my digital age :: for (y = 2001; y <= 2004; y++)

consider that the 1st line of iPods was launched in 2001, LinkedIn was created in 2003, Facebook in 2004, GMail also in 2004 (however, Google IPO was launched in 2004). When I left Italy in 2001 I had created a Hotmail account with Microsoft, although I could only keep in touch with my brother and a few others that were attending University at the time (and therefore had university addresses).

So, probably this was not just my digital age. However, to cut a long story short, I got my first laptop as a birthday present. From that moment on, I basically stopped sleeping until about 2006 ;p)

Sleepless and endless nights coding away (or at least trying!!!), peculiar day dreams about getting caught into an infinite loop of coding mistakes, incontrollably spinning for eternity...

But I was definitely hooked....

and it was all worth it, I can assure you ;g)

here is the story, I'll try to keep it short ;p)

I had some savings when I left Italy. I had a connection in Dublin and I moved without the worry of having to find a job immediately. I had no English and my friend had a couch. The Celtic Tiger was in full bloom (of course I had no idea what it all was about) and finding even the tiniest room was virtually impossible.

However, luck struck me several times.. A guy in the house I was guest in decided to suddenly leave so I got a room. And shortly after a job in Temple Bar (thanks to my experience not my English!).

The people working with me were all incredibly friendly and from different nationalities, including one manager from Italy, who helped me a great deal with the language at the beginning. And I can say the tips were pretty good!!!

Between the job in the restaurant and beautiful people in the local pub, in less than three months I started dealing directly with customers and in 8 months I was impressed by how much I could understand compared to when I arrived first.

Along with all this I had this newly found passion for computer stuff, times were good, money was good, my experiences were exploding. I was 25 and had lots of energy. I started spending every free minute (often during the night) studying about computers and programming and I got deeper and deeper. At this stage I had a good understanding of English, so the amount of resources I could access (along with the explosion of the internet) had multiplied a thousand fold.

In the meantime my confidence also grew and I started working for a local catering company often organising events for the Government or other important clients. After looking and researching around, I understood what the Celtic Tiger meant and what opportunities were out there for me.

But with no official education and ever having worked a day in my life in an office, I knew it would be challenging. I wasn't easy so I figured that a multi-lingual job would be a great place to start. I was aware of the countless call centres in Dublin and so I figured I would give it a shot and so I went for it. Thanks to my boss in the catering company, I got a position in UPS.

There, after few weeks and thanks to my organisation skills, I identified a number of areas where I could impress the Team Leader by writing some VBA code in Excel and Access.

My startegy worked and I was moved to a higher position within the team. There I continued to "show-off" my skills waiting for a good opportunity to come up. In 2004, after 2 years in UPS, a position for an internal programmer opened.
I applied, completed a practical coding test and got the position over five other candidates.