Preface
I've always been interested in the greatest positive impact technology can deliver. This questioning has led me to explore powerful tools, such as blockchain, which could decentralize consensus, or AI, which could bring about the next industrial revolution. Through these interests I've architected and managed an ERP software that now generates millions of dollars in revenue, as well as created a fully decentralized medical records system.
But I digress, let me tell you how I got to where I am today.
The Crash
Let's start in 2012, a not-so-glorious moment for yours truly. Here I am, without electricity, unable to pay my bills. Yeesh, what a mess... "Why did I decide to quit my master's?", I asked myself. Yet, I knew very well why I quit. I thought my master's would be different, not like my bachelor's in chemical engineering from McGill University. Something more exploratory, less constrictive, less prescribed, but well, it was the same, I couldn't take it anymore. On top of that during my master's, I was working at two bars and tutoring in university-level linear algebra. I was sending out resumés everywhere, but it was 2012, the economy hadn't recovered yet, I felt pretty hopeless to say the least.
L'échec cuisant
Dirty Hands, Wet Feet
One morning, I opened my emails and saw that a small ERP company, Jonar, wanted to meet with me. "What's an ERP?" I wondered. I went to Dorval, 2 km from Trudeau airport in Montreal (the office is no longer there, luckily), to meet with the CEO. We talked for hours about everything from consumer price inflation to Grapes of Wrath. I was excited, sounded like a fun place to work.
A few days later, they wrote to offer me a position, an unpaid internship... An unpaid internship to add to the two bars and tutoring... I said yes anyway. They asked me to create a prototype of a new analytical dashboard using Qlikview for sales analysis. I had never coded in my life, but I succeeded! Shortly after, they found me a position as a logistics and IT analyst at a client, a large apparel wholesaler called Haddad Brands. I spent six months there, but eventually, I was fired. It was a bitter failure.
ParagonERP
A few weeks later, I get a call from the CEO to ask what happened since he learned that I lost the job he found for me. I explain the situation to him... He offers me a position to become a project manager for his new software, Paragon. I'm speechless. I say yes. I'm eager to start, even though I have no idea where to begin with an ERP software, often recognized as the most complex software among all B2B software.
Two weeks later, I arrive at work, and on my first day, I learn that there are only a few technical documents, no mock-ups, no detailed design documents, and not a single line of code written. Back to despair, I think to myself, "How am I going to do this?" During the first week, I meet my teammates, all people with 30 years more experience than me. They are perplexed to see me assigned the task of guiding them in the development of this colossal project. Perplexed and somewhat hostile. "Oh boy," I think, but I have to try because the alternative is to live in the dark (literally).
So I try, I try, and gradually, I earn their respect. I manage to secure tens of thousands of dollars in NSERC grants to hire interns, and later on, I'm a key element in obtaining millions of dollars in SR&ED grants to build a full-time team. I learned JavaScript, became proficient in relational database architecture. I went from "Oh boy" to working 70 hours a week, and here I am, the CTO of a company that has tripled in size, with a development team of 10 people, working in Agile/Scrum (quite a challenge to convince some developers), and a prototype of a software that everyone believed was impossible to build. But I needed a break.
Jonar Labs
I traveled around the world, from Rio to Morocco and all the way to Senegal, with hundreds of destinations in between. Eventually, I made my way to Sarajevo, and from there, I took a flight from Paris to return to Montreal one year later. During my year-long break, I had plenty of time to reflect, plan the next step. Upon getting home I co-founded Jonar Labs the research lab that was the fruit of my wanderings and daydreams. I organized major blockchain events in Montreal, conducted workshops, and worked on various products, including a cash for crypto app in JavaScript/Node.js and most importantly, a fully decentralized medical records application on the blockchain using Go/Storj/Ethereum/Web3. I've always been a fan of impact, and for me there was no greater impact I could have than to improve the healthcare system. At the end of the medical records adventure however we've realized that there is enormous organizational resistance in the healthcare sector and that it's an uphill battle we can't keep fighting. I'm disappointed we couldn't get this product to market but we knew it was a moonshot and I come out of it stronger and more knowledgeable.
The Future
After all that, here I am, in search of my next adventure. I am not categorically tied to any specific type of work, as you can see, I've dabbled in a bit of everything. In terms of my technical skills, one could say I'm a jack of all trades but a master of none. My niche lies at the intersection of research, business, and technology.
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What matters most to me is having colleagues whom I appreciate and being in an environment where the values align with mine—curiosity, learning, innovation, idea development, collaboration, and fun.