Cut the Small Talk with Doug Thide - From Tree Forts to Network Engineering

There is so much we don’t know about the genesis of someone’s work identity. That’s the case even with the people that we see - physically or virtually - on a daily basis. We can assume that our co-workers took a certain path to their profession - they had an interest, they went to school to pursue that interest, and they inevitably landed where they are now.

But there is such nuance that we miss when we assume. We miss the stories of how building tree forts was a bridge to building systems, how an under the table teaching gig formed the critical knowledge foundation for network engineering that would be vital for a life-long career, and how a fear of math almost led to a completely different career path.

In this episode, we follow the unfiltered career path of my friend and co-worker Douglas Thide - nuances and all.