What are you working on right now?

This summer I’ve been at OpenAI, working on agents. The first main agent we launched was the ChatGPT Agent — it grew out of the Operator and Deep Research teams merging. The goal was a general-purpose agent: something that can research for you, create artifacts like slideshows and spreadsheets, but also act on the browser. I’ve been focused on that project this summer.

What were you doing before OpenAI?

I go to the University of Waterloo for CS, but my path there was anything but straight. I was originally on the pre-med track, then realized I didn’t actually like biology. I’d always loved math competitions and a friend convinced me to try a CS class. I switched my major to CS, but I couldn’t land a job at first — so I worked as a janitor to pay tuition.

Eventually, I stumbled into an incubator in Toronto and met a founder who needed help. I became his first hire, unpaid. That was my first “real” experience. From there I worked at mid-stage startups, then later-stage companies like Verkada, before applying to OpenAI last fall. That application turned into this opportunity.

Why take that first unpaid startup role?

It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: you need a job to get a job. At that point, I had to put my ego aside. Whether through projects or unpaid work, I needed real experience to land something bigger.

That startup was scrappy — I was the only technical person, building the entire app. It was intimidating, but I learned more there than I could have imagined. That experience gave me the leverage to move into Silicon Valley roles.

How did you actually teach yourself to code?

At first, I tried the Udemy approach, but I don’t learn well from lectures or being told what to do. What really worked was getting my hands dirty: following YouTube tutorials, taking public repos from GitHub, breaking them, and figuring out why things worked or didn’t.

Eventually, coding tools like Cursor and ChatGPT got good enough that they accelerated my learning even more. Today I’d tell beginners: don’t overthink it, just start building and use AI tools to shorten the learning curve.

What’s been the most exciting part of OpenAI?

Even though OpenAI is scaling fast, my team still feels like a startup. I joined right as the team was forming, so we move at a high pace. People here have a lot of autonomy and ownership.

And you’re literally at the center of the future — building on the cutting edge, surrounded by people thinking about where AI is headed. That’s what makes it so exciting.

Do you see yourself founding something?

Definitely. I actually tried starting a company in college with friends from the MSA. It went really well until it didn’t. I’ve always been entrepreneurial — I tried dropshipping, a clothing line, all sorts of side hustles. None of them worked out, but I know I’ll try again.

What advice would you give to someone trying to break into a company like OpenAI?

Work at startups. OpenAI values people who move fast, work on impactful things, and take ownership — that startup DNA.

If you’re just starting out, two tactics helped me:

1. Show up locally. Incubators, founder meetups — pitch yourself in person. That’s how I got my first unpaid role.

2. Cold outreach. Tools like Apollo are underrated. Cold emailing recruiters or hiring managers actually works.

Put your ego aside, get experience however you can, and let that be your way in.

Where do you find inspiration?

Mostly family. I moved to Canada at ten, didn’t know the language, and my dad left when I was young. My mom raised me and my sisters alone — she’s the hardest worker I know.

Whenever I think about slacking, I remember there are people in the world with far fewer opportunities. That sense of responsibility — to take the position I’m in and push the future forward — keeps me hungry.

What excites you most about tech right now?

I think agents will fundamentally change how people use computers. Maybe kids born today won’t even touch a browser. They’ll interact with computers entirely through agents. With multi-agent protocols (like MCP), you won’t have to surf the web yourself - you’ll just ask, and the agent does it for you. That shift is what excites me most.

What do you wish someone told you when you were starting out?

Don’t get caught up in comparing yourself to others. Waterloo, Reddit, CS Discords - it’s easy to feel behind. The biggest progress I made was when I stayed heads down, surrounded myself with good friends, and focused only on what I could control.

Find your group, push each other, and block out the noise.