Mike Jackson | Evan Adams | Michelle Bryant | Candis Callison | Ian Campbell | Bernard Casavant | Stacey Edzerza | Lenny Fisher | Dave Griffin | Trevor A. Joe | Tewanee Joseph | Rose Lesner | Duncan McCue | Carey Newman | Cherie Joy Rochelle Peal | Jason Rock | Lisa Sam
Growing up in Surrey and of Metis/Cree ancestry, Jason Rock worked hard to learn all he could about computers when he was in junior high. Back then, computers were, as he puts it, “still a geek thing.”
His Dad was a businessman, and Jason started working in the family business after school when he was still in junior high, thanks to his growing wizardry on the computer and with computer programming.
If computers were “geeky” his other hobbies, go-cart racing and motorcycle racing, were very “cool” and just as exciting to Jason.
After graduating from high school he decided to take some time to seriously pursue his racing passion. Jason packed his bags and moved to southern California, where he spent more than two years competing in the fast paced world of motorcycle racing while still working part-time in the family business. It was a good decision to take a break after high school, Jason will tell you, because it helped him find out what he really wanted to do.
At age 21, he returned to Surrey. Fascinated by what he’d seen about how marketing related to the racing business, he enrolled in Kwantlen College to take courses in business, marketing and public speaking. At the same time, he also became interested in flying airplanes, got his commercial pilot’s license, and found some work as a flight instructor.
Three years later and flying high with his new skills, Jason began working fulltime in the family business – first as a Marketing Director and later as a Product Manager. He describes his current work in Product Management as a sort of detective work to find out what features customers want from his company’s hardware and software.
What next? Jason loves his work and is searching for ways to combine it with his love of aviation. How? “Hmmm… wait and see,” he says
Thinking About School
“Junior high and high school is the time to take as many computer courses as you can. While you likely won’t know exactly what you want to do for a career until you are in your 20s, if you learn how to use a computer and you take high school courses in English and math, you’ll keep your options open.”
“Have fun too. Find something about school that will keep you motivated, whether that is sports, or subject area like science or math.”
– Jason