Vitaly Pecherskiy

This is my 8th year writing on my birthday, and this year I traveled in time.

One of the things that separates elite from amateur athletes is having the mental strength to tolerate pain. The question is: Can anyone strengthen their mental fortitude? I believe the answer is yes.

When your brother was born I wrote him a letter. I didn’t hold back any insights because after the dramatic, bombshell experience of having our first child, your mother and I were pretty sure he would be our only one… until he wasn’t, and now we have you :) Everything I said to him then and what I want to tell you now applies to you both. 

Years ago my two co-workers at StackAdapt did half-Ironman, which greatly inspired me. This year, I finally achieved a milestone of my own by completing my first Olympic Triathlon. During my preparation, I went online seeking advice for enhancing running speed and endurance, I stumbled upon a video featuring a runner.

This is the 7th year I’ve written on my birthday. Every year the format of my birthday article changes, and this year is no exception. In the past, I've focused on lessons learned, but this year I will just share things that are on my mind. 

If you’ve spent any amount of time reading career advice, the topic of building a personal brand has surely come up.

My first job out of university was not actually in my field of study. I had moved to Toronto to land a job in finance, and three weeks later found myself working at a small advertising technology startup. I had a blast working there, made friends for life, and was inspired by the founders to pursue my own entrepreneurial path. Looking back, I see now how life-changing that job was for me.

Christie Lake Kids’ mission is to enrich the lives and prospects of economically disadvantaged children by providing quality year-round community and camp programs to develop physical, social and character skills. CLK believes that all children should have the chance to experience the beauty of the natural world – to swim in a lake, paddle a canoe, sit by a campfire.

There’s no doubt that success in life depends in large part on who you know. For that reason, knowing how to reach out and make a “cold” contact (that is, without any prior introductions or interactions) is a very important skill.

Meeting the right co-founders is arguably the most important part of starting and running a successful business. But what exactly makes co-founders “right”?

This year I was blessed with the birth of my son. Though I anticipated that becoming a father would be life-changing, I could never have predicted all the profound ways in which this tiny human would change me. So this year’s article is a Thank You to him for unknowingly teaching me many valuable lessons that I am grateful for and excited to share with you.

You are born during interesting times. In some ways, life on Earth has never been better – we are at the peak of innovation in science and technology, we have instant connectivity across the globe, literacy is on all time high and poverty is at an all time low. But, we still have many problems, and our future has never been more uncertain. You will likely live through many challenging times, and I hope you can contribute to some solutions.

My interest in the topic of diversity and inclusion started in 2016 when we at StackAdapt produced a documentary exploring the issue of diversity in the technology industry. The documentary included an examination of the “pipeline problem” – namely, how comparatively low numbers of people of color and women study computer sciences and engineering, in turn, contributes to the lack of diversity in these areas in the workforce.

Here are a few documentaries that I enjoyed watching over the last 3 months. All of these are available on Netflix.