My parents, and later the internet, taught me I could build anything.
I was five years old when I saw October Sky (1999) in theaters. It’s about a kid inspired by the launch of Sputnik, who takes up rocketry against his father’s wishes. He pursues his dream of becoming a NASA engineer.
I was enamored with rockets, and unlike Homer’s dad in the film, my dad bought me my first model rocket set. My parents started and ran a construction business for over 40 years. I think my dad enjoyed the rockets, too.
Opening my first model rocket set on Christmas morning
A diagram of a model rocket made by Estes
I wanted to understand every piece of that rocket. Why were there different body shapes? How were the model engines made? Could we make even bigger rockets? My dad, probably sometimes annoyed by me asking hundreds of questions, sparked my curiosity and encouraged me to tinker.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was going to be an engineer. This obsession with building things continued throughout my childhood. By third grade, I was spending most of my time on math and art. I loved drawing and painting.
You’d find video games at the top of my Christmas list every year. I’d escape down to our basement to boot up Windows on my Dell and play Myst, Lego Island, Age of Empires, and more. And don’t forget Pokémon on the Game Boy!
My childhood Dell back in 2001
Playing Game Boy, probably Pokemon
I had a love for technology and a desire to understand how it worked.
My early teenage years were spent on the internet. I was born and raised in rural Iowa; my town was tiny. My public school class had 32 students. There were no stoplights in the town, but many cornfields.
While I enjoyed some parts of my town, I didn’t mesh with many of the kids at my school. I quickly discovered the depths of internet forums and MSN conversations with kids from nearby schools. I played video games with a friend in Dallas and another in Boston almost every week.
Video game culture led me to online forums, which led me to photo editing for signature banners, which led me to video editing for highlight montages. I learned through shoddy online tutorials and by stumbling through software.
Most 10-year-olds aren’t buying thousand-dollar professional audio/video software, so I found ways to (ahem) completely legally download it to tinker.
I learned how to edit videos with Sony Vegas
After Effects was incredibly confusing at first but very powerful
Sony Vegas. Photoshop. After Effects. Illustrator. Cinema 4D. I had unlimited free time and plenty of creative ideas. I edited videos, designed t-shirts, and made graphics for online forums.
When I was 14, I convinced my mom to buy a bunch of computer parts so I could build my own computer. I had no idea what I was doing. I learned from strangers on the internet.
I’ve always loved learning. Because my high school didn’t have programming classes, I learned computer networking at a nearby college. I worked for a graphic design company to learn more about Illustrator and Photoshop. Then I decided to try to fulfill my childhood dream of becoming an engineer.
Iowa State University campus
Aerial view of the Iowa State campus
I went to Iowa State University to study computer engineering.
I learned to code with C and Java, then Python, and finally JavaScript. The web made me love software. Being able to quickly iterate and share websites with anyone was incredible.
During college, I had three internships: one doing automated regression testing, another working on aviation software (to fulfill my childhood dream), and finally web development.
I went deep on web development after graduating, working as a software engineer for five years. During the day, I learned how to build great software, and at night, I’d take what I learned and teach it online. I loved it.
In 2020, I got married to my beautiful wife.
I apparently told a funny joke during my vows
My wife and I with our wedding party
By 2020, I had created two courses on React and Next.js in my free time. That work led the team at Vercel to reach out about joining. My love for technology and desire to teach it became my career.
I worked at Vercel for five years (more on that here), helping teach millions of developers to build on the web. I worked remotely from Iowa, but was in San Francisco almost every month.
Me speaking at React Summit in Amsterdam
The Vercel team at Next.js Conf 2024
Then, in 2024, I became a father! What a blessing. Among many things, becoming a dad made me step back and think about my life priorities.
I loved coding and teaching people how to build software, but software itself was being disrupted by AI. So, after much deliberation, I joined Cursor to help developers learn to build software with AI.
The Cursor office in North Beach
Me speaking at OpenAI DevDay 2025
There’s still much work to do. I’m excited for the next decade of my career and to do my best to be a great husband and father.
Maybe I didn’t end up building rockets, but I’m damn proud to be an engineer. I’m incredibly grateful to my parents—and those strangers on the internet who showed me I could build anything.