Those Elon Musk's words describes me in all way I can imagine myself. I'm geek, technology lover and space enthusiast.
I came from a small village in center of Europe and I had to work hard to achieve what I have today. Since I remember I was interested in technology. I used to disassemble every toy I had to see how it works. Most commonly it led to a situation in which i had neither the toy nor the knowledge ;)
My first broadband internet connection changed my life in many aspects. I was very exited and started to learn programming on my own. As a teenager I created some internet portals and earned some money. I spent all of it on hardware necessary for me to design and manufacture electronic circuits. I acquired some experience and it allowed me to move out and go to university. Finally, crushing my toys in childhood has proven to be useful. And then I became an electronic engineer, as I always dreamed.
During my studies I get to work in fresh, dynamic company, where I met great people. They opened my mind and now, with their help, I manage two start-ups. Once upon a time we decided to participate in a hackathon organized by European Space Agency. We had no idea about space technology, but I wanted to do that because I was interested in space from a long time. I saw great opportunity to meet people and to see how the space sector works from inside.
Hackathon is a design sprint-like event in which you need to create a solution for specific problem within 24 hours. During ActInSpace hackathon we had different challenges but all of them was based on technology transfer "from Space to Earth". We came up with a simple solution: an eco-driving device which would help drivers to save fuel and decrease CO2 emission. Our solution was based on CNES algorithm used to optimize satellites' orbit.
And it worked - we won local edition and then national one. Finally we visited Toulouse in France to take part in international finals. And we won first prize :) Zero G flight in vomit comet! Man, I always dreamed to be an astronaut!
Weightless flying was my best-ever experience. That was a thing which opened my mind second time in my life. I understood that everything is possible in right place with right people.
And, by the way, we met Jean-François Clervoy, an astronaut who was repairing Hubble Space Telescope in STS-103 mission :) He's a great man, really.
My next step - orbital flight and finally, I hope, Mars :)
Right now I'm doing a lot of different things and some of them are of course related to space sector :) I'm editor-in-chef in two web portals, I design electronic circuits and I'm software developer. In my spare time I share my knowledge and experience to help other people just like my friends helped me :D
Remember, follow your dreams! Be like Elon. And please follow my profile if you liked my story :)