Toby Thomassen is much like Clark Kent. Both wear glasses, have dark hair, and have alternate personas. While he may not be Superman, Thomassen’s alter-ego is almost as impressive given his circumstances. While maintaining his full-time job as a high school student, he also has an additional full-time programming job.
Thomassen began his coding career in fourth grade with a raspberry pi, a single board computer that helps users learn about computer programming.
“I had messed around with stuff before, but that was the first time I had actually tried to build something,” said Thomassen.
The raspberry pi turned into development work with Discord, which turned into scripts with Window programs, and it continued to snowball.
“I kept learning stuff [through] Youtube and online tutorials,” said Thomassen.
Thomassen’s work led him to the job he has now, a software developer and CTO (Chief Technological Officer) for a startup company called CarAlerts.com. He began to get noticed by his future bosses through freelance work he did for them in 2019, and they liked it so much that by 2020 they had brought him on full time. However, according to Thomassen, the work is not that fascinating.
“It’s mostly just talking with other developers,” said Thomassen. “Working with them, making schedules, and then fixing any issues that crop up.”
Not many students at Bloomington South have a full-time position with a salary, and even fewer have a position of authority. Thomassen has both. It’s safe to say he makes more than your average fast food restaurant worker, and he is also the boss of a few employees. While having a leadership position may be intimidating, his role doesn’t bother him at all.
“I don’t really think about it that much,” said Thomassen. “I try to make my meetings as collaborative as possible which doesn’t make it feel like I’m a boss.”
Thomassen’s situation is more similar to other students’ than one would think. Balancing work and school is a difficult task that he is learning how to accomplish as he grows older, but this job is not as challenging in that department as it may appear.
“It doesn’t take many hours and [I work] weekends,” said Thomassen.
As Thomassen nears the end of high school and approaches college, he is deciding whether to pursue a degree similar to his line of work. But that decision won’t be as hard for him as many would assume.
“I don’t really like computer science that much and programming is kind of boring,” said Thomassen. “Management is also kind of boring.”
Thomassen intends to pursue a degree in Material Sciences instead of programming. Even so, he will be left with two crucial decisions: where to pursue this degree and whether to keep his occupation.
“I don’t know where I want to go to college,” said Thomassen. [Keeping my job] depends on where I go. If I have spare time then I probably will.”
While Thomassen’s tenure as Superman comes to a close, he leaves Metropolis armed with new information and experiences as he looks onward to his new challenges in worlds still yet unknown.
