Not everyone is prone to purely logical thinking. Afterall, we have amazing artists who’s main competencies tend towards the emotional and creative side. But some people do have a natural aptitude to logic – and this comes quite handy when programming

They all start in the same place: coding. Some discover it at a young age when exposed to computers and a natural curiosity about “how things work” awakens. The game of taking apart hardware and putting it back together is a lesson, and soon they move to software where virtually anything is possible (what a powerful idea). Many discover this passion when exposed to games…. and let’s face it: which kid doesn’t want to work in gaming? It’s what I do for fun! So much better than boring adult work, right?

Even though reality might be different down the line, the starting point is one and the same: the code. I once looked at a few lines of code; I felt stupid because I couldn’t understand it. And when the dev explained it to me like it as the most obvious thing ever, well then I felt like crying. How could someone be so passionate about something so complicated?

I was wrong. With time I came to understand that we humans are complicated. Tech is neither good or bad – that depends entirely on the user. Therefore it is neither complicated nor simple – it depends on the context. Life is so complicated by itself. That is a fact.

No matter the seniority of the tech professional that I interview I am always curious about one thing: “Why Tech”? Why did this person chose technology? Why did this person choose a career in a world that changes faster than we can keep up with? And where for each problem you solve a new one arises? Why live in a world of Zero’s and One’s? Afterall, that’s what code is: and infinite combination of zeroes and ones that mathematically create an algorithm to make something happen (granted – sometimes it’s a bug that happens – but it’s still something).

When I understood this, I understood “Why Tech?”. Who wouldn’t want to live in a world, where the answers to our problems are binary: either zero or one? That thought brings peace, a sense of security and empowerment, simply because you know the answer exists. You can answer a question. You can solve a problem. In face of the uncertainty of life – that thought and feeling is amazing; and when you use that knowledge to solve problems that help people, well then the real fun begins.

So that is “Why Tech?”. It is to help, to solve, knowing that the solution exists; it is a certainty in our uncertain world.