About

I've been programming for over 30 years, meaning I started at a time when a computer scientist seemed like an abstract concept. I completed my first commercial project at the age of 16, trying to balance a deadline with the need to memorize German vocabulary for the next test in high school.

Back then, my knowledge came exclusively from books purchased at a local bookshop called "Pegaz", the IDE I used was Borland C++ acquired at a bazaar with semi-legal CDs, and I was learning how computers work through trial and error. Especially error. But as a teenager in the '90s, I didn't care much about that.

A great support turned out to be my high school computer science teacher, Tomek (warm regards to you) who was not only competent, but was happy to share his knowledge and - importantly - his experience. Among other things, he explained SQL to me and introduced me to Iron Maiden. I became a big fan of both.

The real breakthrough came when I managed to buy a Zoltrix dial-up modem at the staggering speed of 33.6 kbps. The fledgling Internet provided a remarkable service called IRC (Internet Relay Chat - you could say that alongside Usenet, it was the first social medium). On IRC, I met many specialists, far better than me, started learning from them, and generated a massive phone bill that I spent months paying off.

The early 2000s were tough times - Poland was going through an economic crisis, and I needed to find a job. As a fairly sharp kid, I was hired at a logistics warehouse, where I diligently inventoried mayonnaises and teas belonging to a certain large corporation whose name starts with U. We were making a lot of mistakes, so I decided to streamline our work a bit and in the evenings wrote a simple WMS system (under the proud name Aegis) and presented it at work. From that moment on, they sat me down at a computer and told me to develop that software.

In those days, I was also a member of PLUG (Polish Linux Users Group), an association aimed at promoting knowledge about open source software. I suppose you could say we succeeded, since today you can find Linux even in a watch. Or maybe we just got lucky.

Then came the big success - my first job as a programmer! And not just anywhere, but at Helion, a publishing house known to every IT professional for its well-published technical books. I was developing their online bookstore. Written in Perl :)

Later, I ran my own business for many years, creating projects across various industries (among other things, I wrote software supporting the Research and Development Center of the American Heart of Poland clinic).

A turning point in my career was 2012, when the CEO of a Gliwice-based company called Spot called me. He needed support on a project for a US client. We were building a large social media platform. I became the Head of Production there.

The company was acquired by a much larger entity, and I - valuing work focused on concrete goals over managing human resources for hire - moved to Gliwice-based SkyGate, where I took the position of CTO.

After some time, I was invited to collaborate by my colleague, Norbert. We were producing software for a client from New York using the best possible practices of the time. I worked among excellent engineers, many of them better than me. That was where, for the first time, we implemented Domain Driven Design on a production system. It was also where I first met people who truly understood what DDD actually is.

Next, I took the CTO position at Fintech Solutions, a Warsaw-based company. We were designing systems for financial product management. Drawing on my experience from the previous project and fantastic people, we managed to create very interesting and architecturally polished solutions. The world of finance turned out to be incredibly fascinating to me - I decided to stay in it longer.

Currently, I work as Technology Projects Manager at PayPo, which is the leader of buy now pay later in Poland. On a daily basis, I deal with a powerful, efficient, and scalable system that handles hundreds of thousands of operations per day. I'm responsible for overseeing projects where business and technology needs converge. Additionally, I actively support the company's expansion into the Romanian market.

And at home, I reach for my guitar and wonder when my fondness for Iron Maiden disappeared. Fortunately, I still like SQL.