SPEAKER_00: 0:00

The only goal of human is to be useful. Right? Yeah. Be useful to others. Right? In my case, I feel like I need to be useful to like my community. I need to be useful to more and more people. And that's my that's my goal of life.

SPEAKER_01: 0:19

Welcome to another episode of Sell Me This Podcast. This week we have the privilege of hosting Axjay from Tech Connect, Alberta. We dive into a really important conversation about the importance of gratitude and servant leadership, the growing tech community in Calgary, and the opportunity that exists when you bring a community together. We hope you enjoy. Welcome to another episode of Sell Me This Podcast. I am very excited for today's episode. I feel like we've been trying to schedule this for a tiny bit. And thank you very much for um responding to my LinkedIn message. But today we have with us Akshay. Akshay, you are um a staple in the community here. Um and you've done some really very cool work around kind of bringing together people, around creating careers and opportunities for them. I'm the worst at introducing people, and so I think that you'll probably do a much better job um introducing yourself than I will. But why don't you introduce yourself to our guests and tell us a little bit about uh who you are and uh what you do?

SPEAKER_00: 1:13

Sure, sure. First of all, thank you for having me. It's a great opportunity for me to be here. Like I have seen a couple of your podcasts, and uh you are a really great host. So keep going, keep going. Yeah, so I'm hopeful that uh during our conversation maybe I will know something more about myself too. It's like a it's like a self-reflection.

SPEAKER_01: 1:33

Oh my goodness, it's the very cerebral. No, okay, I like it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:37

So as you say, like uh my name is Akshay and uh I'm a techie by background. I work as a cloud architect for one of the company. Other than that, I am I'm very passionate about people. Uh when you say like uh about the community, uh about supporting others, uh and I've been passionate for for very long, right? And I always uh like when I moved to Canada in 2009, right? I was in the university, I used to run like a community group over there, try to help the students settle. Once I graduated, I used to go to the events, help people, but uh suddenly uh uh what I find is like just before uh just during dur during the COVID time, right? When people have started uh uh feeling more lonely, when they see there's like a more distance, right? And and at that time also there were like a huge rush of the people coming to Canada at the same time, right? And at that time I meet a lot of people who are like looking for work, looking for a company, right? That they are they are feeling looking for support. So at that time I used to uh uh ask people to come to like a uh maybe get together in a playground, right? And they're like five people standing in a circle talking to each other. And uh and and uh we talk about like how we can support each other. And at that time I realized that maybe I can scale it up.

SPEAKER_01: 2:59

So I have infinity questions about that, but I I just wanted to, you know, reflecting on COVID, I think that any other time when you said we gathered four five grown adults in a playground and just talked in a circle, I feel like that would be slightly frowned upon. But but I I completely get what you're saying, where you know you can the COVID brought people together in weird ways, but it also created these little buckets, and I can't even imagine moving to a brand new country um and trying to create and build a new life w without being able to go meet people. Like that must have just been um you know from the people you were talking to, the most surreal but also challenging experience.

SPEAKER_00: 3:33

Yes, yes, and it's and especially when people who are coming from outside, right? They have to go through little at that time, like coming from the airports, it's it's frowned upon, right? They you come you get out of the airport, they will close you in the in a in some hotel room. Yeah, right? Yeah, it's it's it they were crazy times. Yeah. And uh and after coming out of there, then uh you're like, okay, what do you do what do I do now? And you're looking for that support system, right? And uh and I think that as as a human, that's the first thing we can offer to other person, like, okay, let's meet, let's come to that that area, let's we can be far from each other and we can talk about things, we can talk about life in general, we can talk about like how we can be helpful to each other. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 4:13

Well no, and so have you always been inclined to bring in people together? Like if you think back um to even when you when you were younger, even kind of school days, like were you always the um the connector of people, or is this something that you've kind of learned or built through experience?

SPEAKER_00: 4:28

I think uh I won't say like I was connected with other people when I was very, very young. Like I uh uh when I I think when I moved to the high school uh and my parents sent me to study uh to a different city, and then I I I really start enjoying like that I that idea of connecting with people, that idea of that uh uh that there's an other person, right? And and that connection which you form, it it it can give you like a great happiness. That's that's the time I started exploring a bit more.

SPEAKER_01: 5:00

I I love it, and then and then you kind of brought that in. Um you said you moved here in 2009. Yes. And then so through did you come here for school originally?

SPEAKER_00: 5:08

Yes, yes. I came here, I did my master's in in computational geophysics from University of Calgary, then I started working.

SPEAKER_01: 5:14

And then and then through school you said you started kind of bringing people together, but COVID was really where we started uh was that kind of the foundation of Tech Connect?

SPEAKER_00: 5:22

Yes, yes. That's where the Tech Connect gets started. And again, like I don't say like Tech Connect is just started by me. I feel like Tech Connect started by like a lot of people because it's it's a it's a people, right? It's made by people. And uh it's the people who get together and they try to push it up. Like I become the face, that's a different thing, right? Because I'm everywhere, I'm talking to people, I'm trying to get them together. Uh but I feel like Tech Connect is something which is made by people. And right now we have close to 15,000 people, and it's it's because they wanted to be there to support each other, right?

SPEAKER_01: 5:53

That's incredible. And so for for someone that isn't familiar with Tech Connect, um, how would you describe the work that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00: 6:02

So uh I feel like uh the mission of the Tech Connect is like to help people success, help people succeed, right? And while making people uh succeed, you also enjoy their success. That's that's that's our goal. We started with tech because uh I'm from tech background and I feel like that's the place where I can start with. And tech is like everywhere we use tech, right? Even like while we're sitting doing this podcast, right? And you have a mic and you need somebody to maybe fix that mic, right? You need somebody to record do the record that session. That's also tech part. So I thought that's the place where we can start. And and uh and getting uh like getting connecting with like a lot more people. Like every company, like you go, like they have like using some kind of technology somewhere, even a computer, like computer screen, that's that's the technology, right? So I feel like that that's the point which I picked, that that's the common common point, and that's how we started Tech Connect.

SPEAKER_01: 6:57

I I love it. And so so when you're talking about helping people succeed, yes, um, what is what does that practically mean? Is it a succeed? Are they um in life and happiness? Are they helping them find jobs? Like what's the what's the connecting point that's leading them to that success you're talking about?

SPEAKER_00: 7:14

Um see the the when I started Tech Connect, or but I should say again, like when I get the support to start Tech Connect from other people, uh the idea is to create a community of givers. Yeah. Like the people who can give back to community, right? And and uh and how you can give back, like when somebody comes come to you. And and think in Canada, the I think the most painful thing is finding job for anyone, right? And uh it's getting more and more tough as as we're going to like AI era or efficiency era, what we call. So when uh uh the whole idea of the technology is to help people earn uh uh make a career or get help people gain those skills so they can earn a living.

SPEAKER_02: 7:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 7:56

And that's the reason like uh the group becomes so big, because they s everybody find like okay, this is something where I can grow with. And then see with the give with the community of givers, you also get a community of matchers. So matchers are the people who who are like what I can get from him and what I can give to him. So my goal is to have everybody convert those matchers convert into the givers.

unknown: 8:19

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 8:19

So you're you're trying to create almost this almost this kind of self-sustaining ecosystem. Yes. Where you have the givers, you have the matchers, and you and you're really bringing all these people together so that they can um create success for for the group as a whole.

SPEAKER_00: 8:33

Yes. So like for example, if if you uh talk just in terms of numbers, right? Uh in the last one, like one year we supported close to 130 people and job opportunities. Amazing. Yeah, and it's through the network, right? Like it's everybody's doing something for everyone. Yeah. Right? So we have 15,000 people, but not everybody maybe has a time to come to a networking event every evening. But one person is there who heard about an opportunity somewhere else, and that person just said like, you know, I heard about this opportunity, and this job is never posted. And we know somebody will fit, and we go we put that resume forward and that person gets selected.

SPEAKER_01: 9:07

Incredible. And and so how are you building like 15,000 people is not a small community.

SPEAKER_00: 9:13

No.

SPEAKER_01: 9:14

Um, you know, those are really impressive numbers. Um, and it's and I I know um you and the work you're doing, like that is growing very quickly as well right now. Yes. Why are people drawn to drawn to what you're building?

SPEAKER_00: 9:28

See, uh when people uh I I I I I feel like like like maybe out of 15,000 we have a lot of people who are like who are have very good jobs, right? Who are already settled. But I feel like they wanted to do something for the community, right? And they find that it's a chance for them to do it. See, there are a lot of people who want to do a lot for others, they just don't know where to start. So sometimes a little push, a little path, and they'll be like, okay, we'll give some time over there, we'll help somebody, and that's be our deed of the day.

SPEAKER_01: 10:01

Perfect. And so it's a way for them to connect, and so I don't necessarily have to be a job seeker to join the community. You're actually looking for people that believe in the purpose of what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00: 10:10

Yes, yes. And I will I will give the example, right? Uh like uh uh last year we started a program, it's called uh Woman Entrepreneurship Program. And what we did is like we uh helped seven women entrepreneurs and made their websites for free, made their digital marketing for free, free. We didn't charge anything. And uh because when when somebody's starting the business, it's it's very tough. It's not easy to start a business, right? So instead of like getting them uh uh like con confused with all the technology and everything, we'd say like, okay, let us build the website for you for free, we don't charge. And then I use the people who are part of community. Why don't you do it for them? And they do it, right? So they are already giving back to the community. So they already they are they already have a givers in the co in the system, right? And now when they deliver it, and then there are other givers who are like, oh, you know, we're looking for some people, can you refer some? We're like, they take these people, they did an excellent job on these projects, and then they pick these these individuals. So it's uh it's it's like you're continuously giving it back to the community and you are getting it back.

SPEAKER_01: 11:11

Well, and even I know you do a lot of work in the not-for-profit space too. And I think you have some similar programs there as well.

SPEAKER_00: 11:17

Yes, yes. So uh currently, like we are working with a few non-profits, we are helping them with their AI policies because we understand like nonprofits are are uh like are short staff and they have to do a lot of things, they have limited budget. So we are helping them to implement like AI technology and try to optimize the process for them. Yeah right? Uh we also work with other nonprofits like uh for example Calgary Food Bank, right? Uh last year our community did close to hundred hours of hundred hours of volunteering work for Calgary Food Bank. So as a community, like giving hundred hours to a Calgary Food Bank in a year, it's a it's a lot of time, right? And motivating these people, and like a lot of these people are newcomers, right? Like maybe 50-60% of my community like people are newcomer. And when they come and they give back to the to the community and they want to be the part of the system, they're already learning those Canadian ways. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 12:09

And and so and then also a hundred hours if you spread it out across fifteen thousand people. Yes. Isn't you know, if if someone gave up a month of work, it's might be challenging for one person. Yeah. But I see exactly what you're saying, where if you can kind of rally that community around it, yes, um, you can achieve incredible things.

SPEAKER_00: 12:26

Yes, yes. I and as I always say, like, I just need a five minutes of everyone time from my that community, right? I know like some let's see, life is very busy and and there's uh there's no end to the to the success. Yeah, right. Uh like a lot of people ask me, like, why, why you do it this? Like, why you do this, right? Like and I and I and I tell them like yeah, I I am very I have enough. Yeah. And when they say, Oh, you have enough? I never heard somebody saying I have enough. And like uh what I mean, like I'm very content where I am in my life, but now I want to get that happiness uh back to the community. I want to get uh happiness uh inside me by helping others, by helping others success. Uh you know, there's a saying, uh I tell this to everyone happiness is the only thing which gets double when you share it.

SPEAKER_01: 13:16

I love that.

SPEAKER_00: 13:18

Yeah. So and that's the a that's the mission of our our community. And it's just growing, and I am learning things along the way. I have a lot of amazing people who support support me. Like uh, you know, you have Ian on the show, right? Like he supported me a lot, uh Dennis, so he supported me a lot. Uh I have like a core team of 21 people, right? And incredible. And so and are those all volunteers? All volunteers, and they then they they do that for me, and I'm feel so indebted to them for doing that for me. They believe in me, they give them their time. Uh Keith, like I think the most valuable thing you have in your life is your time. And if you can give it to someone, we should be very thankful to them. And they give that all that time to me. So I feel like I'm always in in in debt from that.

SPEAKER_01: 14:02

Well, and and I know that you know, even on like your LinkedIn, you you you profess you're the the chief servant leader, I think, or the chief servant. And and that that gratitude and that gratefulness comes through a hundred times over and in the work that you're doing. Um and it's it's really special as well. And so if people are looking to kind of be part of that community or join that community, um how are you are you taking on new members or are you to like how do people get connected into the work that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00: 14:29

So uh you know we I it's it's it's very funny, I'll tell you a story now. So I told you a story, right, where we had like five people get together. So we started with a group of five, right? We then make a small, you know, WhatsApp, right? We made a small WhatsApp group of five, and the group got filled. We got WhatsApp limit of 1,000 people. I was gonna say it's a big WhatsApp group of 15,000 people. Yeah, so it got filled, and I made another WhatsApp group. It got filled, then I can make another one. It got filled. I like, oh, it it won't work like that. And uh and so I end up making like a Discord server, which is like a Slack. I made a Discord server, so a lot of people are over there. Uh a lot of people also can sign up for our like a can go to like a Tech Connect website and they can sign up for uh for our emails for the events and like what what we do, newsletter. Because it's it's uh it's hard to get people at one stage together, like right. So we have like different venues where people are more comfortable in using it. And again, like I have like my volunteers who keep people engaged, members engage. And uh and we are growing, right? Like I like I got a lot of messages from from from GTA from Toronto, and they're like, you know, can you make a community like this in Toronto? But again, like Calgary is such a city where everybody's like close to each other. It's much I think it's much easier to do this thing here than to that bigger location.

SPEAKER_01: 15:45

And and so this is a question that seems to be coming up a lot as a trend on this show recently, which is which is Calgary, you know, I I wouldn't pick too many other places to start a business right now. Um, you know, it's an incredible community, there's a buzz, there's an energy. But but from your perspective, and you and you're saying it here as well, like what what is so special about Calgary compared to some of these other regions? And there's nothing against them. But there does seem to be something special in the in the city here.

SPEAKER_00: 16:11

I think that I I always say that Calgary is a uh Calgary is a city of connectors, right? City of people. And they're the the people who really care for care for each other, right? Uh again, there are always more matchers than the than the givers, but it doesn't take much effort to convert those matchers into the givers. And I feel like I see more and more givers in the in the community here. Like whether it's uh uh platform Calgary who like support us a lot, right? Like five uh I think I give a lot of success uh lot of success of uh of of uh tech connect uh credit to them. Like I I feel like they have been very supportive to us. Uh similarly, like the people in Calgary, like whether I guess like Ian, whether it's Dennis, like and many others who just send me a message and like oh you should talk to that person, you should talk to Akshay, you should talk to Akshay. Like, look if you're looking for someone, talk to Akshay. You're looking for a website get there and talk to him, right? And you're looking to get a job, talk to him. So all those people are like always there as a like a pillar of support. And without those pillars of support, like nobody can go. I don't think I can grow. And I I think Calgary has those pillars of supports, uh, which is growing. There are a lot of positivity here. And uh as we as we go ahead, like I I tell like as we go ahead in an AI era, we need that positivity and that support system.

SPEAKER_01: 17:34

Um I I agree completely, and I think that that human connection is getting more and more important. Um you know, you probably have a really interested lens seeing you know not just the the tech jobs, but also having um to work on some of these, you know, you mentioned a couple AI strategy projects, a couple um things that are really shaping how people are using these technologies. Are are there specific trends that you're starting to see pop up um when it comes to how people are using some of these these different technologies?

SPEAKER_00: 18:05

See, uh right now uh uh most other companies which we which I work with and even the nonprofits, they're trying to make the process efficient. Yeah. Right? They're trying to make the process more more efficient so that they can uh in terms of for nonprofit it's about like getting those people to do some other some other work instead of like doing uh doing uh like writing those emails or checking the documents or or social media postings, right? So they want the AI to do those things, and these people need to go out and talk to people. That's what nonprofits want to do. Big cooperation, they're trying to reach efficiency, so uh they have a different goal, right? And then most of the big corporations focus on the bottom line, yeah, which is important too. Uh but I feel like uh again, that's these are my thoughts, right? Uh that right now we are very in the beginning phase of AI. Uh I heard somewhere like like AI is like an amoeba right now. Right? Yeah. And in the next few years, it will when it becomes a T-Rex, we don't know how it will be. Or it could become a Brontosaurus, they're a little friendlier. Yes, yes. But it's very hard to predict, right? Like uh like where we are going. Yeah. But and I as I said like in the beginning, right, as we go into that AI era, I think human connection will become more and more important.

SPEAKER_01: 19:19

Definitely. And so um how are you how are you kind of building some of that human connection? Like you talked about in-person events. Is that a big part of the what your um strategy of connecting your different members is?

SPEAKER_00: 19:31

So uh as I say, like we do like a lot of online online events, we do like a lot of online messaging through WhatsApp, Discord, too. Uh, but in-person events are really where you can see the person, you can talk to the person, you can connect the person to a personal level, especially when you have a community of 15,000 people. It's like like a lot of time when I go to in-person events, somebody will come to me like, you know, I message you and never replied. Or I message you. This is getting more common now because I get so many messages, it's very hard for me to get back to them.

SPEAKER_01: 20:00

And and I don't know about you, but like LinkedIn is a complete vortex. Like LinkedIn is uh messages, it's the least effective messaging platform sometimes.

SPEAKER_00: 20:08

Yes, yes. So meeting people face to face gives a uh uh gives the credibility. So we we uh like I prefer that that method. Uh but uh I think as we are growing, uh the another thing which we will focus on, uh like as I said, like we committed like 100 hours to Calgary Food Bank. We are gonna do more partnership with like the different nonprofits because we have a big community and all these nonprofits are looking for the people to support them, right? So we will be working with these nonprofits, helping them to do partnership with them, and we will support them whether it's for tech or whether for volunteering. And this way they will also grow, they will get a support system. At the same time, our volunteers, uh our people, they've got a chance to go out. And and I feel like if you are volunteering as a in at a food bank, that's also a networking.

SPEAKER_02: 20:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 20:52

You you are doing a networking for a good cause, you're you're talking about e each other, and you know the people who are came there putting their time, they're nice people.

SPEAKER_01: 21:00

A hundred percent, and and you'll you kind of find people with similar interests, yes, similar connections, and then also I imagine there's probably benefit in them getting that portfolio access too to say, hey, here's here's where we delivered X result to this organization.

SPEAKER_00: 21:14

Yes, yes, yes. Um I will actually I actually I will give you that example. So we worked for a woman entrepreneur. Uh we made a website for her, we we delivered the like some uh some other uh functionality for a website. Then she came back to us, she like, you know, I want to add like a payment system, I want to add like a uh better backend, and I'm like, okay, we'll we're gonna charge you this much. And but that price was still much cheaper than the market rate because the people who did that they need some experience. So in the end, these people are gett getting paid who who volunteered on it. So now they also got paid after after d delivering the project as a volunteer. Now you've they're working as a paid uh paid project members. Right? So I feel like that's the way going going forward. Show your value, show that you are useful. You know, uh, I always say, like, uh actually, I think may maybe I can be wrong, but so uh uh the the Lai Lama once said, right, the only goal of human is to be useful. Right? Yeah, be useful to others, right? In my case, I feel like I need to be useful to like my community, I need to be useful to more and more people, and that's my that's my goal of life. Right? And so that's what I'm trying to spread to the people who are part of my community. So when they work on the projects, they are useful to the to the woman entrepreneur. That entrepreneur is like generating revenue for the for the city of Calgary, for for for uh for for Alberta, for Canada, through Texas, creating jobs, right? So everybody's getting benefit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 22:42

One I I I totally get what you're saying, where sometimes it just needs that catalyst to get that that kind of the ball turning a little bit.

SPEAKER_02: 22:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 22:49

Um, you know, at a completely unrelated. I remember the remember like the micro lending, especially. Um, you know, when that was kind of a big trend, I think it's kind of caught w wind since then. Yes. But the idea that, you know, um traditional um businesses in some developing countries couldn't get access to, you know, even like twenty-five dollars as a funding that would be incredibly um important is that foundational element of kind of getting those things turning.

SPEAKER_00: 23:14

Yes, yes. And that's what Tech Canada is doing right now, it's it's helping those entrepreneurs to get that foundation.

SPEAKER_01: 23:19

And and so a little bit of a polarizing question, and and I remember this was a a a big challenge before, and I don't know if it still exists, but I know that there was um a big stigma around kind of Canadian experience, we'll call it, which is one of my big pet peeves. Um is that still a challenge when when you're dealing with a lot of the newcomers to Canada around kind of what what have you done in Canada?

SPEAKER_00: 23:41

Um see, uh when uh you as an employer, when you see a resume, right? Uh I when you look at the resume, you see like okay, the person has like a lot of international experience. The problem is uh that is that resume doesn't come with a credibility. Yeah. You don't know whether it's true or not. That's that that's a problem, right? Like you don't know. I'm not saying like it's lie or or true, but you don't know.

unknown: 24:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 24:08

And then you see an another resume which has like uh Canadian experience in death.

SPEAKER_01: 24:12

Who will you pick? I I guess so. I just I feel like it's so flawed because there's so many people that you know, like I think of one gentleman on our team in specific that you know, some of the projects that he's worked on dwarf like 98% of projects would even happen in Canada. Yes. And um and yet I know that he had a a lot of challenges um kind of turning that corner and saying, okay, well, you know, I've worked on these you know twenty billion dollar infrastructure projects, and it just it seems really backwards. And I I know the Ontario government, I think actually just yesterday came up with some legislation trying to mitigate against that, but I was just I was curious from your perspective if that's still a a challenge that's so actually I think one of my friends posted about that uh on a LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_00: 24:57

I ended up putting a big comment on it, I remember. So uh the first thing is if you look at the job posting, they never ask for Canadian experience. Yeah. And they never say that you need to be have like one year candidate experience. They just say like you need to have two years of experience. Right. Then you apply online and then your resume will get lost, right? Yeah. So that's where the connection comes handy. Right? Like if uh there's a job posting maybe at Keith's office and and uh and uh I know someone and who I know that that person is a fit and I will say Keith, you know, look at this this person's resume and he has done some great work. Now that person is coming with uh with someone's word, right, which you value. So that's where the network networking comes handy, right? Uh the second thing about uh about that legislation is like uh they wanted to uh make sure that if a job gets uh posted, it's the that job exists, it's not a fake job. But again, you cannot change that as well because uh uh a lot of this job posting depends upon the company policies. Sometimes they sell they posted the job, but by the time they're like, okay, we are hiring, we are cuts. So it's it's very hard. You have no control over it. Uh regarding the it's a good start. Yeah. At least they're talking about it, right? Right, there's a conversation about it. And conversation is a good place uh to begin with. Uh in terms of like a newcomer looking like a like looking for word, I think the and the best I always tell this tell this to like people looking for, go with an idea like what I can do for you. Right? As I said, being you being useful to others. And if you go with that idea, like I have find like most of the people like find opportunities very fast. You need to change that mentality that what I can get out of that, that what I can give it to them.

SPEAKER_01: 26:39

Interesting. And so like do you believe that most people go in saying, here's like what can you do for me versus what can I do for you? And and just flipping that switch is really the the key to the narrative.

SPEAKER_00: 26:50

Yes, yes. Because see, uh I I know see it's very it's very tough that when you go in, like, you know, I'm looking for a job. Uh uh or like when you go in, you have that mindset that this thing will get me a job. But when you go with that mindset that let me go, let me learn, let me see how I can help that person, it changes everything. It changes the it uh it the movie from the flop to become a blockbuster. Yeah. And and it happened, I have seen it many times.

SPEAKER_01: 27:17

Well one and I I think you're you're onto something there too, and even as an employer, and you know, we have a s a small team, but one of the the hardest things to find is the ability to solve problems, right? And it's not about um you know how accurately can I put in an invoice, it's not about like the skills, it's about the resiliency and the ability to look at some of those problems um and bring solutions forward to them rather than just complete um you know a series of tasks on an Excel spreadsheet.

SPEAKER_00: 27:46

Yeah. Also, see, as as I say, like for example, the podcast, right? I will give the example of a podcast. Uh uh maybe I wanted to meet Keith, right? And I and I see Keith pop podcast a couple of times. So I sent a message to Keith, probably Keith did reply to me. Right? What what can I do? I aga I will uh promote Keith Podcast, right? I will share Prike podcast on every platform I can get. And eventually Keith, like, oh this guy keeps posting that my podcast. Oh, he messaged me, maybe I should reply him.

unknown: 28:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 28:16

See, that's how I'm providing the value. So you the this you can always provide value to other person. It doesn't matter. Like it and again, it began with an idea that you are you're trying to be useful, you're trying to be giver. Yeah. Right? You're trying to give something to them.

SPEAKER_01: 28:31

And and so it I think this is a really interesting conversation thread that uh that leads into almost, you know, in my opinion, some like ideas around empathy. Because I think that you have to be able to understand what's important for someone else too. Because what's important to you might be different than what's important or useful to me, that might be different than what's useful to Zach. Um so so do you have conversations with people about how do you how do you determine where to apply that usefulness?

SPEAKER_00: 28:58

So you you you do you you touched my I actually but that's my wife's favorite point, empathy. Okay, yeah, it's like she's a big inspection to me for for that area. So uh I I always tell people like and be empathetic toward other people. And when you go with that with that attitude, that uh how I can uh support that person, how I can make that other person successful, right? How I can put that person uh above above my needs, above my my own ego, then you you're always able to find that that particular thing where that you can benefit the other person. It's it's not hard. You just have to you just have to be empathetic. You just have to like what I can do for for them. And I find like uh see now we I think we live in a world where doing something for someone is uh is seen as like an agenda.

SPEAKER_02: 29:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 29:51

Like like and maybe a lot of people like look at me and they they're like, why you're doing this? Like you have a full-time job, you have like you you have a nice you you're living a good life, you don't need to do that. Why you do that? But I think they miss that idea. Like uh with the people who ask this question, they don't know the happiness you get by bringing uh uh by helping others, by being a part of their success, right? It's it's called joy, right?

SPEAKER_01: 30:16

Well, well, and I I think that there's people to your point that they get suspicious of it, right? That they're so used to some sort of reciprocal agreement that if someone's being very nice to them, if someone's being overly generous, if someone's offering the olive branch, so to speak, that they're like, oh like they're almost a little bit timid, and they're like, Well, what what are they what do they want? What what's their end game? Yeah. Um and I think that it's really refreshing to be, you know, encouraging just people can just be nice people and do nice things for others and and and be content with where they are, or and still be wanting to help other people.

SPEAKER_00: 30:52

Yeah, and this this is like a uh this is called a basic humanity, right? I'm a big fan of uh I'm not sure if you've heard of thing called stoism. Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm a very big fan of that stoism philosophy like stoism, and I'm a big philosophy reader too. And uh I like uh at the at the end of the day, I like well I like to like to write what I did, right? And and at the end of the day I do like a self-reflection, like d did I do anything nice to for someone? Right? Am I able to true to my values, which is like being being kind, being courageous, right? Uh doing the right thing. Is any like uh uh am I able to uh follow those values all along the day? And that's how I do the self-reflection and and and uh how you and and everybody else, like how you get so much energy to do all this thing, right? I get that energy because I get that happiness that I am able to do something for someone today. Even sometimes like maybe I'm I had a very busy day. I I just replied to one LinkedIn message and I I feel happy about that. That's that that gets registered in my brain that I did something good today, I'm happy about it. That's it. I will look forward to the next day then.

SPEAKER_01: 32:06

So you you brought up something very interesting about kind of managing that energy and managing that output as well. Um, you know, you're a a man about town, you're at a lot of events, you're you're shaking hands a lot, you're beating people, but you also have a a day job.

SPEAKER_02: 32:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 32:19

Um how do you balance those two things? And um because I think that there's a lot of people that find, and I say this hopefully somewhat um humbly, but like there's a lot of people that find excuses as to why not. Right? And and you're you're clearly doing a lot, and I think that there's a lot of easy off-ramps that are easy like ways for you not to do all of the things that you're doing. So so how do you manage those two things in in concert and how do you um balance those two lives?

SPEAKER_00: 32:52

Okay, first I will give the uh I will give credit to two like two like two teams. Like one is like my family, my wife and my son. They give me uh uh flexibility to do these things and go out in the evening, do the event, connect with the people. And the second is like my core team, like I have like a team of like 20, 21 people, they do a lot of work for me. So they really helped me to do like both of these pillars, they really helped me to uh get the time out to do these things. Without them, I cannot do it. And and again, like uh the energy. Uh I've as I said before, right? See uh like yesterday I got a message from someone, you know, no thank you. I got the I I got a job. I'm again I got all the thank you, but these 15,000 people do most of the work, but I get all the thank you because I'm the face, right? Uh so I got someone from like thank you that you were able I'm able to get a land opportunity after like after struggling for so so much, and uh uh I'm really thankful to you for that. And that message will give me the energy for one whole month, right? And every morning when I wake up, you know, every morning when I wake up, I tell this to myself that okay, I like I'm very thankful to the God for giving me another day. I'm standing, I'm really thankful for that. I have a I have a beautiful family, I'm thankful for that. I have beautiful people who support me. I'm thankful for that, and all this I'm getting because they because God wants me to help more people, so I will do it again today. There you go. And I do this every morning.

SPEAKER_01: 34:18

And just yeah, and and that gives you kind of the energy to kind of propel you through, and yes, um that practice of gratefulness as well, and you know, I I've done um you know, probably not as much reading as you, but a little bit on the stoicism side of things, and and I think that that practice of reflection, that practice of gratitude, um, there is some science around it too, that it it does fill up the gas tank a little bit.

SPEAKER_00: 34:40

Yes, yes. Actually, gratitude, again, gratitude uh the only way you can be happy in in your life, and that's the truth. Like I don't I d I don't think anybody would disagree with it. The only way you can be happy in your life is that if you practice gratitude. Otherwise you will never be content. Right? You can be you can have the amazing job, amazing amazing uh status, and you'll be like top of the hill, but then you'll be like, I have everything now, now I need more. So you need that practice of gratitude.

SPEAKER_01: 35:09

Yeah. Well, and and this is something you know I I don't profess to be overly good at as well, because I I'm I'm sure that sometimes I my my laser focus ahead probably gets me in trouble. But but I think that there's something to be said for that idea of contentment too. Um and to be able to be content is is probably one of the happiest spots to be in.

SPEAKER_00: 35:28

Yes, yes. Uh uh The like uh they say, like uh I think I heard like one of the lines one day what you have today should be your wants. That's it. If if you have everything what you have today and you're content, you are the happiest person on this planet.

SPEAKER_02: 35:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:47

Uh again, I'm not saying don't don't be uh don't be ambitious. It's good to be ambitious, that's how human progress. But focus on what you have today and be content and keep improving.

SPEAKER_01: 36:00

Interesting. And so I think so many people combine those things, right? Where that where they attach the idea of pursuit to the idea of what do I have today?

SPEAKER_02: 36:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 36:10

Um and I really like what you're saying around if you separate them. You can you can two things can exist at the same time. You can be really happy with what you have as well, but also be excited about what you're in pursuit of.

SPEAKER_00: 36:20

Yes. Like for example, like maybe Keith wanted to have uh one million views on the on the podcast, right?

SPEAKER_01: 36:25

This is the episode I gotta.

SPEAKER_00: 36:27

Yeah, yeah. Maybe you want to have one million views, but uh uh but uh it's it's but but your main goal is to like have have the podcast where people can learn, people can people the message they are getting out of it they can grow, right? Yeah. So if that's your goal, then I'm sure that that then uh one million can be achieved. Let's slowly, slowly, right? But yeah, our goals should be like uh like what we can do for others.

SPEAKER_01: 36:51

W 100% and I and and very selfishly with the podcast too. It's you know, and and I talked to to Zach about this on our team, and I I feel so fortunate. I get to talk to amazing people like yourself all day and and the um conversations I just I'm super grateful to be able to have. And I you know, I think that'll our listeners like it, like it too, but it's just in in terms of the ability to have these conversations, the ability to um bring light to the incredible things that people are doing. Um I just feel very fortunate to be able to do.

SPEAKER_00: 37:24

No, and I think see, uh I think podcasts are the great way to uh to meet me to to listen to people how people think. Uh as I say, like I get like thousands of messages, like, and I cannot get back to everyone. And sometimes like, oh can can you just take a phone call? But I don't have time, right? And I think these podcasts are a great way to as at least people to know that how I think, what I do. And uh the similar the similarly, like uh I find like books are also the great way to s to meet those great points, right? How they think.

SPEAKER_01: 37:56

Are are you uh are you announcing a book or are you uh you're not?

SPEAKER_00: 38:00

I'm I'm I'm just happy to read the books. I don't think I can write a book. Maybe AI can help you to write it, but no, no.

SPEAKER_01: 38:05

There you go. I feel I feel like I'm sure it could help you write one whether or not it's a good one. I feel like that's the that's the next uh question.

SPEAKER_00: 38:11

But yeah, but who will buy it? That's the other question.

SPEAKER_01: 38:14

I'm sure someone would buy your book. Um I I want to bring it back um to some of the exposure you have on the the job market and career side of things before we wrap up today. Um you have so many people that are are looking for opportunities. Um are there any kind of macro trends that you're starting to see in the job market itself um when it comes to you know Calgary or even Canada as a larger whole with your community?

SPEAKER_00: 38:42

See, uh uh one thing which I've started seeing is like a lot more people are looking for like uh AI skills and the data skills. And a lot of people who came to like who came the newcomer who came to this country or the people already in this country, they are still working on the older technologies. And as they and I'm seeing like a lot a lot more as companies are trying to be more efficient, right? So these people are getting out of the market, but and then they are putting more time to run those AI skills. So the demand even from the startups, that the startups who wanted to hire farmers, they ask for people who know AI tools, who know the technologies, who can build AI tools for them. So I guess that's the way the I mean so I'm sure like everybody trend you sh say the same thing on this show. Yeah, it's the future is AI, right? And people are the people who are gonna learn them learn and keep the pace with the learning will get hired.

SPEAKER_01: 39:34

And and so what advice are you giving people in your community and like because once again, um AI is such a big topic that that how do I how do I learn AI, how do I how do I become AI professional, and how do I communicate that in a meaningful way? Um I think is a challenge all in itself.

SPEAKER_00: 39:51

Yeah, okay, like uh okay, I I will uh say in terms of like I'll give you an example of like some developers, right? So uh we recently uh we are right now doing a project with a startup. We are trying to make like an AI bot for them. Okay, so what that AI bot does is basically read their website and give the answers, right? Like for example, uh it can say like what product you sell and like what do you do and because no people are very distracted nowadays, they cannot click, click, click. So they just want to talk to ABOT like Chat GPT, right? Uh so we are building it for the the for the startup, and we have like one senior senior developer who is guiding the junior people, so it can be part of their portfolio. The similar project, maybe like it's more regulated again, it's a similar project done by CRA recently, and it costs CRA 18 million dollars to build that project. And we are doing it for a few thousand. Again, I'm not talking I'm not comparing the technology here, which is a huge difference, I'm sure. But uh I'm just showing like even the the giants like CRA with who have like so much information, they are they're also going that way, and the startups are also going that way. So building those projects will really help them to catch up, at least have better understanding. Yeah. So working on those live projects.

SPEAKER_01: 40:59

So the ability to almost have like build that bank of stories, be willing to kind of dive in, figure it out.

SPEAKER_00: 41:04

Yes, figure it out. Yes. And that's what AI is, you have to keep figuring it figuring it out, right? As we are going ahead, you have to keep figure out the path, like what's happening today, what's what you want to learn. By the time you learn something, it will get old and you have to learn something else.

SPEAKER_01: 41:16

Well, I I know you you have a partnership with uh Inception U. Yes. Um and so we had Margot uh on the show uh last week.

SPEAKER_00: 41:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 41:24

So I think she'll actually be coming out the other week. She will have come out at this point.

SPEAKER_00: 41:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 41:28

Um, but you know, the idea of some of those meta-skills and the ability to ingest um some of the new technologies and rather focusing on like, okay, well, I need this specific coding language, the ability to creatively problem solve, the ability to have some of those deeper skills as well. Yes, yes. Seems to be really important.

SPEAKER_00: 41:46

Yes, you know, my son is seven year old and he's a he's a he's a he's an amazing chess champion. And uh yesterday he was he's asking me the same question. He's like, you know, AIV is coming, and I don't know what when we grow, what we'll do and show so what should I learn? He's seven, and he asked me this question. And so I told him that no, it's more about like problem-solving skills. Yeah. It's about how you can solve a particular problem. Yeah. So it applies from that age to the to like 80, 90 years old. It's the same the same same condition now.

SPEAKER_01: 42:15

Yeah. But AI and chess is actually I find a fascinating case study in how that technology arcs as well. Because if you think back to like the um original AI models, and this would have been what, like, 20 something years ago when they started doing like the actual chess simulations, you know, it it's been a long time that the best AI models could be the smartest human in the world.

SPEAKER_00: 42:34

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 42:34

But I think people like the human-to-human chess connection because it's about the it's about the person to person and the technology all of a sudden, although it's superior, becomes obsolete.

SPEAKER_00: 42:47

Yes, and I also see like what you are gaining when you're when you're playing with other humans, it's it's a it's a different uh it's a different thing, right? You are you are it's uh it's more uh you you are learning how to face the pressure. You this is some other person sitting in front of you, right? Uh you are maybe manage trying to learn how to manage the conflicts, like if something happens. So it's a totally different thing. Yeah. So that's what we try to push. We try to push like more human-to-human connection, and that's the reason I think we I call it tech connect. Connect using technology.

SPEAKER_01: 43:17

I love it. What advice are you giving him? So uh you know, I have a three-year-old daughter, so she's not quite at the stage where she's asking me for uh for that kind of advice yet. Um, but but for your son, like um seven years old, they're starting to ask these questions. What what is the advice that you're giving?

SPEAKER_00: 43:32

So as I say, like uh I let my so I'm working with my son, uh I find him he's very introvert, maybe he's that age. Uh so what we try to do with him is like we try to make him more uh more social, right? We try to uh give him a topic and like okay, come in front of me and pitch pitch this idea to me. And then I give him one minute and talk about idea, like, okay, why I should start a why you should buy this pencil from me, right? So So I think developing those skills and uh also like I talk I talk about things like resilience, right? And adaptability. So these are things which you need to talk to your kids, right? Like give to tell them a story about like, oh, there's a turtle who never gave up, or like uh like I make these stories with my son all the time, and and I asked him, What did you learn? and he said, like, I learned never to give up. Amazing. So just like a self-reflection, I think it's a practice which you need to do with your kids every few days. So so so they're they keep learning. It's like it's like reading a finance book which will tell you like don't buy like those uh crypto stocks or these, and but if you stop reading them after five days you go and buy it. Right. Because it's out of your system.

SPEAKER_01: 44:46

Yeah, so the repetition and kind of ingraining into your day-to-day life.

SPEAKER_00: 44:50

Yes, unless it become a your become a part of your brain system.

SPEAKER_01: 44:55

I I feel like our conversation has gone by only 45 seconds. Yes, yeah. I oh I didn't realize we like and and so I I could I could keep like a you and I were gonna have to have a podcast number two, that's almost guaranteed. But but if you had any kind of final words that you wanted to leave um our audience with um about either the the work that you're doing, maybe even ways that they can help help you out and maybe um you know exercise that giving muscle to to you or the work that you're doing.

SPEAKER_00: 45:22

Yeah, I I think uh uh you know, you I think you touched upon it in the beginning that you call I call myself like a chief servant officer because I feel like uh being a service to other people is my ultimate source of happiness. And uh if there's something I can uh where I can support other people or where other people can support the people who are looking for opportunities, where other people can give their time and helping other people develop those skills, we are more than happy to welcome those people. Or or like any kind of uh advice which because as I say, like I am the reason tech connect grows so much is because of other people, and uh it's the other other people's support which will which will make it grow too.

SPEAKER_01: 46:05

Phenomenal. And we'll we'll put the link to the Tech Connect website and everything in the show notes. But is there if someone wanted to get in touch with you? I know we've made some jokes around LinkedIn being a tiny bit of a vortex. Um, but if someone wanted to connect into TechConnect or yourself, what's the best way to do that?

SPEAKER_00: 46:20

So uh they can message me on the LinkedIn, we can put my LinkedIn link over there. Yeah, I will try to reply. But we also have a like Tech Connect Alberto has a like LinkedIn page. They can go there, they can message. So we have like people who can reply over there too. Uh at the same time, uh, if they go on our website, we have like a contact us form where they can connect with us. They also have like volunteer with us form where they can volunteer with us.

SPEAKER_01: 46:40

Amazing. Um, this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for the community. No, no, thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 46:45

Thank you for calling me. Maybe next time I'll be better prepared. There we go. I love it.

SPEAKER_01: 46:48

Well, now I know what to expect.

SPEAKER_00: 46:49

But uh I I guess I can talk another 45 minutes here.

SPEAKER_01: 46:52

I said I don't I don't think we're gonna run out of things to talk about next time. But uh thank you so much for coming on and really appreciate it. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00: 46:58

Thank you for thank thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_01: 47:00

We're gonna out thank you each other here. This is gonna be at four minutes of thank yous at the end. All right. Awesome. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00: 47:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 47:08

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