Career

Back when mobile payments were still in their infancy—long before Apple Pay became a household name—I found myself captivated by the possibilities of NFC technology. As a grad student at Dalhousie University, I started tinkering with NFC and co-founded a small startup called Alfred NFC, where we experimented with peer-to-peer transactions. That was my first real taste of what would become a lifelong fascination with secure technology ecosystems. As graduation approached and the reality set in that Alfred NFC wouldn’t become the next big thing, I faced a crossroads. I applied to countless Canadian companies and banks for NFC-related work—anything that would let me stay in this space I was so passionate about. But the callbacks never came. So I pivoted: I interviewed for several Java developer roles and received multiple offers. It was a safe, predictable path forward. ...