Mike's Mentors Episode 14: Brian France discusses the lessons and experiences over the past 15 years and how listening and learning helped shape his path.
Name: Brian France Hometown: Mechanicville, NY (now in Cohoes, NY)
Professional: Lead UI Developer
What is one of your first memories that taught you something about the world?
- There are so many different memories from my dad that have taught me about the world. Both he and my mom worked for the same department in New York State, which helps with taking care of and housing individuals with Down syndrome and other disabilities of that nature. My mom would pick my sister and me up from daycare and bring us to visit our dad while he was still working, and I can remember being three or four years of age and being friends with the adults my dad was helping care for. At such a young age, it taught me to treat anyone and everyone with kindness and how I would want to be treated.
What is one experience that challenged a belief and transformed your viewpoint?
- The lesson is that you're not going to get everything you want just by existing, and you may not even get everything you want by doing the work. Also, keep learning after college if you really want to get what you want. After graduating college, I thought no matter what I did or applied myself to, everything would miraculously go exactly how I wanted it to, but then I moved to Florida, and that was nowhere near the case; I applied for graphic design jobs, sales jobs, just good paying jobs and nothing came from any of it. I could only take crappy jobs. So after a year, I moved back home to my parents and was working crappy jobs until I got a decent job as a graphic designer, but even then, it wasn't great; I could only learn and grow on my own time and taught myself how to code, and things have gotten much better. Once I realized you always have to put in the work and keep learning outside of school, that's when I could see my potential grow.
What is one identity or belief that you have that people might not know, and how does it show up in your life?
- I'm intuitive. I believe in energies in a spiritual sense, and I can feel them sometimes pushing me in a different direction than what I want. Still, if you go against those energies, you usually regret it, while if you follow them guiding you, it usually brings some good.
What are the three values that you bring into each space you occupy?
- Treat everyone equally, listen to others, and try to leave something better than before.
Who is a mentor who has shaped or guided your journey?
- I don't feel I really have had a real mentor that's shaped my journey more. I've watched some of my relatives start and grow companies that are doing very well. But I haven't had a mentor in the true sense of a mentor. But one person I can recommend to everyone is Mike Duignan, not just because he's interviewing me for this but because he's an amazing person who made me feel like family with him the day I walked into Sage College of Albany for the first time and we've been friends ever since.
What is a dream or goal that you have? What did you do today to achieve steps towards that?
- I have a few goals at the moment. The first one is becoming a full-stack developer, and I have been taking a course on udemy.com every day to accomplish this goal. My second goal is to build my own app to start my own business, which I have also been coding almost daily.
If you would like to be featured in a future installment of Mike's Mentors weekly spotlight, please get in touch with Michael Duignan or email [email protected]
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1 年Brian France thank you for letting me share your story!