I've always been extremely passionate about technology. Some of my oldest memories are related to me interacting with it. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on my first computer in the, now distant, year of 1998, and my life hasn't been the same ever since.
I've been online since the year 2003, something which granted me the rare opportunity of witnessing firsthand the growth of the online landscape in real time. From the popularity and death of simplistic table layout pages, to Web 2.0 design with its bold gradients, to web pages stuffed to the brim with janky jQuery code, to converting almost every site in existence from a simple Monolith to a SPA, to Virtual DOM all the things, to today and onward. The web has truly become one of the most exciting and dominant domains of technology. We interact with it daily, often without even realising it. With the advent of Node, you can now write JavaScript (and its many, many flavours) for pretty much any platform, any application, any solution.
Around 2004, I discovered the magic of web development and I said to myself "Now that's something I want to learn and do, it looks so cool!". The idea of making visual things that people get to interact with, and might actually find benefits from using, truly stroked my fancy. In 2005, at age 11, I officially became a freelancer and had my first tiny freelance project for a client. The size, scope, and complexity of my projects grew with time, and I eventually got (in my opinion) pretty good at it.
Considering I'm still doing this professionally all these years later and not slowing down one bit, I'd venture to guess that I've found my life's calling.
When I graduated high school in 2012, I decided to come and study engineering in Denmark, where I continued working for various companies during and after my studies. Overall, the experience has been pretty positive, and I've expanded my horizons significantly. My education has been an invaluable part of my growth as a programmer (remember that word?) and, even though it had its ups and downs, I wholeheartedly recommend it. Yes, it's absolutely true that you can make it as a self-taught developer in our industry, but having formal education on algorithms and various other things will make a significant boost to your skills and understanding of how everyday things work.