What’s Happening Now

Mar 2022

I’m back at Rethink but this time as a design mentor. Julie and Aniruddha have been instrumental in my career. The least I can do is give back to the community by contributing some of my time and hopefully provide the same opportunity that I’ve been given.

Nov 2021

After taking a much needed break from my career, it was time to get into to it…

Purpose and people – those were the two things I carefully analyzed while going for interviews. Being a designer isn’t just a job for me. I have to know I’m contributing for the greater good and that I’m working with amazing people along the way. I’m so lucky to find both at HiMama, a tech platform for early childhood education programs. What were the odds of landing at a childcare app company after taking some time to focus on my child?

I want to give a special shoutout to Julie and Aniruddha at Rethink for the guidance and wisdom!

Jul 2021

With the success of leading product and people integration at Paycor, I’ve decided to take some time off to spend it with my family. Nothing lined up, no prospects even. While raising a child and navigating this Covid world, I realized what truly matters in life. Now that our little one is starting to become her own person, and things are slowly opening up again, I want to be there with her – picking up dried leaves, stacking rocks, watching people walk by, all of the little things.

It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity that I don’t want to miss out, and hopefully I get to make fun memories with her as she grows day by day. I don’t know when I’ll get back but for now my career is taking a back seat.

May 2021

After leading the integration of 7Geese’s OKR feature into the Paycor ecosystem, I took on the role of a manager to help the designers transition into our new cross-functional teams. We also joined the bigger design team at Paycor, which we brought in some of our design ops and practices that still worked at that scale. Lastly, I was also able to make my first hire during my first month as a design manager.

I’ve joined the Rethink design community to look for a mentor to guide me through this transition. I was lucky enough to be paired with Aniruddha Kadam, who brings in a wealth of experience as a designer manager at LinkedIn.

Mar 2021

Just wrapped the first Youth in Tech mentorship program with ISS of BC. In the past 6 weeks, I had the privilege to mentor two dev students from CodeCore and Douglas College. It was such a humbling experience to share my knowledge and background with my mentees. Through their stories, I was also able to reflect and realize how organizations like ISS of BC play a big part in supporting immigrant youths to launch their careers.

Sep 2020

7Geese, the startup I’ve been with for the past 3+ years, has been acquired by Paycor, a US-based HCM company. It's been such an incredible journey to be a part of and I’m extremely proud what our team has accomplished. We are now working towards a full integration into Paycor’s platform.

Jul 2020

I’ve only been away for 7 weeks and a lot has happened; we’re still feeling the initial impact of COVID-19, there’s civil uprising that’s happening in the world, and so on. Definitely uncertainty everywhere. As a designer and a new parent, it makes me rethink about my contribution to the society either through work or values I’ll pass to Ellie. I’m back at work now and these thoughts are top of mind.

May 2020

Hello world! On the early morning of May 12th, we welcomed our little bean, Cyan Elise. I’ll be taking some time off to focus on supporting Delma and Ellie as we start this new journey.

Mar 2020

This month, the government of Canada announcement safety measures to combat the spread of COVID-19. I’m lucky and thankful that my wife and I are able to work from home. We’re a couple of months away from having our baby so our focus now is keeping ourselves safe and healthy.

Sep 2019

My wife is pregnant! We’re off to our new adventure. 2020 will be an interesting year as we shift our focus more on raising a family.

Having Jaybe as my mentor inspired me to take on mentorship as well. It’s an excellent way to help push our craft forward and give back to the industry. I started a monthly catch-up with my friend and fellow designer, Luis Francisco.

Aug 2019

Attended the Coaching and Mentoring course at UBC Sauder School of Business. I’m keen on developing my leadership skills as I set my journey to becoming a design manager.

May 2019

Officially met my design mentor, Jaybe Allanson. We’ve been members of the DesignX Slack group since the inception of its Vancouver location. One day, Jaybe posted that he’s open for mentorship role. I jumped on the opportunity right away.

Mar 2019

My wife and I moved in to our new townhouse in Vancouver. We’re both excited to finally live outside downtown after being there for 6 years. No more loud party noises on weekends and wailing sound of ambulances as they pass by. Looking forward to more quality sleep.

Dec 2018

I was invited as a closing speaker for the fall cohort at RED Academy. I facilitated a workshop around forming design philosophies and principles.

Sep 2018

Attended another Radical Research Summit. Excellent lineup of speakers, with Indi Young as the keynote presenter.

Jul 2018

Spent an evening with my fellow design leaders at the launch of DesignX Vancouver edition. Originally from Toronto, DesignX is an online community of designers that aim to bridge the gap and foster learning at the intersection of multiple disciplines.

Jan 2018

Completed the Human-Centred Design course offered by Acumen+ and IDEO. The course provided an introduction to the methods and tools of human-centered design, while tackling a real-world design challenge.

Jul 2017

I took on the Senior Product Design role at 7Geese. This will be my first venture into a startup company. It will definitely be an interesting experience working with a much smaller team.

Jun 2017

Participated at Adobe Creative Jam. I wrote an article about my experience competing in the event, which was also published by Prototypr.io.

Mar 2017

Went to Designing Habit Forming Products workshop by Nir Eyal at Cooper in San Francisco. It’s based on his book called Hooked. In the workshop, I learned about the Hook Model and how it can be used in forming habits for consumers.

Wrapped up the first part time UI Design cohort at RED Academy. Working full time and teaching in evenings was a challenge. It was very rewarding seeing a group of students transform to designers at the end of it though.

Jan 2017

I’m gonna be an instructor at RED Academy and will be leading the part time program for UI Design. After working with Julie Tremblay in developing a curriculum for that program last year, I will finally get to meet the students!

Nov 2016

Gave a talk about Product Design in SaaS companies to the UX, UI and Web Development cohorts at RED Academy.

Sep 2016

Attended the first Radical Research Summit in Vancouver. It’s a one-day conference that focuses on issues and topics that directly impact user research practice.

Apr 2016

Participated in the Nielsen Norman Group UX training sponsored by Unbounce and Metalab. It was a two-day workshop that covers the basics of UX design.

Feb 2015

I started my product design journey at Unbounce. Since 2010, I worked my way from print to multimedia to web design. It’ll be interesting to see how those experiences will help me forge my path in SaaS and tech industry.