I'm 17. I'm not sure what I want to do when I grow up. I like building things. I really like being part of a team. I like solving problems. Should I become an architect? In high school, I won a few art competitions. Art and fashion is so beautiful, should I go to art school?

This artistic, creative side of me led me to the very obvious path of training to become a spy. Yep, four years studying crime theory and sociology at a Jesuit university. Art and fashion gave way to being a good guy trying to catch the bad guys. And you know what? I loved it. I loved every second of it.

The first day of my internship I was handed a bulletproof vest. I barely took it off. It was such an exhilarating feeling. Even though I was sitting in the middle of an office complex behind a computer mapping data trying to discover patterns in drug trafficking in the Midwest, I was geared up for battle. I'll never forget the euphoria from being a part of something so dynamic.

Alas, good things don't last forever. I migrated back home and started a job at Xerox. A real paycheck! I was working on an insurance platform. It was my first taste of enterprise software. It was old, it was janky. But it worked! I realized I had this burgeoning interest in the intersection of enterprise productivity and the software provided to its employees.

But something was missing. I took a leap of faith. I started working for some start-ups for nothing. Free! Do you see a theme here? Every time I find something that gets my creative juices flowing, I can't get enough. I'm a passion junkie. These unpaid stints didn't come without any compensation.

I was dying to earn some experience with consumer technology and more specifically, design. Nights and weekends, spending time empathizing and creating with founders and users. Bridging the gap. Creating value with design. Building things. Being part of a team. Solving problems. I was absolutely hooked. After some time, I started throwing my name in the enterprise hat. I had experience in niche insurance products as well as a knack for design, which leads me to today.

Now I'm designing enterprise solutions for America's largest publically traded insurance company. Did I fulfill my original dream of being a spy? Not necessarily. But more often than not I feel that spirit of being back in my bulletproof vest.

How does this feed into my design philosophy? Just start. I never planned this career path. It's far from a linear path. But it worked. I've traveled the States studying users. I've traveled the globe building products.