My story

I stumbled on web development by coincidence. I was chatting with a stranger at a party, and they mentioned they were going through the freecodecamp curriculum to make a career switch. At the time, I was working as a product engineer, wearing many different hats. However, throughout the years I became conflicted by the lack of technical challeges of my position. Inspired by the story, I thought I'd give freecodecamp a try as well!

It was not exactly love at first sight, but by the time I made it to the React part of the curriculum, I was hooked! I'd always enjoyed software development, however I was plagued by imposter syndrome. Making steady progress on the curriculum started to give me confidence.

A few months down the road, I decided I would leave my career, and try my hand at being a digital nomad. I did not plan to be earning money, but I felt getting through the curriculum would provide a sense of progress and productivity. I set sail for Hanoi, Vietnam. The year long backpacking and digital nomading become a pivotal point in my life and career. I was able to get through critical parts of the curriculum, build a few projects, and even land a contract position. My initial projects' Heroku deploys are now dead, but here are a few pictures:

Freecodecamp meetup Hanoi

Google translate is great at translating documentation! I had worked on a blog project with these guys, and it helped me realize how little React and Javascript I knew at the time.

Remote "Work" from Pai

I was probably building my very first full stack SPA: a recipe app. The Roost stand and the Dell XPS took me far.

Dinner with the Relotalent team and friends

I really have to thank the Relotalent team for giving me a shot. All I had to do was keenly listen to the issues of Italian politics. Thankfully my Python and SQL skills from a past life came clutch.

After about a year in Asia, I decided I'd move to Berlin. This was the first time I realized how difficult cracking the coding interview would be. Unfortunately, I was not aware of the book at the time, and also did not have the background in computer science. After many failed attempts, I landed my first full time software engineering job at Diginex. Once again, on the job, I realized how little I actually knew. Thankfully, there was enough downtime at work to support my thirst for deeper knowlegde. I really have to thank Coursera for giving me access to university level courses for free. The knowledge and experience I gathered through these courses have made a big difference in my career. Similarly, my experience working in Berlin and the city's tech culture have made a big impact to my personal and professional life.

Portfolio shoot with Moonfare

I didn't make the "Meet the Team" page, but it'll be difficult to top this LinkedIn profile photo.

Brandenburg Tor at night

The weird and fantastic city of Berlin.

My first office space in Mindspace, Berlin

Jared Leto is not wrong, the coworking life is much better than cubicles.