This is the third blog post in a series for the Online Capstone Project – CS 467 – at Oregon State University Ecampus, Fall 2022.

To me, the most important thing in life is to have a wide perspective, and I have built myself around this central value. Yes, it is important to have depth and to become an expert in something, but perspective is about breadth. Greater breadth allows you to see connections where others do not, and it allows you to see opportunities that others miss.

In my current life, I am a Computer Scientist and a Software Engineer. These are huge fields, and I view them from a broad lens. Computer Science spans from 1s and 0s at the bottom, up to sophisticated frameworks far above. I wouldn’t consider myself a Computer Scientist if all I knew was how to use a sophisticated framework. For me to feel accomplished in my field, I need to know the whole landscape from bottom to top.

In a previous life, I became a Geologist. Like Computer Science, Geology is also a huge field, and I needed to know the whole landscape (no pun intended). My major concentration was in Geophysics, while my personal research and thesis was in Geochemistry. Geophysics and Geochemistry are opposite ends of the spectrum in the broad field of Geology, which made these topics a natural pairing for me.

In both pursuits, as a Software Engineer and as a Geologist, I went out of my way to get the broadest possible view of the respective fields, and now that I have the minds of both, there has been a compounding effect on the perspective that I carry. The mind of a Geologist is primarily interpretive; it aims to tell a story. The mind of a Computer Scientist on the other hand is primarily algorithmic; it tries to describe an exact path. These modes of thought are the inverse of one another, which gives me an interesting perspective.

So far I have mentioned only academic examples, but my intersectional ambitions extend to all corners of my life. For example, when I worked in fine dining, I was a Kitchen Server, which is a position straddled between the front and back of house; think of it as the restaurant “midfielder”. When I played soccer, I was the literal midfielder! When I played football, I wanted to be tight end (cross between receiver and lineman), but my team didn’t use that position, so I settled for slot/inside receiver. I was a mid-weight wrestler, which meant that at practice I was equally likely to roll with a big guy or a little guy. I was even the middle child of three! Partially by fate, and partially by choice, I tend to find myself at the crossroad of every highway I travel.

The most interesting and profound knowledge exists at the intersection of topics. As my understanding of universal consilience grows, I feel a deeper connection with my existence. For this reason, I consider perspective to be the greatest asset, and my greatest labor is in its pursuit.