I gave my first talk to Ateneo Junior High School students as a guest of the Ateneo Computer Club. Thank you to Niq Suguitan and the club for inviting me.
The core idea I wanted to share was simple:
You can just do things.
I spoke about human agency: the idea that you do not have to wait until you feel ready to start. It is easy to wait for the right skills, the right moment, or the right invitation. Most of the time, you can start smaller and start now.
Everything begins with a small spark. It could be fixing a tiny annoyance that bothers you every day, or it could be an idea for a bigger tool, like the QPI Calculator I built. The scale doesn't matter. What matters is taking that first step and deciding to act on an idea.
The students asked sharp questions, and it made me want to do more talks like this.