3:05
Growing up in Malaysia and moving to the United States at 18
4:37
Studying robotics at Northwestern and finding the professor who made Aaron feel he had found his tribe
6:43
Experiencing imposter syndrome for the first time at Microsoft
9:06
The Windows lesson that taught him what a 1% failure rate means at global scale
10:54
Why working on body cameras felt like a practical way to contribute to social change
12:30
Realising Microsoft was becoming too familiar and deciding to leave before he became resentful
15:25
Being promoted and still knowing that level and money were no longer enough
17:23
Why high-performing professionals can become disconnected from how they actually feel about their work
18:59
Leaving Microsoft to try several startups, even though none ultimately worked out
20:00
Joining Axon's early body-camera team because he wanted to work on something that mattered
24:49
Why making something better can matter even when technology cannot solve the entire problem
27:54
Walking away from Axon despite the financial upside of staying
29:15
Why Aaron believes opportunities appear, but you still have to choose whether to take them
30:42
Nearly ten years across AWS Config, AWS Backup and AWS Control Tower
35:02
The changes in the technology industry that made Aaron question what he wanted from work
42:00
The breakfast conversation that introduced an unexpected possibility: "Have you thought about not working?"
42:59
Recognising that what was holding him back was fear of losing what he already had
43:50
Leaving Amazon without another full-time job waiting
44:00
Discovering how much of his identity had become attached to being a technology executive
48:48
Replacing a job-title answer to "What do you do?" with "I want to experience life"
49:17
Thinking about the second half of life as a finite number of summers
49:47
Creating a rule to actively learn one new thing every year
50:45
Taking improv lessons despite having no background in theatre
51:44
How learning outside technology introduced him to people and perspectives he would otherwise never have encountered
53:40
What AI told him about writing fiction like a technology executive
56:37
Why stepping away from full-time work did not mean abandoning technology
57:37
Using technology work as a way to keep entering unfamiliar industries and learning new things
1:03:04
Why Aaron believes the world is too vast and fascinating to stop learning
1:04:00
"Fear doesn't have a voice. You can feel it, but it doesn't get a vote in what you do"
1:06:47
Asking what the real downside is when fear starts getting in the way
1:07:17
Choosing experiences whose upside may become memories that last forever
