This September, Parallax has been in business for 35 years. As part of our celebration, we asked our customers to tell us your Parallax story. This is one we received from our community which will be shared throughout the month.
Above, you’ll see pictures of Ari’s “Curso DeRobotica” in the late 1990s, and his first days at Parallax well over 20 years ago.
I’ve read the effect Parallax had on many customers, and I can certainly relate. Many call the encounter with Parallax “life-changing”. My relationship with Parallax started in the late 90s and has taken me (with my family) through an incredible path. I’ll summarize the best I can below.
As a Vocational Tech instructor in Argentina, I was hoping to introduce microcontroller programming and robotics to my students. Microcontroller programming kits were unfriendly and unreachable, costing about one year of a teacher’s salary at the time.
Then I saw the ad for the BASIC Stamp 2 module in a magazine and bought my first BASIC Stamp. Sounds like an easy task, but at the time that BS2 module cost one month of salary and it took a 5-hour bus ride to Buenos Aires to get it.
I was greatly impressed by the ease of use of the BS2 and immediately started looking for ways to introduce microcontrollers to my students. Parallax started releasing Stamps in Class material which was perfect for classroom use, but there was a problem. The material was in English and needed to be translated to be useful for my students.
I contacted Parallax requesting authorization to translate the material into Spanish, and I heard right back from Ken Gracey, not only with permission to translate the material but with encouragement to grow the Spanish-speaking support for the Stamps in Class program.
By the year 2000, I had translated all Parallax books into Spanish and was a Parallax consultant, teaching educators courses in Spanish-speaking countries and also creating and moderating Spanish-speaking forums.
By 2002, I was hired by Parallax and relocated to California and my career switched from technology end user to supporting the creation of educational kits and curricula development for educators around the world.
I have worn many hats at Parallax (Education Manager, Tech Support Manager, International Business Developer, etc). I tend to go wherever help is needed.
Parallax supported my immigration process to the US, through a process of changing and extending visas, green card, until I finally became a US citizen in 2013.
I worked for a while managing a Parallax branch resolving contract manufacturing and quality issues, but I have recently returned home to work for Parallax as Vice President.
I’m usually working behind the scenes supporting and coordinating Parallax staff, but occasionally you will see me representing Parallax in an event or hosting a Zoom class or a meeting.
It has been an amazing journey, and we’re not done yet…
Aristides Alvarez
