When I was 9, my parents bought our first computer, a PC running Windows 3.1. I remember sitting down in front of the big clacky keyboard, grabbing the chunky mouse, and going straight to Control Panel. I explored every setting and option. Eventually, I discovered Minesweeper, but it’s telling that my first instinct was to peek under the hood.

A decade later, as an art and philosophy student at NYU, the art history department hired me to digitize their massive slide collection. By day, I meticulously removed microscopic scratches and hairs in Photoshop; by night, I built meme sites with Dreamweaver for fun.

I didn’t earn my first dollar from web design until almost a decade later. While working as an ESOL teacher and studying at seminary, when money was tight, a friend needed a website for a contract bid. I built him a clean, simple site, and he won the job.

For the next decade, I built websites as a side hustle, supplementing first my teacher salary, then my chaplain salary, as my wife and I started our family. Each late-night project brought new creative and technical challenges. I pored over forums and tutorials, learning as I went, expanding my skills into other domains of digital marketing.

There’s a quote tattooed on my right arm in ancient Greek. It’s commonly translated “What do you have that you did not receive?” I wake every day with gratitude, thankful that I get to show up to serve people I love and care about: my family, of course, and you.

Yes, you, dear reader. If I can do my best Mister Rogers and look straight into the camera: here we are, connecting through words pushed through pixels on a screen. You’ve just read a slice of my story. I hope it’s encouraged you. I’d love to hear yours.