Bits to Blocks: A Tech Odyssey
From Coding Enthusiast to Consultant: Navigating the Evolution of Digital Technologies
A Young Mind's Fascination
My story starts as a 14-year-old kid who loved math and physics; I still went out playing with other kids but was a nerd in school, an elementary school top-of-generation kid.
Fast forward a few years, in 2002 at the age of 18 when I got into university, I got my first computer with an incentive to finish school.
I remember my parents offered me either a guitar or a PC. I have never regretted choosing the PC ever since. I bought the guitar 15 years later.
My first gig was working in a PC shop during university summer break fixing desktop PCs, and custom building new ones. I started creating desktop programs back then, Delphi, C#.
Early Explorations
A few years later, during my last years of study, I got my first full-time job, as a QA Engineer in a dev agency; In this job, I acquired empathy for the users of the software and the bad UI/UX, bugs that plagued so many of them. I learned about quality and UX matters and this has been a good lesson that has followed me through my career; how to think in the shoes of a user!
By then I went off doing software development work. Starting my journey as a Developer, I led as Technical Coordinator and Framework Developer, spearheading the development of tissue banking products for the healthcare sector. This early experience in healthcare technology not only sharpened my technical skills but also ingrained a deep understanding of the impact software can have on people's lives.
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
The initial experience acquired in a dev agency through full-time employment has fueled the next stage of my career growth as I went freelancing, having worked for many years for different clients and understanding not just the dev job, but also the architecture context and the broader business context.
At that point, something pivotal happened; I met an old colleague of mine, and we both started working as freelancers.
One day we sat down and came to the idea that we could scale freelancer work and thus, we opened our development agency. We pitched and got more than 15 clients, building technology solutions in Blockchain, BigData, and Fintech. We surpassed client expectations with a 90% client satisfaction rate and boosted client’s average operational efficiency by 20%.
Starting a dev agency was like opening a new chapter, where coding met entrepreneurship head-on. We were suddenly juggling interviews, crafting sales pitches, and coding, all while sitting across from clients, brainstorming solutions.
Turning Points and New Horizons
But it was our journey into a Blockchain & Fintech project, crowned with a FinTech Hackathon win at Finos TrustTech 2017, that truly expanded our horizons.
It introduced us to the realms of DeFi, crypto, and web3, with Uniswap emerging as the new buzz. It only allowed swaps, but I saw the need for more. So, I created a solution that introduced limit orders, blending innovation with utility. This venture earned us immediate recognition at the Chainlink hackathon, along with vital grants, showcasing our ability to turn ideas into impactful realities.
But, as I went deeper, I realized web3 crypto wasn't quite my forte, despite the project's success. Regulatory hurdles and personal challenges in navigating this space made it tough. Meanwhile, the agency hit rough waters too. Scaling up didn't pan out.
Lessons into Leadership
In the aftermath, I transitioned to a full-time Architect role at another dev agency, while maintaining a part-time CTO position, striking a balance between steadiness and my entrepreneurial spirit.
This shift offered a fresh perspective, highlighting widespread issues within the client-agency relationship that I hadn't fully grasped before. Experiencing similar challenges from a new angle underscored that these weren't isolated incidents but industry-wide problems.
This insight was a turning point.
In this third stage of my career, I now offer solutions to these challenges. I went into building a niche consulting service focused on providing fractional CTO and tech consultancy solutions, mainly in Fintech, Blockchain, and generative AI niches. This service is my answer to the challenges I've faced, aimed at providing strategic leadership, mentoring, coaching, and organizing technical operations effectively, applying lessons learned from my past to help clients.
In Closing: A Continuous Journey
This journey, from a curious teenager to a seasoned professional, is not just about the successes or the failures; it's about the lessons learned, the resilience built, and the continuous pursuit of knowledge.