Performing Arts to Technology: An Oddball Transition from Passion to Passion

My professional life consists of two chapters, each replete with discipline, creativity, and a necessary commitment to excellence.

My first chapter began at age six with training in classical ballet and various other dance forms, culminating in a decade-long career in Mumbai’s Bollywood industry as a choreographer/teacher. I performed, taught students ranging from children to seniors and choreographed for a few shows and, in one memorable instance, for a film by Kumar Bhatia called Seven which was focused on seven visually impaired children to whom I taught Tap dance. Expression of creativity, adaptability to a wilderness-like industry (with no rules, no guides, no structure) and the ability to mould the body to the beauty and beat of rhythm: these were the abilities I honed during this chapter.

My dance career concluded, out of necessity, in 2009 due to a herniated disc that made continuing in the field impossible. It was at this time that I turned to a second passion I harboured since adolescence (learning computers at school and playing NES/SNES video games after hours): a love for technology.

I dove into the world of Web Design, powering through an intensive 6-month certificate course - “bootcamp-style”, before “bootcamp” training was even a thing: the Web Design, Development and Maintenance continuing education certificate course at Humber College, Etobicoke, Toronto.

I landed my first job as a front-end web developer, transforming Photoshop and Illustrator designs into “pixel-perfect”, cross-browser-compatible implementations.

Since then, my career has been built upon continual, self-directed study, striving for breadth & depth of domain knowledge across systems architecture, programming best practices (thank you Uncle Bob!), distributed systems / microservices and event-driven systems, and lately, Cybersecurity and Data Governance. I pride myself on being a Master Generalist, capable of learning the ins and outs of any system regardless of its complexities. As the poet said:

A Jack of ALL trades is a Master of NONE,
but oft-times better than a Master of ONE.

It's only been onwards and upwards since the WDDM certificate and landing my first job!

The Tech Poet: Where Art Meets Code

The name The Tech Poet reflects my belief that great technology, like great art, thrives at the intersection of precision and creativity. My background in dance taught me the value of non-stop practice, the need for clarity and compassion in all human interactions and communication, and the ability to approach challenges with, not only analytical but also artistic thinking. These qualities have become cornerstones of my technical work, enabling me to:

• solve problems through critical reasoning coupled with out-of-the-box innovation
• bridge gaps between technical and non-technical stakeholders, exercising compassionate, empathetic and concise communication and
• deliver reliable and high-value solutions that are as user-friendly as they are technically robust, resilient, maintainable and scalable

Technology isn't a fallback career for me, it's a second calling.

Today, I bring the same passion, dedication, and pursuit of mastery to IT that I once brought to the artist's stage.

My name is Anand Kaushik Parashar
and I look foward to working with you!