I recently watched a short clip on YouTube that asked a powerful question:
"What is your why?"
Why do you do what you do professionally?
What motivates you?
What do you take pride in?
The person in the video framed their "why" around community service and the desire to make the world a better place. It was inspiring—but it also got me thinking. My answer isn’t quite the same.
If I’m honest, my "why" has always been rooted in curiosity and the drive to keep learning. Not just reading a blog post here or there, but truly digging into systems, building things, breaking them, and pushing concepts until they click—and sometimes until they surprise me.
When I look back, curiosity has always been my default mode. As a kid, I played with AI chatbots like Dr. Sbaitso on a Packard Bell. In high school, I wrote little Visual Basic tools just to see what I could automate. These weren’t school projects—they were just what I did for fun.
That same mindset still drives me today. Whether I’m:
- Orchestrating controlled Kubernetes deployments with emoji-annotated logs 🧙♂️🚀,
- Automating backup pipelines using Python and Parquet,
- Tinkering with LoRa radios, AI bots, or home automation on Proxmox…
…I'm not chasing titles or accolades. I’m chasing the edge of what I don’t yet understand.
There’s a certain pride in turning vague, ambiguous ideas into something real—something that works. I’ve learned that if you can:
- Name the problem clearly,
- Build a prototype,
- Then refine it with empathy for how others might use it…
…you’ve done more than solve something. You’ve created leverage. That’s where the craft comes in for me.
This reflection reminded me of an interview I watched featuring Jonathan Kern, CPA—also known as "Dr. Debit"—conducted by Dan Toomey. Kern, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, brings an infectious energy to teaching accounting. In the interview, he shared how he engages students by bringing enthusiasm and creativity into the classroom, even incorporating singing and dancing into lessons. He emphasized that while accounting might not always be "fun," it can be deeply meaningful and rewarding when approached with passion and purpose.
Kern's approach resonated with me. It highlighted how aligning one's work with personal passion and curiosity can transform not only one's own experience but also inspire others.
While I’m not driven solely by a desire to “serve community,” I’ve noticed that my work often empowers others anyway—whether it’s:
- Helping someone secure a laptop from malware,
- Writing posts to help engineers understand technical concepts more clearly,
- Or open-sourcing tools and scripts that simplify hard problems.
I like making tech more humane, expressive, and approachable—even if it's just by adding a ✨ or a 🚀 to the log output.
I build and explore because I have to—because that curiosity never shuts off.
I take pride in understanding deeply, building thoughtfully, and sharing generously.
And I hope that in doing so, I help others feel just a little more capable in their own work.
That’s my why. What’s yours?
Thanks for reading.
If any of this resonates with you, drop me a note. Or go build something weird and wonderful. 💡🔧