Story
Growing up in an environment that frowns upon self-expression, I was forced to teach myself everything I know about web design and development.
Back when I was fifteen years old, information was not as easily attainable as it is today. I scoured the internet for Photoshop tutorials. I downloaded websites to my computer so that I could play around with the source code — moving things here and there to see how it would affect the output. The computer gave my parents the illusion that I was doing school-work. I soon began to take small freelance jobs for local businesses, which helped to further develop my skills.
After I graduated from highschool, I finally let my parents know of my ambitions to become a professional web designer. Fearful of a path that was unfamiliar to them, they didn’t react how I hoped they would. They weren’t able to support my decision, and that meant I would have to work twice as hard to achieve my goals. I started working on my portfolio, and in a year I was able to land my first full-time job as a designer.
Over the last eleven years, I’ve worn a lot of different hats: Web Designer, UX Designer, Front-End Developer, Full-Stack Developer, Creative Director, Project Manager… I’ve taken every opportunity to learn and grow. I’m happy to say that I gained the full support of my family somewhere along the way.