About Me — Matteo Pasotti
Manchester/Milan. Lead Android Engineer. Occasional writer. Eternal student. Dreamer. Favorite Quote “You earn what you learn”.
When Quy Ma asked me to write an article about me I thought “This is going to be a good challenge, not an easy one” and that’s exactly what we want and seek. Something different, a good way to expand my networking and learn a new type of writing, so why not.
I usually write articles about the development of Android apps or about similar topics related to that world, but recently I have found inspiring and challenging writing stuff softer, like working in a team and its possible scenario, finding a job in this field, or like the key aspects of working in an international tech company (draft, coming soon). The goal is always the same though, sharing stuff that can help others and improve my network.
Now you know what I do and what kind of writer I am, the next step is supposed to be about my origins and my path. I was born in Vigevano, a city near Milan where I studied Computer Science at Universita’ Degli Studi. I love traveling, especially I like organizing road trips. It’s the drug that brings me away from reality, a way to stop the time. Still not sure which one was the best, if the dreaming California on the road or Iceland and its Northern Lights and unreal landscapes.
My path
I have worked in Milan for almost 3 years as an Android Engineer in different companies before making the important decision of finding a job in another country. I’ve met a lot of Italians in the UK that did not find any job in Italy so They moved out seeking some luck. It is not my case. I already had a permanent job in Milan with also a salary above the average, that has never been the problem. The missing opportunities to grow and have a voice in taking decisions, the company that does not evaluate its employees, queueing deadline after deadline, stress after stress. That was the problem. I wanted an environment that believes in the motto “You earn what you learn”.
I did not want the classic trama: study, get a good job, ask for a loan, buy a car, buy a house in my boring hometown, seek for a promotion, have your own family, save enough money for a summer holiday, seek for another promotion because It’s still not enough. I wanted to live, not survive. I wanted to grow, learn, and make enough money to live properly and not just surviving. So I tried to change the cards on the table. How? Going out of my comfort zone, that mysterious place at the end of the rainbow.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a millionaire, I did not create my own company or invented a life-changing idea. But I did achieve things. In 3 years I studied a lot in my free time, finding myself at the final stage of interview processes for companies like Spotify, Facebook, Booking.com which hired me as Android Engineer. I did other interviews, failed, learned, and got promoted to Senior Software Engineer. I facilitated loads of meetings with many colleagues, learned how to organize tasks, and work in a team delivering constant value. I am driving the whole refactoring of a big project, I tripled my salary and pushed my boundaries talking in front of other engineers at Sky Sport, Revolut, Google European HQ in Dublin. And many others.
A difficult aspect of writing this kind of article is trying to talk about yourself without sounding banal, and at the same time share your passions and key steps of your path without giving the impression of being full of yourself. I wasn’t sure, then I have opened Instagram and saw all these superhumans, super beautiful, super successful, super photos and I realized that was ok and fair to share some simple hard work of a simple person. Man, you have worked your ass off, studied a lot, be proud, and own it. You don’t have to be Elon Musk or Micheal Jordan in order to be able to talk about comfort zone, boundaries, and productivity. You could talk about them and write an article even if You just have started to train 20 minutes a day. Going out of your comfort zone and testing, pushing your boundaries does not mean trying to reach perfection. It means doing something difficult trying to reach a better version of yourself.
Conclusion
Anyway, that was my path, the main things behind it were:
1. If you are not happy where you are, then go somewhere else or try to do something different. We all know this quote:
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Albert Einstein
2. The stereotype that after years of studying You will probably find yourself having a job that is not worth all that sacrifices is not always true. If you have studied something that is not opening doors to you, then study something else. We live in a period where you can find literally everything on Google, there are thousands of online courses and many of them release official certificates. I know that probably You have just spent years studying but spending your time on Twitch playing videogames is not a valid alternative.
Future plans/path? I’d like to work for myself, own a business. I’m not sure what It will be, possibly something that will not require my presence like an Airbnb with a special theme, or a gym, or I could record an online course about Android Apps Development. We’ll see :)
Thanks for reading my article! I hope that You got to know me better. Please if you have something interesting to share about your path or some particular event, write a comment. I’m more than happy to connect with other people and reading about their experiences :)
Stay Safe
Matteo
