Revenge of the Nerds

My name is Tyler, and I'm a nerd--I'm also the new research intern at Idealware.

I didn’t always struggle with being a nerd. I was born with my hand on a keyboard, navigating the ins and outs of the World Wide Web when we were both young. I grew up with Netscape, and AOL, and chat rooms, cutting edge concepts that seem antiquated now. I knew every note of the song a dial-up modem sang. The internet was still a new and exciting place for adults; imagine my wonderment when I discovered the entire universe was at my little fingertips. My generation was given the chance to run wild with technology, and I loved every moment of it.

In high school, I resisted that urge to be a nerd. I eschewed video games for indie rock, and sci-fi for poetry. At lunch, I sat with the punks and the theatre girls, but never quite assimilated. I didn’t drink warm beer in the woods, I didn’t want to feel nostalgic for eras I never lived through, I just wanted to type stuff into Google.

Sure, I had friends who were nerds, and those nerds are still my friends today, but how could I bear to be seen at the same table as the guy with the fedora and the Magic cards? I didn’t know how my nerd upbringing was supposed to affect me.

When I first walked into Idealware, it struck me with a new feeling. It was so many of the things I love rolled into one: the smell from the tandoor oven in the Indian restaurant on the bottom floor of the building where Idealware Global Headquarters in housed, Jelly the office dog always willing and eager to be scratched behind the ear, and yes, nerds. The kinds of nerds that are smart, passionate, and nonjudgmental. Nerds who know technology shouldn’t be tossed aside in the name of tradition, that its praises should be shouted from the mountaintops. These are the nerds my father warned me would one day be my boss.

What am I doing for them now? For starters, typing a lot of stuff into Google. I couldn’t be happier to be here.