Meet the Pixers is our blog series where we introduce you to the talented folks who make our company a success. Today, we’re featuring Jay Henry, our Director of Engineering.
Tell us a little bit about your background:
In 1984 my family purchased a new Apple IIc computer and after much pleading my parents bought me a copy of Apple Logo II for my 10th birthday a few months later for $200.00, a lot of money back then!
Logo is a language designed to introduce programming concepts, but more importantly for a 10 year old, it allows you to write programs that draw and generate images on the screen. Coupled with my love for mathematics, programming became my passion and ultimately my life’s work and vocation.
What is the last thing you watched on YouTube?
RSA ANIMATE: Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us
What is the best career advice you have ever received?
The best career advice I’ve received is that if you become an expert in anything, the job and money will follow, so you should become an expert in what you love to do.
Another great piece of advice for career and life in general comes from Will Wheaton, his “Wheaton’s Law”. I won’t repeat it here, but basically it can be boiled down to, “play nice”.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in their career?
The worst career advice I ever got was from someone who said they didn’t learn anything in their computer science major so I shouldn’t major in computer science. I ended up spending a lot of time not focusing on my passion in college before finally figuring it out and switching to scientific computing from biomedical engineering my final year. Fortunately I had taken enough computer science courses as electives previously for the switch to work out.
My career advice is to lean into what you are good at, make it your passion, and then become really, really good at it, if not the best.