Joel Leckie - Biography
Current Status:
Joel is currently a student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). He studies Computer Engineering Technology (CNT), a 2-year diploma program.
His major drive is towards software development, bridging the gap between what can be and what is. This includes utlizing hardware components, such as logic controllers and micro-processor boards, to enable those programs in a more physical way.
Joel formally began the CNT program in September, 2021. Having completed the first two terms of study, he is now entering his third term as of September 2022.
In the summer of 2022, Joel entered the student co-op for work integrated learning. He spent four months, from May to August, working in IT Support and Development for Arrkann Trailor and RV.
Aside from coding, Joel loves to spend quality family time with his wife, their two cats, and their dog. He writes stories and D&D adventures for a small group of friends. He is often planning the next home project, from building a custom spice rack to replacing the basement flooring. And yes, I love dragons.
Personal History:
Joel was born in rural Alberta to two schoolteachers as the youngest of three children. At the age of five, his family moved to St. Paul, Alberta. When he was 6 they moved again to a rental in nearby Elk Point. After two years living in a rental house in town, his family moved once again to a small acreage fifteen minutes away. The family finally found a place to settle.
Right away Joel became fascinated with mathematics and logic problems. He started learning from books outside the regular school curriculum. This drive for self-learning, and with both parents having teaching experience, made his family decide to try self-paced home learning starting in second grade. To maintain the social aspects of a school environment, Joel participated in several sports throughout the year. It was a big success. Though baseball remained his favorite, the summer season in Alberta was too short so he supplimented it with basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, and karate (to name a few).
The allure of learning new things was not restricted to school and sports. By the time Joel was ten, his older brother had started to show him some of the things that computer code could do. Joel started to dabble in QBasic programs, developing a few simple algorithms just to see what could be done. Though he took a couple elective programming courses in Basic during high school, he remained primarily self-tought.
High school, community involvement (4-H: cattle, small engines, public speaking) (Cub-Scouts: camping, survival, crafting) (Summer Camp: cabin leadership, instruction)
University, sports, leadership, community (Archery instructor, fencing instructor, demo participant), camping, drama, choir
Working, back to NAIT, working, back to NAIT
Travel (Banff, Jasper, Florida, California, Japan, Japan again), Conventions (CCEE, ECEE, Animethon, Otafest) & volunteering (Animethon)
For the first couple years of school I attended the local elementary in Elk Point. Starting at grade 2 I began home schooling, which continued (with a few exceptions) until my graduation. I continued to be active in the local community, particularly in sports programs. I played both volleyball and basketball as a registered student in the local school system for Elk Point Junior High and High School. During the year I participated in a number of activities, including tennis, golf, karate, swimming, 4-H, and cub scouts. My favorite to play was baseball, however the season was too short in Alberta.
I first went to university to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. This I accomplished at Taylor University College, where I also played volleyball, basketball, futsal, and was a member of the drama club. After working a few years in retail, not having found anything industry related in the area, I attended NAIT for a Business Administration diploma in the field of finance. This landed me a role at RBC. After several years there, I wanted to put my love of computers and technology to better use, so I returned to NAIT in the Computer Engineering Technology diploma programs where I am now.