From Selling TVs in a Mall to Speaking on Stage

I’ve been living and breathing the IT and Cloud Native world for a while now, but the path that brought me here was never straight or easy.

At 21, I had to drop university. My family was struggling, and I needed to start contributing. So I took the only job I could get: salesman at a mall, selling TVs, computers, sound systems or whatever was on display.

I spent hours on that floor, talking to strangers, learning how to really listen, how to connect, how to turn “just browsing” into a sale. What I didn’t realize back then was how much those years would shape me. That sales experience would become one of the most valuable skills I’d carry into tech later on. Life has a funny way of preparing you for things you can’t yet see.

For fourteen long years I believed this was going to be my forever, selling electronics, month after month, year after year. I had Linux skills. I could code a bit. But I was convinced that without a proper degree, none of it counted. I was stuck in my own head, waiting for a piece of paper to tell me I was allowed to dream bigger.

Eventually I went back, finished my degree in Industrial Engineering, and against the odds, landed my first real job in IT. It felt like I had finally broken through a wall I built myself.

Still, there were so many moments when I wished someone had pulled me aside fifteen years ago and said:

“Hey, one day you’re going to work for companies like Red Hat and SUSE. You’ll travel the world, stand on stages giving talks and live demos, meet incredible people from every corner of the planet.”

I would’ve laughed out loud. Because that future felt impossible for a guy whose biggest win was hitting his monthly sales quota.

What I did right, though, was keep believing in myself even when the evidence was weak. I kept learning quietly. I stayed ready. And when the opportunity finally came, I was there to meet it.

Since stepping into the open source world, I’ve been incredibly lucky. I found mentors who didn’t just teach me technology, they taught me how to think, how to communicate, how to grow. I worked alongside people who were so much smarter than me, and instead of making me feel small, they lifted me up. They gave me chances, honest feedback, and real support. I progressed faster than I ever deserved, all because good people chose to invest in me.

I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be this version of me without them.

That’s really why I’m starting this blog.

Yes, it’ll serve as a public window into my journey and a kind of living CV. But more than that, I want to share the honest story: the doubts, the long years that felt wasted, the quiet persistence, and the moments that changed everything.

If this resonates with even one person who feels stuck right now — maybe selling something they don’t love, maybe doubting their own potential — then it’s already done its job. Over time, I hope to start mentoring others, to pay forward what was so generously given to me, and help someone else change the direction of their life the way mine was changed.

Because when I look back, this story has my name on it… but it was written by many hands.

It’s about my family, who needed me before I was ready.
It’s about the friends who believed in me on the days I couldn’t.
It’s about the mentors, colleagues, and even strangers who trusted me, invested their time, and helped me grow into someone I never dreamed I could become.