# ⁉️ What/Why This is my public thinking space - a collection of notes, observations, and learnings from my journey in tech and life. Some pieces will be polished, others rough around the edges. All of them represent my attempt to understand things better through writing. If you find something valuable here, that's a welcome bonus. # 🏔️ My Journey From curiosity to career, here's how my path in software engineering unfolded: Getting my first PC at age 7 was like finding a magic box - both fascinating and intimidating. Neither I nor my parents understood how it worked, which made every discovery feel like unlocking a new mystery. The more time I spent exploring, the more I realized I didn't just want to use this machine – I needed to understand the magic happening behind the screen. During high school, I dove headfirst into self-teaching computer science. Unlike many of my peers, I turned this passion into a practical pursuit, launching my freelance web development services. This marked the beginning of my professional journey as a software engineer - and yes, getting paid for doing what I loved was quite the milestone. With financial constraints at home, I crafted a practical plan: self-finance my college education through freelancing. However, life had different plans. Right after high school, I landed an unexpected role as a backend engineer - a fortunate turn of events that I still appreciate to this day. Programming became my world. I spent countless hours coding, both at work and in my free time, constantly learning and pushing my boundaries. After two years as a professional backend engineer, I made a controversial decision: to forego college. While being self-taught worked wonderfully for me, my parents didn't initially share my enthusiasm - a common scenario for many in our field. [[Resume|Over the next five years]], I had the privilege of working with exceptional clients, companies, and colleagues. Along the way, I built two startups - both of which "failed successfully." These experiences taught me invaluable lessons about technology, people, and business dynamics that no traditional education could provide. (Stay tuned for detailed stories about these ventures!) Alongside my full-time role, lately, I've been immersing myself in cyber-security, DevOps, and software architecture. I plan to document this journey - from the technical decisions to the inevitable challenges and victories - hoping others might find value in these experiences. # 📫 Connect With Me [](https://linkedin.com/in/mark01zlatar) [](https://twitter.com/mark01zlatar) [](mailto:[email protected]) [](https://github.com/mark01zlatar)