From BIOS Jumpers to Figma Stocks - by Phil Wornath
"Tap to be among the first to invest in Figma: the design tool behind countless apps, including this one." —A recent push notification I received from an investing app.
When my parents set a BIOS password to reduce screen time , I opened the case and bridged a jumper to bypass it. XP was too expensive, so I ran Linux and learned how to customize my OS. That early friction shaped the way I see digital tools: not as sealed boxes, but as systems we can understand, improve, and humanize.
I worked as an IT administrator at my school, helped elderly people organising their everyday digital life over chats, coffee, cake, pizza and wine.
That mindset led me to UX: helping others navigate technology at the root. Instead of solving problems one-on-one, I wanted to work on software more people could benefit from — to remove friction where it originates.
At 12, a neighbor who runs a medium sized software company introduced me to C#. I built games and small tools. I showed them to everyone in the office building which held multiple companies (even those who didn’t technically work there - I didn’t care nor maybe realize back then - I just walked in). I loved the feedback loops, the fast iteration, the joy of making things that others could use.
