Growing Future Operators

In Growing Future Operators, innovation meets education in a bold experiment to prepare the next generation for a technology-driven world.

Frank Spencer and Jack Whitaker lead two very different school systems—one focused on tradition, the other on pragmatism. Their paths cross with Freddie Lima, a visionary technologist whose groundbreaking idea challenges the way schools approach learning.

Freddie, co-founder of All Things Operations (ATO), has built an extraordinary career as a software engineer, systems engineer, and cybersecurity executive. Now, he believes the future of DevOps, SecOps, and DevSecOps should begin not in universities, but in elementary classrooms. His plan? Start by training teachers, then prove that even 10-year-olds can grasp the fundamentals of operations. To test his theory, he hires his young niece and her friends as summer interns.

But Freddie’s vision meets resistance at every turn. School systems push back against more technology, teachers’ unions fight to protect non-tech educators, and parents worry about screen time and digital overload. Meanwhile, administrators like Whitaker and Spencer must weigh the risks and rewards of embracing Freddie’s unconventional ideas.

Growing Future Operators is a thought-provoking novel that blends storytelling with real-world insight, sparking critical conversations for teachers, administrators, parents, and students. It asks a powerful question: what if the future of technology education could start in the earliest years of learning?