Edward spent the majority of his youth extremely interested in video games and their development, and attended community college to learn how to make his own. At the age of 22, upon reaching completion of his course, Edward began looking for work down the route of software engineering. He found a job listing on a website recommended to him by a friend that looked perfect - a small indie game company named Sleeping Ducks, seeking young, creative minds; Edward was thrilled by this, it was exactly what he was looking for! Of course, he immediately applied and awaited a response.

Fast forward a month, Edward had all but forgotten about the listing, and had found a mundane job working with spreadsheets, needless to say he was not satisfied. Upon returning home one evening, Edward looked through his mail to find what seemed to be a letter of correspondence from Sleeping Ducks, accepting his application. He was thrilled, finally he could be doing something meaningful with his time, something that he wanted to do.

Edward quit his boring office job and, with excitement, made preparations to accomodate for his new employment. A few days passed and it was time for Edward to start. He boarded the train and made way for Sleeping Ducks HQ. On the way, Edward received a call from an unknown number - with curiosity he answered, "Hello? Edward Barrett speaking.". There was no response, just a dial up sound. Edward hung up and put it out of mind, until a few minutes later in which the same number called back. Edward answered once again, "Hello?" this time a person responded, "Ah, hello Mr. Barrett! It's Vince from Sleeping Ducks! Just calling to tell you that the address you're to be at has changed..." the person continued, providing a different location. The call was brief, and Edward was confused, why would the address change? He shrugged it off and plotted the new address out on his phone.

Upon arrival at the location, Edward was met with a seemingly abandoned warehouse. Hesitant to enter, Edward attempted to call the number that had previously contacted him to ensure it was the right place - but there was no answer. He didn't like it one bit, something was off, he turned and before he knew it a sack had been thrown over his face, and he was knocked unconcious.

Several hours later, Edward awoke. There were several masked men standing around him, and one sat directly opposite. The man opposite spoke, "Edward, I'm sorry for the rude introduction but we couldn't have you leaving before we had a chance to offer an alternative line of work..."

The man revealed that he had been following Edward's work, and looking into his background since he submitted the application. They needed someone with his talents to work for them. A highly secretive hacktivist group that performed illicit activities, namely identity theft. They offered Edward extremely good pay, the likes of which he didn't expect to be making any time soon. He accepted, knowing the job opportunity was too good to pass up.

Edward worked with the group for five years, bringing in ridiculous sums of money; but things went bad - a job gone wrong and the whole operation was bust. Edward received a call from Vince, telling him that nearly everyone associated with the group had been detained, and that they were likely coming for Edward next. Vince suggested that Edward get out of country as fast as possible, and so he did.

Edward contacted a specialist at getting people out of the country with a new identity. It would cost him a lot, more than he had after the majority of his assets had been seized by the authorities. With some luck, he managed to cut a deal with the guy in exchange for payment in future.

He had made it to Los Santos with the contact's help, a new life stood before him, and he had a lot to do before he could make it worth living - with nothing to his name and thousands in debt to this man, it was time for Edward to apply his unique skillset once again.