I went through some comments, and they give the worst advices. Those are not advices, those just lost opportunities. Or simply regrets. Like my mom likes to say "I knew that was coming!", how the fuck did she knew anything? Sure a lot of people in 80 thought about investing in IT stock, but they did not. Sure a lot of people thought about buying bitcoin for a cent, but they did not. And you know what? Those who did, they might be not with us anymore, or maybe they are living happy live, and not going to post anything here.

I would not change a thing in my life! I am happy where I am.

2002 - went to get my math degree in Russia. Knew close to nothing about software development.

At that period of time, I was thinking about I wish I had a car, so I could work as a taxi driver, and make some money. I should have started collecting for a car a while back.

2005 - sold my first tiny program to a small factory. later got my first job as software engineer.

At that time I was pretty happy, that I did not have a car, and actually spent that time learning more than university could give me. And was able to make some money. That summer I also worked at construction.

2010 - got my first remote job for a company outside of Russia. Started making 5x times more than I used to.

At that time I was thinking, that I should have done it before. But hey, I did not have knowledge and experience. I am glad that I have spent that time not only working, but also learning, getting into community, got Microsoft MVP and MSP awards.

2011 - got a job in Microsoft, moved to USA. If you look at how many big macs I could buy in USA vs Russia, my salary probably went down maybe 2-5 times (if it matters it was $54,000USD in Russia vs $92,000USD in USA).

Was thinking every day, if moving out of Russia was a good idea or not, because Microsoft salary in Redmond was not the best at that time. But you know what? Now I am definitely glad that I moved away from Russia!

2013 - moved from Microsoft to Splunk. Best job I ever landed.

Certainly was thinking that I am so late in the game now. All those kids from college making so much money. And I am in getting close to 30, and only started working for a real company. All those smart people around me. Regretting that I invested more than 10 years in Microsoft technologies, when all the startups in Linux and cool languages like nodejs (it was very popular that year).

2017 - joined Stripe for just a year.

Definitely was thinking that I made a mistake joining them. Great company. I was on the wrong team. The manager could not explained me correctly what the team was doing - "hey you worked for Splunk, that includes Search - we doing something related to search" - turns out that was data engineering. But! Usually I would dedicate 40 hours + unlimited a week for a company I work for. But in case of Stripe my project was sooo boring for me, that I started building my own company while riding a bus everyday 40 minutes one way and 40 minutes another, and in the evening.

2017 (end of the year) - sold my first license for the software I have built.

2018 - left Stripe. I started working 80-100 hours a week. For at least two years. That was not a hobby anymore. There was a stress about starting my own company knowing nothing, and every day fighting with something new and unknown.

2024 - I am making Google Principal Engineer total salary and work for myself. I am very happy and don't want to change a thing. Because every single thing brought me to a place where I am right now.

I went thought painful divorce (happily married now, again). My dad recently died, and I could not go to Russia, because of situation right now. One of my dogs recently died. There is a lot of shit happening around me. But I am happy.

But yes, there is one thing, that I kept saying that I would change. If you want to have kids - make them in your 20. But you know? If I had a kid, I would probably be in a different place right now. Maybe I just did not want to have kids, that is the reason why I kept saying that.

My point is, do not look back. There is going to be so many people who would say, if only I was 10 year younger, or if I knew 10 years ago. Just 2 years ago we were saying that there could be nothing bigger than FFANG, but hey OpenAI came out of nowhere. Maybe OpenAI is going to die next year as a company, and sure there is going to be somebody like my mom who would say "I knew that was coming!" How the fuck did you knew?!