manil chowdhury

↖ takes you up a level ↘ is a link on-site ↗ is a link off-site

finish International Baccalaureate ↗ Diploma Programme ↗. Grateful to have a scholarship, these schools are pricey x_x
start undergraduate program at the University of British Columbia ↗ (UBC). I learn that if transit is good enough, cars become optional.
earn money at HSBC ↗ for the summer. I learn that the financial services industry isn’t for me.

start working in IT at my uni’s business school ↗. Working hours are designed so I can do my job while doing courses (can work in the morning, go to class, return to work in the late evening), and my workplace is minutes from most of my classes. I learn that proximity matters.
start a social club, to discuss fun papers over drinks. It lasts barely a term.
finish undergraduate coursework ↘, continue as research assistant.
officially finish Bachelor’s degree at the University of British Columbia ↗ (UBC).
start working as a grant-funded researcher at what is now called BC Children’s Hospital ↗ Research Institute.

start a job with “software” in title. I learn that past jobs don’t look to different from “proper” programmer jobs.
make my first merge/pull request to open source project related to our stack at my workplace. Not a good experience. My team at work take me out for ramen to shrug off the feels.
welcomed into my first open-source software community. The folks of Node.js will always be in a special place for me.
recruited to InVision, joining a fellow Node.js contributor.
developer conferences take me places. Berlin is difficult to navigate at night, Tokyo isn’t.
first and last time I saw a llama.
fast trains in South Korea and Taiwan are fast.
COVID arrives. I learn that infosec is where I like spending time.

create an async book club for friends and family. It runs for a year. I learn that new members help make a group self-sustaining.
i now live in a city that’s the farthest north I’ve ever been, not counting flights that take me over the Pole.
doing computer science courses at an applied sciences organization. Considering certifications too.