Nature vs Nurture

I didn't intend to become an engineer.  I had dreams of becoming a pilot (thanks to Top Gun) or a lawyer (thanks to my Gift of Gab).  But somehow my primary passion became to build things.

My parents were incredibly cheap when I was a kid.  I didn't get an allowance, I didn't get new clothes, and I didn't ever go to a Toys"R"Us.   This changed as I got older and my parents were unbelievably supportive (both emotionally and financially), but when I was younger we were poor.  It was that simple.  If we can't afford to pay our bills, then we can't afford to buy you stuff.  (Sadly, this mentality no longer exists in today's society.)

But regardless of how poor we were, I fondly remember my father always spending money on three things -- the home entertainment system, computers, and Legos.  Yes, Legos.  And not the plain ol' Legos you're thinking of, I'm talking about the awesome pneumatic Technic Legos.  New jeans?  No way.  New $100 Lego set?  Sure!

My father's passion for electronics was passed down to me through the constant investment in our home entertainment system.  As a result, I learned to appreciate technology at a young age.  I very quickly learned the advantages of digital media over analog media when we started switching from tapes to CDs and VHS to LaserDisc.  I also very quickly learned the power of a watt (pun slightly intended) when my father upgraded the stereo amplifiers.  It felt like my eyes and ears were being upgraded all the time.  Technology had a direct impact on my quality of life in a very noticeable way.  Unlike technologies like the "car" or the "dishwasher" which were taken for granted, the home entertainment system was in no way under-appreciated in my house.

Computers were also always readily available to me.  Since my father was employed at Motorola, he always brought home work computers.  At that time Motorola was actually building the CPUs for most of the Macs.  I believe this is why I always had access to Mac laptops, the latest accessories like LaserJet printers and SCSI CDROM drives, and the fastest 68K processors.

And of course, for some reason (still unclear to me to this day), I always had access to Legos.  My father was always willing to buy me the latest Lego set and I love him for that.  I'm not sure if he knew what he was doing at the time.  Why was he so willing to spend that kind of money on some toys?

It turns out that if you expose a child to a fancy home entertainment system, show them how to build cool stuff with Legos, then give them access to state-of-the-art computers, what you get is a kid who is unbelievably passionate about using technology to build things.  I couldn't stop and it was addicting to watch my inventions come to life.

A software engineer is born.

But how?  Environment and luck.  My parents provided me with the best environment they could.  They made the right decisions like buying me Legos instead of video games.  But a lot of it comes down to luck as well.  Had my father been a fishermen I'd probably be on boat somewhere right now.

The lesson here is that parents do have a strong influence on what their children become passionate about.  In my case it wasn't nature, it was nurture.