I promised yesterday I will tell you a story how my first PC landed my in the principal's office, but before I do that - I wanted to share this photo of me booting up my PC for the first time. I was so happy! But I had no idea how lucky I was.

(if you're wondering - 486 66Mhz 8Mb Ram 500Mb drive) :)

I frequently speak how fortunate and grateful I am to have parents who saw the potential in me and my future in technology, who didn't force me to excel in a traditional (and in my opinion broken) Balkan school system. They've sacrificed and put their faith in my creativity and finding my own way in IT when there was little to no educational system for it in Croatia when I was growing up.

I'm sharing this because I've seen a clip recently from a TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson "Do Schools Kill Creativity?". I've used it so many times as an example of why I disliked going school and learning stuff that I never cared for nor had any interest in - as I've mentioned in my previous emails.

From Principal's office...

By the time my school got their first computer and reorganised the class from "technical class" (where kids would make things out of wood and tinker with lightbulbs) into "informatics class" to teach us - the first generation - in the ways of the machines and Windows 95; I was already familiar with them.

One day we were about to have our class, but "the computer was broken". And the teacher told us that we would need to do some other homework because repairmen will not fix it in time.

What happened was - the screen cable got disconnected from the computer, so I said: "I have the same computer at home, let me fix it, I know what's the problem".

 -- "NO!" She said. "What if you break it even more."

I just ducked under the desk and connected the cable without permission - I had no time for those shenanigans! 😂 (or homework)

-- "How did you do that!?" The teacher asked in confusion.

"I have a computer at home, like I said, with the same screen. Actually, I have two computers."

-- "Two!? Nobody has two computers at home. Stop lying to everyone."

But... I do... One is my moth...



-- "SILENCE! Another lie from your mouth and I will call your mother and take you to the Principal's office to explain yourself!" (She yelled as her vain in the forehead was about to burst.)

But I'm not lying! I yelled as I tried to explain myself, but at that point, she grabbed me by the arm and took me to see the Principal.

She told him "all my lies" and how I "messed with the machine cables and almost broke it". So they called in my mom, and we waited.

When I would mess up, I was terrified of my mom. But, this time, I was actually looking forward to this. Because I was about to witness her anger, for pointlessly dragging her out of work to come to school for nothing, aimed towards this douche teacher.

Once she arrived, I didn't say anything. I knew I didn't have to. First, the teacher said what I did with the cable, expecting my mom to flip out at me for messing with the holy machine. But her reaction was: (paraphrasing and redacting the Balkan language to be polite to you) "Next time when someone saves you time and money, and you don't need to call repairmen - you say thank you - don't drag them out of class."

-- "But he lied! He said you have two computers at home!"

"We do. One is mine for work, and one is his, so he can play and learn. Don't pull this stunt ever again. And I expect you to apologise to my son in front of the class for calling him a liar." And she did.

...to the home office

Today I have a career in User Experience and Design by and large because I've spent a better part of my life in front of a computer screen, phone screen, on the internet and tinkering with all sorts of apps and software. I've witnessed the technology, software and Human-Computer Interaction evolve. Today I use that experience to help businesses design and build better digital products.

Growing up in post-war Croatia, I was lucky to have my parents provide me with an opportunity to carve my own path, and it gives me great pleasure when I get a chance to talk about it and write about it; helping people in their business or career while I do.

Everything I've learned I now share with you.

Today marks 30 days of these daily emails.

🍻 Here's to many more to come.

Thank you for reading.

T.

Tom Kozacinski, sir Freelance-a-lot

Hit reply on this email - I read all of them, and respond over coffee :) for real.

Missed previous emails?

No problem, you can read them in 📜 Breaking Freelance Archive.