The Proxy

This episode's guest Rahul Mehta, a jack of all trades and master of more than you would think. Rahul's background is colorful to say the least; he has dabbled in everything from nanomaterials to consumer product design, all while juggling a lucrative career in music production. His creative pursuits have lead him to work with Noble street studios, and collaborate with artists such as 21 Savage, Killy and Dizzee Rascal to name a few. We talk about his process of navigating a meandering career path, and what kind of cross discipline thinking you can use to bridge the gaps between industries.

This episode's guest is Richard Li, a mechanical engineer and designer, and my long time roommate. Richard's experience solving mechanical engineering problems has spanned from robotics, to cars and even boats,  with his most recent work bringing him to his third internship at Tesla. We talk about how to getting a foot in the door of mechanical design experience, what his various internships at Tesla were like, and the direction his career, along with the field of mechanical engineering is heading.

This episode's guest is Shak Lakhani. He is a founder and current CEO of the pharmaceutical tech company Avro Life Science, and long time friend of mine. Himself and his cofounders started their company while in their undergraduate studies here at the university of Waterloo, and they have since gone through Y-Combinator, become Thiel Fellows, and raise a two and a half million dollars of seed funding. We talk about how he took the leap of faith to drop out of school, what it cost him to take that chance, and what the future looks like for prospective founders in todays startup climate.

For episode 2, I am joined by co-host and editor of the show Nancy Choi and our guest Kristine Clarin as we talk about her journey in learning about the tech field from the perspective of an academically non-technical person. We chat about digital marketing, the role technology plays in creative business endeavors, and the misconceptions that people may have about "programmers" 

In episode 1, I bring a long time friend of mine Chris Carnduff onto the show to talk about his journey from working in development and moving towards a design and managerial focused career path. We go over the steps he took, the skills you need (and don't need!) and how to apply them to things other endeavors such as entrepreneurship. 

For episode 0, I talk with Ahrar Monsur who is a co-founder of Coffee N Code at the University of Waterloo. We chat about his background both academically and professionally, and how to straddle the gap that sometimes exists between the two. He tell us about his experience coming into his own as a "programmer" by trade, and how he found the true value in the work he is doing.