DARYL DUCHARME: I was a band geek through and through.
I never really learned to read bass guitar music too well,
but I did play bass guitar.
We ended up playing at a school talent assembly.
We were just this loud punk rock band,
and even though most people didn't like us,
the energy was so much that I remember I took my bass off,
and I just threw it up in the air.
And then I got out of the gym, and I
got freaked out because I was like, oh my goodness,
did I break my bass?
But that was the moment where I was like,
I need to make sure I'm in front of people and performing,
because I just love that feeling.
I'm Darryl Ducharme, and this is my journey to becoming a Google
Developer Advocate.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
During college I studied audio production.
After school I went to work for a guitar shop that kind of did
all the different things that you might want as a musician.
And I actually worked for Guitar Center for almost five years
at various stores.
And it's because of Guitar Center
that I met some people who introduced me to wrestling
and made me a wrestling fan.
My operations manager, his brother-in-law
was actually an independent professional wrestler.
And he took me to see a show, and I was just blown away.
There was pyrotechnics and loud music.
And the things that they would do in the ring
were just amazing to me.
I was like, where have you been all my life?
And I got to talking with one of the wrestlers.
And since I was a store manager, I had a nice clean cut.
And he said to me, you look like you would make a great referee.
I thought about it a long time, and I kept going back to it.
And my now wife she said, it sounds
like you want to be a wrestler.
As soon as she said that, I was like,
yes, this is what we're doing.
And I went forward.
I found a gym, learned about getting in shape,
and then went to the school.
And I became a professional wrestler.
My wrestling name was Deacon.
He was a televangelist, because I wanted him to be a bad guy.
And it seems like televangelists are always
telling you you're a terrible person
and asking for your money, two things that people hate.
So I built a website for my wrestling gimmick
so my fans could know where I was going to be.
I did learn a lot about programming in Flash.
And I started to put that stuff on my website.
And so I was like if I'm going to be on the road,
I need something I can do on the road.
Well, I'll build websites with the skills that I have.
And one of my training clients ran a business that
did interactive website design.
And so I asked him to be my mentor.
And he was like, sure, I'll mentor you.
And he helped me get a couple of clients.
And then when I decided to retire from wrestling,
he's like, why don't you come work for me?
And that was really my entry into being
a professional developer.
Becoming a Google Developer Advocate
was really intentional, because when
I learned about the concept of a developer advocate
sort of role, it seemed like the perfect mix
of my love of performance and my love of tech.
The skills that I learned as a wrestler that
have helped me be a better developer advocate
are the skills of dealing with an audience
and connecting with an audience, because I
feel that that's a skill that a lot of people don't have.
One of the things about a nontraditional background
is you bring a point of view that's very much needed
in lots of projects out there.
[MUSIC PLAYING]