How computer helped me to choose the right path in life
Even since I was a 6-year-old I loved to stare at the computer because I found it very interesting. Being at the kindergarten we had computer access during our lunch break. I still remember that there were 2 computers and we had to wait until we get our choice to play games such as Need for Speed or Zuma.
One day I had the amazing idea to get games from my personal computer to the kindergarten computer and I transferred only the shortcut of the game to the flash drive. When I arrived at the kindergarten I was very excited to play my own games from my collection. The moment when I realized that the game doesn’t work because it was a shortcut made me sad. I wanted to tell that in this story because I find it really funny.
Moving on to primary school, my classmate showed me his Youtube channel and I was really interested in what he was doing. He was creating Minecraft banners for different channels that were into that game. I asked him to teach me the program he used to create those graphics.
The first time using Photoshop made me think that I am a super genius or something like that. Months passed and I started a Youtube channel doing the same stuff he did. Because I was passionate about creating banners for YouTubers I was working for free.
Posting content helped me to build a small but supportive community that was always on the comment section of every video suggesting me what should I do in the next video. While watching so many videos that were from designers around the world I found that there is also a community of teenagers like me that do the same thing. I was very curious about what techniques they used to create such professional banners and avatars.
One day, I got a message from a Youtuber telling me that he wants a different aesthetic of his channel and he was able to pay me 10$ for the entire work. Working for free all the time I was really shocked to know that this could be a project that could bring me money. From that moment I realized that this is the right path and I decided not to give up from working.
Moving on to high school I learned what Freelance really is and I discovered many websites such as GraphicRiver, UpWork, Fiverr that could bring me some income. I started creating many flyers and create my own portfolio in order to boost my chances to get a freelancing job.
Time passed and I got the first job on Upwork on the day of New Year’s Eve. The client required me to create some Facebook Designs for his own brand of watches. I was really happy to know that my work is useful and could help businesses.
Being determined I was applying constantly for jobs during my holiday breaks. Freelancing helped me to upgrade from my 3GB of RAM computer to one that has 16GB and a more powerful CPU, get a wider monitor, and more.
Not just that, Freelancing helped me to organize my life and have a proper routine. From playing games with my friends until 2 AM I started waking up early and focus on my freelance projects in order to be more productive and chase my dream.
As we all know, teenage is a short period of time when most of the time is spent by partying and hanging out with our best friends. But for me it was different… I loved to spent my time learning more and more useful programs that could help me build a prototype app and proper website mock-ups.
Last year I created various branding for different businesses. Most of the projects I worked on could be seen on Behance at @dobritoiutudor. One of the most goals for 2020 was to have my own website and I achieved it. You can see my work at https://dobritoiutudor.com. I am still grateful for the work I’ve done last year…
What I want you to know is that future is in our hands and we decide how we want to be for us. It doesn’t matter where you live, what financial problems you have, how hard it’s life sometimes as long as you follow your dreams. One day, all it will be yours and you will be proud of that.
“There’s not a single winner on earth that took it easy.” Gary Vaynerchuk
