In this, part one of our interview, Dave reflects on his early influences, his formal education at Imperial College in London, making the leap into the commercial software development world and laying the foundation for both his writing and publishing careers. We also talk about that little bit of Dave that is heading for outer space. Finally in this part, Dave takes time to reflect on formal education and provides some surprising thoughts on whether or not there is still value in post-secondary studies. He even proposes a new, alternative curriculum which is more closely aligned with the times in which we now find ourselves.