Hi there!

First, I would like to thank you for visiting my personal website! I really hope you enjoy reading and exploring my work.

Who am I?

My name is Paul Nicolae Istrătoaie, I'm 31 years old at the time of writing this blog, I was born in Romania on 11th of September 1989, and I'm currently living in Ireland. I am a loving husband and a caring father of one.

My passions are travelling (and I will probably write more about this in another blog), cars and motorsports, computers and technology. I love spending time in nature, surrounded by trees, on a waterside, I love the sea and the beach and I enjoy hiking. I plan on getting more active in the future and start hiking more and cycling on mountain trails and downhills.

What is my occupation?

Well, this is a bit more complicated. In essence is very simple, I am a software developer. For other people, I am the computer geek who gets asked to fix a friend's or relative's computer or printer. I've always been that guy and always dreamed to make a career from writing code. Somehow, at some point I lost motivation, probably because of low demand of that time, but I don't want to find excuses. So in 2013 I decided to move to Ireland and try to start a career in IT here. Unfortunately, my English wasn't too good at that time and I had no actual work experience. This, combined with my low motivation and desperate need of a job to survive, has pushed me to take an alternative path. Therefore, I have started a job as a delivery driver. In the meantime, I have still worked as a freelancer and have done some projects and works for acquaintances. Now, and for a while already, after over 7 years, I have realized that it is time to try to fulfil my dream. I am grateful for all I've learned while being a delivery driver, and I don't regret a thing. After all, every thing that happen has led to this moment. I've never stopped improving, I've improved my language and my ability to work and talk with people, and I've got to know myself better. Before this, I was shy and introverted.

How I found my vocation?

My father was an electronics engineer, so I have inherited his technical skills. Unfortunately, he has passed away too early to share his knowledge, but I found my attraction to new-school technologies, digital ones. I've got my first computer at about 7 years old, and I was so curious that my mother was paying someone to come and reinstall windows every week, as I was cleaning up unnecessary files 😅. After a short while I was installing Windows 95 and then 97 to the whole neighbourhood 😁.  At about 13 years old, in my curiosity, I wanted to learn how to create websites. So I found a website creator software, part of Microsoft Office suite if I remember well, in which I've started to insert elements such as tables, links and buttons. After every insertion I was checking the code, this is how I have learned HTML. At that time, the only websites that were standing out, were made either with flash or Photoshop, so I've learned Photoshop, following online tutorials. Now I knew HTML and Photoshop, I was able to create beautiful static websites, it was time to learn some backend. I've met few other enthusiasts like me online, and sharing knowledge I've stumbled upon a simple PHP tutorial which was describing simple MySQL operations. During this I have experimented with CMS platforms like e107 and forums like phpBB. In 2005 I've published my first full-stack website, a tutorials collection. In 2006 I had my first customer, and I've built my first e-commerce project, which happened to be the first online clothing store in Romania (not acknowledged). After this, many projects followed, they can all be found in the Portfolio page of this website.

So, what am I doing now?

For almost a year, every day after work and sometimes in weekends too, I am learning. I know I've said I'm a loving husband and father, but I'm trying to find a balance between these, so I'm usually starting after 9 PM, bedtime, and I learn and up until after 12 AM. First, I started learning Laravel, following crash courses on YouTube and courses on SkillShare and PluralSight, as I was already knowing PHP. I've learned and practised Laravel for a while until I found about this great programme Springboard which offers free and subsidised courses for working people in Ireland, that wants to change career, upskill and reskill. I took a look straight away and the only available course at that time was Full-stack Software Development Diploma at Code Institute, which was exactly what I was looking for. Furthermore, I have applied and I've been accepted. I am loving this course so far, and I have set a goal to get a high grade diploma. So far, I am on the right track, as I've got awarded Distinction  for my first two milestone projects and this personal portfolio serves as my third milestone project.

What will I do next?

I am highly motivated to pursue this path and I will definitely not give up. I will keep learning and improving, and hopefully I will find the dream job.

Thank you for reading!