About Me

🟦 Chapter 1: Between Modems and Stumbles

Why am I writing this?

Honestly… I’m not entirely sure. Just like I’m not sure about many other things in life. But maybe that’s what makes it all so interesting: not knowing what the future holds.

I want to share a bit about myself, so you can get to know me better. Far from being an expert in anything, I see myself more as a fighter… and a dreamer.

The Early Years

I didn’t have a hard childhood, but it wasn’t the best either. I grew up with my family in Chile, in a small town called Quillota. I lost my father when I was very young, and even if you don’t realize it at that age, those things mark you forever. I don’t say this with sadness or as a victim. I truly believe everything happens for a reason.

As human beings, we’re slaves to experience: we need to live to understand, go through things to grow. It’s a never-ending cycle.

🎮 The Atari That Changed Everything

I was never the best student. I was more into sports, friends, and discovering new things.

When I was 6, back in 1990, my family bought an Atari. For those who don’t know, the Atari was basically a video game console that, at the time, felt like having a PlayStation 5… except the games took two hours to load and sometimes wouldn’t even start unless you blew on the cartridge like a tech shaman.

Meanwhile, you could play the classic paddle-and-ball game. The worst part was when the loading failed: you had to start all over again. Patience level: god mode!

If that failed, we still had glorious TV with three channels. I remember my neighbor had the 1966 Batman series, the one with the “POW!” and “ZAP!” punches on screen. Those were the days! Everything was slower, simpler… but somehow, also more magical.

Thirty-four years later, we have machines that process millions of data points per second. It’s truly amazing how fast everything changed. And for me, it’s as if I was just yesterday waiting for the frog game to load.

📞 When the Phone Was the Enemy

My teenage years… what a time. Thousands of personal changes, but also global ones.

For the first time, regular people could access the Internet. I remember we had a US Robotics 56kbps modem at home. I was thrilled, thinking I had a real data powerhouse!
This was around the year 2000, when people were saying the world would end with the new millennium…

I still remember begging my mom not to pick up the phone, because it would disconnect me from Age of Empires II online. And if someone called, we’d lose a player!

In just a few years, we went from playing Atari to being connected with people all over the world, waging empires online.

🎓 University: Where I Learned I Knew Nothing

Finishing high school was an amazing stage. It’s a shame you don’t realize how good you have it at the time.

In Chile, when you finish school, there’s a lot of social pressure to go to university. I was 18, and all I really wanted was to keep partying with my friends… and study something related to technology.

I tried several majors. It wasn’t easy. When you’re young, it’s hard to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. And honestly… even now, not so young, I sometimes ask myself the same question.

I finally graduated in Telecommunications and Networks Engineering. I learned a lot, especially about life. I saw how hard my mom worked to pay the tuition. Back then I thought it was her duty. Over time I realized it wasn’t: it was unconditional love.

And I also discovered that my thing wasn’t so much programming, but seeing how devices connected, how networks communicated. That was my passion.

💼 The First Layoff: When Life Slaps You

At 26, two things happened that shaped my path: I met my current wife and started my professional story.

A friend offered me a job as an installation engineer at a startup in IP telephony. I accepted. Maybe also because I needed to earn money and be able to go on dates, vacations, make plans… with the woman who would become the mother of my children.

At that company, Tecnoera, I worked for a year. My boss quit and recommended me as his replacement. After just a year and a half, I was promoted to Head of Installations. I had people under me, led installations, talked to clients. I really liked it.

But not everything was perfect. After 3 years, I was laid off. They never really told me why. It was a hard blow to my self-esteem. I was already living with my partner, I couldn’t go back to my mom’s house. I had to keep going.

🔄 Falling and Getting Back Up

I worked a job in Valparaíso. Lasted only a month and quit. I discovered that on the Internet you can have a beautiful website… but sell nothing but smoke.

Bad customer service, lies… I learned what I never want to do. That company is no longer on my CV.

I was unemployed again. Luckily, during my time as a manager, I made good contacts. And that’s key: maintain relationships, take care of your network.

I got a job in Santiago. The salary wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t enough for luxuries. I had to go alone; my partner kept working in Quillota.

💡 Reflection on Chapter 1

“Sometimes stumbles are just disguised steps. The Atari taught me patience, the modem connected me to the world, and being laid off taught me that resilience is more important than talent.”