Did you hear? The Geeks turned the big 2-0 this year! 🎉 And as you can imagine, any milestone birthday brings about times of reflection.
Fortunately, our reflection time has uncovered some gems from photo albums past.
Every month during 2022, we featured Geeks in their 20s on our Facebook page. And we asked each of them a few questions about this time in their lives.
For some of us, this was just a few years ago (lucky ducks). For others, this was truly a blast from the past. For all of us, it was absolutely loads of fun. 🥳
Now, without further ado, we cordially invite you to take a walk down memory lane with us—and help us wrap up our 20th year by looking back at our 20s.
Ron Zasadzinski
June 22 was CodeGeek’s official 20th anniversary! It was THE day that head Geek Ron registered the domain codegeek.net.
To celebrate, Ron prepared three key pieces of advice he’d like to share with his 20-year-old self. ⬇️
⓵ Meditation
Meditation is going to be the most beneficial thing you will ever do.
Stick with it. It will make a positive difference in every area of your life. It is an essential component to your well being.
It will help you understand who you are as well as the people around you.
⓶ Automatic transfers
Set up automatic transfers to save and invest a portion of every paycheck, even if it’s small.
Compounding is the most underestimated force in finance. If you start investing now in your 20s instead of in your 40s, you’ll be much farther down the road to financial freedom by the time you are the age I am writing this to you.
Financial freedom gives you the ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want for as long as you want.
⓷ Take the next step — and give thanks.
Nobody really knows what they’re doing with their life, or here on this planet. All you need to know is the next step or two. Give thanks for all things.
David Faltermier
Q: What were you doing and where were you in the photo?
A: I was in Strasbourg, France, on leave while in the Army in Germany. (I was 20 years old!)
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: My pager. Very cool to have a pager on one’s belt!
Q: What was your favorite fashion wear in your 20s (back in 1985)?
A: Large-framed glasses. Southern California surfer-style feathered hairstyle. Faded, stone-washed Levi’s jeans. Neon colored t-shirts and shorts.👖
Enjoy your hair while you have it.
David’s advice to his 20-yr-old self
Rebecca Gilmore
Q: What were you doing and where were you in the photo?
A: I was gracing my parents with a visit while in college, sometime back in 1995.
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: My television set (analog back then). It was the best! 📺
Take more naps!
Rebecca’s advice to her 20-yr-old self
Jamie Katz
Q: What were you doing and where were you in the photo?
A: This photo is me at 21 years old in the mid-1990s. I was working at Winter Park Resort. ⛷
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: My 35mm SLR camera. 📷
Go buy real estate in Winter Park RIGHT NOW!!!
Jamie’s advice to his 20-yr-old self
Leah Queen
Q: What were you doing and where were you in the photo?
A: I was in the backseat of my sister’s car riding to my nephews’ fall festival. 🍂
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: I was in love with my iPod back then. Music at my fingertips in a small device was magic to me. ✨
Make the hard jumps and take the risks earlier. Your life will be better for it!
Leah’s advice to her 20-yr-old self
Chris Lenfert
Q: What were you doing and where were you in this photo?
A: I was finishing a hike in Bryce Canyon (circa 2008). 🥾
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: iPod Touch (which is basically still the same). 🎵
You probably wanna snag some Apple stock and drink more water.
Chris’ advice to his 20-yr-old self
Cathy Potter
Q: What were you doing and where were you in this photo?
A: This is 1/2 of an Olan Mills photo (remember them!?!?). I’m with my son when he was approximately 5 years old. 📷
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: My Gateway computer and AOL. 💾
Stand up for yourself. Your voice matters!
Cathy’s advice to her 20-yr-old self
Graden Sikes
Q: What were you doing and where were you in this photo?
A: This photo was taken a few days after my 20th birthday. I’m standing next to my final presentation materials for my intermediate design class in architecture school.
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: 3D printers! I think that tech is so interesting and I’ve had a ton of fun experimenting with different projects over the years.
Sometimes, things don’t go according to plan. Most of the time, that’s a good thing.
Graden’s advice to his 20-yr-old self
Todd Newcomer
Q: What were you doing and where were you in this photo?
A: I did a backpacking trip to the bottom of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It’s so steep in parts that they put long, steel chains to help lower yourself down. A beautiful place and now a national park (it wasn’t back then). 🌲
Q: What was your favorite piece of tech back then?
A: My favorite piece of tech was the original Palm Pilot. It was so awesome! I thought I was so hip with that cool, little stylus and the sweet black cover I had for it. 📱
Don’t sweat the small stuff, stop eating gluten and buy lots of Bitcoin.
Todd’s advice to his 20-yr-old self
Isaiah Goertz
Q: What were you doing and where were you in this photo?
A: I was in college, and by the looks of it, I was getting ready to head off to the disco. (The strange thing is that I don’t think there were any discos in town at that time!) 🕺
Q: What was a new piece of tech you liked back then?
A: I was one of the last holdouts of my friends to get a cellphone—and, wow, was it nice to be able to easily meet up with friends at the drop of a hat! 📱
‘You should really go after that Allison girl.’ She’s now my wife, so clearly we did eventually find each other.
But that was several years after college, and I think it would’ve been neat-o if we would’ve gotten together even sooner.
Isaiah’s advice to his 20-yr-old self
Want to see what these Geeky youngsters are up to now?