---
slug: johnny-johnny-yes-papa
title: Johnny Johnny Yes Papa
category: Notes
status: Published
summary: The microcontrollers were something I never hated. I still do not completely understand why.
publishedAt: 2026-07-26
---

# Johnny Johnny Yes Papa

It was not truly my choice to follow the path of engineering technology after high school. And, in all honesty, I did not know what I wanted to become in 2007.

I had something in mind, something that touched the social side, which aligned with my NCAE result back then. `Social talaga ang lumabas, no joke.` But I still completed my major in 2010, far from what I originally imagined for myself.

This journal is not an attempt to chase down and heal my inner child. Still, I have to admit that something unexpected happened during those technical years in college: I selectively fell in love with parts of the field, even if I never embraced the whole thing wholeheartedly.

As someone who was HUMSS-shaped before HUMSS was even the label, formulas from calculus, physics, and thermodynamics simply refused to sync with my prefrontal cortex. I am fine with being categorized as stupid, but honestly, it often felt more like I was simply in the wrong place.

Despite all the college drama, like flunking major subjects and attending special classes. The microcontrollers were something I never hated. I still do not completely understand why.

And hey, I still graduated on time. `Panis!`

Wye-delta and forward-reverse motor controls held my interest, perhaps because something actually moved. But as soon as the discussion shifted to mesh analysis or transmission and distribution, I was already mentally preparing for lunch.

If I had to explain how I measured my interest in these selective parts of engineering, it would still come back to my default HUMSS brain asking:

`What is the impact of this shit on my life?`

When a relay became energized, however, I was mesmerized—mostly because it made that satisfying clicking sound. `Kasi tumutunog, hahaha!`

Do not sit me down and ask me to hunt for derivatives and constants. If I cannot immediately see what they do, my brain refuses to believe they have a purpose.

`Hahaha! Joke lang kasi may purpose iyan, probably for someone else.`

Fast-forward from 2007 to 2026, nearly 2 decades later. I came back to find out whether that old interest was still there.

Apparently, there was still some gravitational pull.

For whatever strange reason, I rode a train to Carriedo. That was my only purpose for going to Manila that day, to buy a microcontroller and find a way to make it work using Node.js.

Back in 2007 and 2008, Node.js did not even exist. Microcontroller work typically meant working closer to C, C++, and their associated tooling—the compilers I found boring.

Those coding languages have not disappeared. Embedded code still turns the wheels on the board. The difference today is that Johnny-Five can help orchestrate the hardware from Node.js, while StandardFirmata runs on the Arduino and communicates with the host through the Firmata protocol over USB.

I should say that my electrical technology background is like someone I legally married but never fully loved back.

`Kasi nga hindi talaga ako para sa kanya, hahaha!`

Still, there were moments in that relationship that I will never forget, moments that genuinely made me happy.

Some of them had something to do with microcontrollers.

Thanks for the years, I guess.

More proof-of-concept content soon. For now, you can watch the video on [Meta](https://web.facebook.com/reel/1565060701751818), and explore the [repository](https://github.com/aeronje/johnny-johnny-yes-papa) if you are working on a similar microcontroller setup.