Joe Stump on What Uncomfortable Tuk Tuk Rides Teach Us About Life

In Chapter 9 of 16 of his 2009 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur and programmer Joe Stump parallels discomfort encountered in foreign travel experiences - "You don't get any more uncomfortable or challenged than in a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok" - with the uncertainty encountered in Internet programming. Both motivate him to build new experiences in life and career.

Transcript:

Erik Michielsen:  How has your love and embrace of world travel affected your life perspective?

Joe Stump: I’m going to start out my answer with a quote.  One of my favorite all time quotes by Mark Twain is that “Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice, and narrow mindedness.”  So, I get out there….  It goes back to like “I like challenges.” That is why I’m in tech.  I dated an accountant for a very long time.  Accounting has not changed as a profession – before Sarbanes-Oxley – for 1000 years. 

I’m in a profession where the technology, the knowledge I learned two years ago is worthless today.  Absolutely worthless to me today. Travel appeals to me for that reason.  I like being uncomfortable and I like being challenged.  You don’t get any more uncomfortable and challenged than in a tuk tuk in Bangkok.