"We are moving towards revolutionizing the field of security - in the communication of information, and also in the area of physical and logical access. This is about ensuring the safety of the entire world."

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Jimmy Kahn

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1978
Beng Computer Engineering

Concordia University, Montreal, 2002

Field of work

Information Security

Areas of interest outside work

Photography, philosophy, music composition

My father had been involved in the field of petroleum engineering since before I was born. At that point he was working for Shell International and the result was that he was stationed in a number of different places for a span of years. As a child I was lucky enough to be able to travel to over a dozen different countries before I was 11.

We finally settled in Canada when my father was stationed in Syria on a rotational basis and it was at that point that I started to develop an interest in science and technology. The truth is that I'd been fixated on computers from the day my parents bought our first computer (a SHARP MZ-80A) and that obsession just grew when we later got a Commodore 64. It's probably frightening that I spent hours as a child playing games with monochrome graphics and shrill beeps for sound effects. However, it was my obsession with computer games that gave me the incentive to find out how games were made.

Logo and BASIC were the two development language that I was exposed to early on. BASIC was also the language that helped me develop an intensely passionate hatred for using computers for any purpose other than playing games and using word perfect.

In high school I started to gain an interest in organic sciences and that lead me to pursue an associate's degree in health and environmental sciences. However, my interest in computers as an application development tool was growing again.

Since it was hardware that fascinated me so much I studied computer engineering in university. University was also the forum in which I developed a social consciousness and a need to actually express myself through some viable form of art. Engineering didn't allow much academic flexibility but I managed to take a few photography courses and found myself loving photography relatively quickly.

I'm not entirely sure if it was fortunate or unfortunate that photo editing software hit the mainstream market. However, it was not long after that I not only used computers for development, but also for graphic editing. Again, I think I'd been using computers to such a point that I started hating the sight of them. I suppose that was why I might have unconsciously decided to become an academic dilettante and spent more time taking philosophy and English literature courses than engineering courses. The result of that was a temporary interest in absurdist literature and a strong need to argue just to show off my critical thinking skills. A year and a half later I decided that I'd had enough of university and graduated from engineering.

Afterwards I was lucky enough to be able to join SchlumbergerSema as a developer for Smart Card applications in Montreal. I count myself as fortunate not because I have a job in a time of economic turbulence, but because here I can make a difference to the world. And I think that's always been the one interest that I've maintained through my entire life.