Hello,
 
 

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My Story:​

I have always been fascinated by computers and video games. From an early age, I was exposed to games by my older brothers. Some of my fondest memories are of hanging out with them and their friends, watching these incredible experiences unfold. I was too young to play, but I was always watching and observing. At that age, it seemed like magic, captivating them and taking them through the entire spectrum of emotions.

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I would love to tell you the story of being a prodigy from that point on, absorbing everything about games and computers. However, that isn’t how my story unfolded.

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I cooked for a long time. Probably too long. I was never the best student, especially early on, and was told I was bad at math and science from an early age, which led me to believe that I wasn’t smart enough to chase the thing I really wanted, which was to be a programmer. So, I settled for another passion of mine: cooking. I didn’t hate cooking; in fact, it’s one of my favorite hobbies, and I am good at it. My confidence never wavered in a kitchen. However, the whole time, I wanted more but believed it just wasn’t in the cards for me; I wasn’t smart enough.

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Years later, through encouragement from my brothers, friends, and my partner, and with the world being on pause for a moment, I finally worked up the courage to try. I studied over the pandemic, absorbed everything I could, and tried to teach myself to be a programmer. I made some cool side projects, learned all the basics, and eventually worked up the courage to go to a boot camp. That armed me with a foundation and the confidence to take on bigger challenges.

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Some more time passed, the world began to reclaim some normalcy, and the break was over. Back to real life, in the kitchen. My brother Phillip saw that I wasn’t happy and pushed me to look at programming for video games. It made a ton of sense to combine two lifelong passions into a career.

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So, I enrolled in the Vancouver Film School's Programming for Games, Web, and Mobile course. It was an amazing adventure where I found out that not only am I smart enough to do the things I have always wanted to do, but I am also actually pretty good at some of it. I have a lot to learn from the industry to achieve the dreams I have for myself, but I am armed with the knowledge and finally have the confidence to achieve these goals. I am excited for the future and can’t wait to be a part of this amazing industry.

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Thanks for reading

- Tommy

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