There’s a book called Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned that my friend Matt Mazur recently tweeted about. He wrote:
“It’s a risky strategy because the most likely outcome is you explore and discover nothing, but you’re far more likely to discover something novel this way than with a typical objective-based approach. Put another way, I believe the most important AI products in 2030 will be built by people who are spending a lot of time tinkering today, not by people focused on building slightly better versions of existing products with AI features bolted on.”
— Matt Mazur
He was talking about his work at EmergentMind, but it resonated with me for another reason: most of the turning points in my career weren’t part of a five-year plan (with one exception). They mostly came from tinkering, unfinished projects, and being “accidentally ready” at the right moment. This series is about some of those arcs, and learning how to let those experiences breathe. I’m calling it The Accidental Path. Each post will dive into a different thread of my career and what it taught me.
- The Origin Story
How early Internet access, QBasic tinkering, and a WebMonkey article led me from curiosity to my first real programming gigs. Leverage comes from curiosity and persistence, not credentials. - Community, DevRel, and Speaking
From Dreamweaver forums to MXInsite magazine, ONETUG, and writing books — how community work opened unexpected doors. Communities multiply your opportunities. - Game Development
From QBasic hacks and GameDev.net forums, to EA Tiburon and Xbox Live Indie Games. And why leaving the industry mattered as much as entering it. Not every passion becomes your career — and that’s okay. - Docs and Static Site Generators
The quick hack I built for a job interview that ended up powering Xamarin Docs, Microsoft Learn, and eventually my own blog today. Half-finished tools can cast a very long shadow. - AI and Readiness
Why a MOOC, dabbling in R, and a love of F# primed me for the AI wave years later. Sometimes, readiness matters more than mastery.
None of these arcs were planned. Each move felt somewhat insignificant at the time — a hack, a forum post, a chance meeting. But looking back, they connect. They compound. They built the foundation for everything I’ve done since.