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Ivan Smokrović
Ivan Smokrović

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Pursuit of happiness

In this article, I will explain to you how, at the age of thirty, I decided to change my profession and pursue my passion.
After high school where I was not very good at mathematics (but otherwise very good student) I decided to enroll in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. After one semester I dropped out of college because I did not have good mathematical foundations and could not keep up with classes.

Not long after, I started working. At first, these were low-paying jobs, and I changed them every couple of months hoping to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I spent ten years at my last company. Surely you wonder how it could have been if it wasn't a dream job? I hadn't planned to stay that long, but my employer raised my paycheck every few months. I loved the money and all that it brings. I could start living on my own, I started traveling and buying things that I couldn't afford until now. And every time I got fed up with my current job and started planning for a career change, my employer promoted me to a new position.
So in the first five years of working as an ordinary controller, I came to a higher controller, then to a dispatcher, and eventually to the head of the technical department. A job I had done for the last five years
It was interesting at first, but through some years it became monotonous. I no longer had to master new skills, it all came down to monthly routines. Then I started to wonder how much longer I would endure in this job. I was dissatisfied, only possessed the skills for that particular type of work, but I still didn't know what I would like to do for the rest of my life.

At the time, I was coming to a friend, Silvester, who was involved with Web development, and it seemed interesting to me what he was doing. He introduced me to the world of frontend development. He suggested that I start learning the basics of frontend, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I was skeptical at first because I thought I would need excellent math skills. I soon got rid of all my doubts when I started adopting materials with w3schools, Udemy and Skillshare. So I decided to enroll in a frontend development school in my hometown to further my existing knowledge and learn something new. I liked the ability to further develop my knowledge, so I quickly started learning various frameworks like jquery, bootstrap, and so on. I know it is a drop of knowledge in the ocean of knowledge, but it is what pushes me further, the eternal pursuit of learning new things.
I look forward to mastering new technologies.

After graduation, I decided to quit my job, start my own company and work as a freelancer. Now I'm sitting in the office with the same friend and now mentor who showed me the first lines of HTML code three years ago. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with a friend who has 10 years of experience in the field, and I hope that the student will one day become as good as a teacher.

And finally, for all of you reading this, take my advice, follow your dreams, be passionate about what you do, and get out of your comfort zone every once in a while.

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