Psychosis, Hyper-Logic, and Engineering

A VP of Software Engineering shares a deeply personal account of living with schizoaffective disorder through high school, including psychosis, hallucinations, hospitalization, and recovery. The narrative traces how early tech curiosity (custom Android ROMs, open-source projects) provided a path into a software career despite significant obstacles. The author reflects on how lived experience with mental illness shaped their engineering philosophy, emphasizing empathy, emotional intelligence, accessibility advocacy, and critical thinking as core professional strengths.