An Origin Story: Who Am I? And Why Is That Relevant?
An Origin Story: Who Am I? And Why Is That Relevant?
Allow me to provide a bit of background for all future tech rants...
Well, I think we're all aware by this point, I'm Ron. A NZ born Samoan, Tuvalu and Chinese guy who works in tech (in a nutshell). And I think it's relevant because it helps to know who the person is saying a bunch of stuff in a newsletter and get an idea and some context around why they might look at the world a certain way, and say the things they might say.
I'm the second eldest in a family of five boys (no biological sisters). Both my parents immigrated from Samoa in the 70's. Dad worked as a land surveyor and Mum worked at the Post Office. Dad eventually went on to study to become a Presbyterian Minister at Knox College and dragged us down to Otago until he graduated after which we then headed off to Pleasant Point, South Canterbury for his first church assignment. We were the only Samoan family in a small farming town of about 1500 people, pretty much all palagi's (Pākehā). We spent 5 years behind enemy lines.. kidding, we all got along (eventually), and I actually look back fondly at that period in my life. After Pleasant Point, Dad accepted a new assignment in Glen Eden, West Auckland and we were off again. We went from an all palagi environment, to an almost all Pasifika one in a matter of months transitioning from the South Island to Auckland.
“The Coconet TV” did a short documentary about my family on their series about Pastor’s kids.
And Auckland is where we stayed until the end of high school.
When does this get to the tech part?
I wasn't a geek in high school. I never dreamed of a career in tech. I saw tech how most other people at the time saw tech- some kind of word processing, data entry, maths calculator activity that the nerds did while the kids who had lives were socialising. I played sports, I was in a band, and I hung out with people in real life. I was planning a career in the air force as a pilot right up until 7th form. But when a friend hacked my Dad's computer remotely while I was chatting with him that changed everything for me. After 7th form I went and (badly) attempted a BSc in CompSci at the University of Auckland and ended up dropping out. I then got my first tech role on the help desk of a small ISP in the city and over a 20 year period since then, transitioned to web development, then switched to applications support, then systems administration, unix engineering, cloud platform security and now solution architecture at a big tech firm.
So, why tech?
When my friend hacked my computer, he showed me his mastery of tech meant he had some level of control over things. When you're young and feel like you don't have a lot of control over your life, something like this opens your mind to a world where you don't have to ask permission to learn, to be curious and explore. I wasn't interested in academics nor was I going to be a professional sports person. And I wasn't part of an affluent social group. But I liked solving the technical puzzles other people couldn’t, or weren’t interested in solving. Puzzles that unlocked knowledge of things, how to build them, how to break them. Mastery of tech was power (and escape to be fair).
It also helped that the thing I got super interested in, became highly “in demand” and important as the years went on too.
In Summary
I grew up in a Samoan, Christian household in South Canterbury not fitting in there and then not fitting in, in the largest Polynesian city in the world either. Tech was a way to take some control and carve out my own path, where I would be accepted on the merits of my skill and ability to play the corporate game. My relationship with tech is really about how it empowers a person who doesn’t fit in, in the real world, to make their own way using resources available in the virtual world. And so when I read and think about tech- sure I geek out at the geeky stuff- but what I’m really interested in is how this virtual tech impacts real people in a real society* in real life.
Thanks for reading. I'll see you in the next episode.
Learning
Things I’m actively studying or learning this week…
Studying for the ‘AWS Certified Security - Speciality’ certificate.
Building
Things I’m building or working on this week…
Updating my blog to be searchable and add more docs.
Interesting Reads
Articles or other writing that stood out to me this week…
Community
Other projects in community I’m working on…
Pasifika Tech Education Charity - Providing Tech Learning Opportunities for the Pasifika Community.
Pasifika Tech Network - A Network for Pasifika Tech Professionals & Learners.