OokTech (Self Employed)

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to try my hand at a startup working with my brother. Our specific work varied over time, but our core interests always revolved around creating tools and experiences that center around the humans that use them. Whether its exploring AR and robotics or making a tool to keep people from touching their face during COVID, I want to use technology to give people opportunities to learn and improve their lives.

OokTech's Fate and Lessons Learned

Unfortunately COVID spelled the definitive end of OokTech, as our business relationships were unable to survive the changes that came with lockdown. However, I don't lament the change as it opened many opportunities for me to find new ways to grow. I learned many things from my business, such as:

• Self motivation
  • As one of two people, I had to work to keep the business alive. This imbued a very strong sense of ownership and responsibility in my work ever since.
• Project Management
  • I was responsible for planning, designing, and building every project.
  • Learning how to work with external stakeholders and effectively communicate requirements has been a core skill in my work.
  • I learned the importance of understanding what "knowns", "known unknowns", and "unknown unknowns" are when planning and executing a project.
• Literally every piece of "The Stack"
  • I designed circuits, laid out PCBs, and wrote software to interact with peripherals at the register level.
  • I learned to be comfortable in the middle of a thousand page microcontroller manual.
  • I designed applications on desktop, mobile, and web.
• Managing Customer Relationships
  • I was the company representative at major deployments, and traveled to ensure that their vision was being executed as planned.