If you have a chance to speak to Bernard, you would probably get a sense of high optimism and vision for what could be and will be in the near future. His journey in life is a courageous one and often one that is also rebellious as the status quo would never seem enough nor compatible for this young lad.He started his professional life with a law degree but somehow along the journey towards becoming a practicing lawyer, he found himself bewildered by the possibilities of technology. That curiosity led to many thousands of countless hours reading and studying computers. Today, he brings that knowledge and technical skills to everything he does, from his role as a paralegal to helping businesses find technological solutions to solve some of their most pressing problems.

To me, success is having a meaningful impact on humanity. My whole life philosophy is build on a similar foundation to the ones advocated by entrepreneur and tech investor, Naval Ravikant. I would think I would have achieve success when I’m able to build something big that millions of people could utilize. As Naval Ravikant subtly puts it so eloquently, why do something small when you can do something big, both are hard problems either way.

Not any one individual person but more like the whole startup scene in Silicon Valley. I always find myself inspired by the work the people in the tech scene are doing and putting out to the world. Amazing brains like that of Apple, Steve Jobs, Tesla & SpaceX, Elon Musk or OpenAI, Sam Altman to employees of FAANG companies like Jonathan Ma are highly influential and hugely inspirational. Technology without a doubt has lifted millions out of poverty and changing the quality of lives of many. It’s a beautiful time in human history to be in.

My biggest obstacle in life was the steep learning curve I had to go through in my transition from a lawyer- to be to a self-taught programmer and software developer. For the first time in my life, I had to learn on how to learn without guidelines on where to start and the route map in general. Looking back, the infamous law school itself wasn’t as difficult due to a readily available curriculum in place. Today, the ability to learn has become an asset where I’m able to learn anything and everything. The ability to learn has also help in shifting my mind to the realm of free creativity and innovation.

As an avid reader of books, I usually gain insights and advices from the materials I read but the biggest most valuable piece of advice or more like life lessons are the ones I get from life itself. Life do humbles you.

What brings me joy is the knowledge that one could lift themselves up to a better place. I grew up in an average middle income home where both parents had to work and getting by was a difficult chore. This became a huge obstacle in pursuing higher education at one point in time. I had the abilities and potential, but there were people in my neighborhood who were smarter and better than me. Not everyone was lucky enough to score an opportunity for a scholarship to study at a great university. Reflecting back, it really wasn’t a big deal as knowledge and resources are aplenty if one knows where to look for them. Especially with the invention of the internet, one could learn anything. I am a byproduct of the internet age. Everything I’ve learn came from online resources on the worldwide web. Not limited by borders or language. I think if you would ask me 10 years back if I, would believe that I could program a software to do amazing things? I would brush it off as an impossibility as the domain of computers then was akin to rocket science to a majority of us. Today, via self-empowerment, I have the potential to build amazing things and impact the lives of many through my solutions. And the fun part, I feel like I'm just getting started, just beginning to tap into the potential that I developed. Not knowing the end point of my journey and still learning every single day. Maybe someday, I could be in Silicon Valley running my own tech firm. The potential is endless and the process of getting there, the growth gives me joy.