that idea's execution which leads to success. We are currently looking at ways to use social networks and utilities to substantially change the world we live in. We are exploring ways to make difficult tasks much more efficient for a broad range of clients. We are also working on better ways for technology to be leveraged by our clients to tackle challenges which would take significantly more time and energy using traditional approaches.

Our philosophy has been to bring the best technology not just to our own projects but to our clients, too.