21: Officially Adulting

21 Years in High Tech: Growing Up, All Over Again

This year feels symbolic for many reasons. I turned 44 — and, in a fitting twist of life’s humor — I also mark 21 years in the high-tech industry. It’s a milestone that feels a lot like turning 21 in life: you’re legally an adult, but you’re also aware that the real journey — the real growing up — is just beginning.

Twenty-one years ago, I took my first steps into a world that was fast, bold, and endlessly evolving. I could have never imagined where those first footsteps would lead.

Across four companies, I’ve built, learned, failed, pivoted, and grown. Each company wasn’t just a job — it was a chapter. Together, they tell the story of my second coming-of-age, one not marked by birthdays but by bold leaps, long nights, risk, resilience, and reinvention.

The Early Days: Learning to Walk

Like a 21-year-old fumbling through early adulthood, my early years in tech were about finding my footing. Every role felt monumental; every success, a small miracle; every mistake, a personal crisis. I learned the language of customers, teams, and technology — and, more importantly, the language of persistence.

The Middle Years: Owning My Space

As the years passed, I stopped just taking notes. I started raising my hand, challenging ideas, building teams, and shipping things that mattered. I wasn’t just following the map anymore — I was drawing new ones. These years taught me leadership, collaboration, and the quiet power of staying grounded when everything around you is moving fast.

The Recent Years: Becoming

Now, after two decades, I realize — much like a real 21-year-old adult — that there’s freedom in knowing who you are and where you stand. My 40s feel less about climbing and more about curating: curating projects, curating people, curating how I spend my time and where I place my energy.

Each of the four companies I’ve worked for gave me something lasting. The first taught me courage — the kind you find when stepping into the unknown. The second built my resilience, tested and strengthened through unexpected challenges. The third sparked innovation, pushing me to think bigger and bolder. And the fourth — the most recent — has placed me in a situation unlike anything I’ve experienced before, making me reflect deeply on what truly matters to me. These lessons weren’t handed to me; they were earned through late nights, uncertain launches, hard conversations, and hard-won victories.

The Road Ahead

Standing at the intersection of 44 years of life and 21 years of work, I find myself in a place of reflection — and of boldness. Just as turning 21 meant stepping into adulthood with a new sense of independence, finishing 21 years in tech gives me excitement to reimagine what’s next with the wisdom of experience.

This next chapter isn’t about chasing titles or adding more to the resume. It’s about creating space for things that matter — creativity, connection, impact, and yes, some bold decisions that honor everything I’ve built so far and everything I still want to become.

Here’s to the next evolution — a twist of its own, arriving at a time when stability is deeper than it’s ever been and choices are (yet again) entirely mine to make. But with that freedom comes a different kind of bravery: the courage to redefine what "success" means and to step forward, not by default, but by design.