Eric Stackpole

I had a lot of challenges with kind of the normal classroom-based learning style.

And, you know, my mom used to take me to science museums, discovery museums, and I found myself so

engaged in those sorts of things.

And so there was this disconnect where I was really interested and I was learning so much kind of on my own, but then in classroom with problem sets and homework, I wasn't doing that well.

So that kind of going back and forth taught me that really the best way for me to learn is to try things out myself.

So I think tinkering kind of started as a way of indulging my curiosity where the classroom setting wasn't really doing that as much.

And then if you do anything enough, you get good at it enough that you start being able to find ways to make it your career.

Yeah, right.

Like a lot of people, I remember when I was starting OpenROV and I would sometimes be giving talks about that and they'd be, oh, you're so lucky you found your thing.

You found what your calling is, you know.

And it seems sort of like, you know, I picture like a hound dog with its nose to the ground, you know, looking for that scent.

And once it finds it, it will know where to go.

But until then, it has to kind of just sniff around.

And I think that really has a lot to do with it.

It's a sort of like finding a way to stay interested and curious about new things as opposed to, I think some people and myself included have sometimes been like, well, this is my thing.

This has to be my thing because I built such an identity around it.

But it's not actually bringing them joy.

You know, when I think back even to early childhood, I can picture there was a theme to my interests, even if I didn't know exactly what that would manifest itself into.

But I remember as being a very little kid,

I had a room on the second floor overlooking another house.