My life recently has been an object lesson in extreme deviations from the norm. I got my teeth knocked out in broomball, but also landed an outstanding job in an arguably abominable economy where most of my peers have been struggling to find work and make ends meet. I’m now a software engineer at Vodpod, a web site oriented towards video aggregation and publishing. I love what I do, but how I got the job in the first place is also an interesting story.

Carleton College just started this new program called Engagement Wanted. As a graduating senior, you write a short “elevator speech” and post it on their web site. Here’s mine, in its entirety: