How I Became a Fullstack Developer: From Hardware and Firmware to Django and Vue

My path to IT: from hardware to Python and back

People often ask me — how did you get into development? The answer turns out to be long, because the path was not straightforward at all. No “signed up for courses — three months later a junior” story. It’s all much more tangled and interesting.

2005: it started with hardware

In 2005, I began to seriously get into computers. Not programming — specifically hardware. I read about processor architecture, motherboards, data buses. In 2006, I built my first computer: a Core 2 Duo, an ASUS motherboard, a GeForce 9800 GT graphics card. For that time — a decent machine. I remember being proud that I picked out the components myself, assembled it myself, installed Windows myself.

This was an important moment — I realized that I liked not just using technology, but understanding how it works from the inside.

First program, first “server”

Next, I was naturally drawn to programming. One of the first serious projects was my own hub on Strong DC++. For those who didn’t experience it — it’s a P2P program that ran on a server computer with a public address. Users would connect, share folders on their machines, and download files from each other. Plus, there was a built-in chat. Essentially — a small local network for sharing files.

I configured that hub, tinkered with configs, figured out why some clients connected and others didn’t. That was my first experience with client-server architecture, even though I didn’t know that term back then.

Samsung Galaxy S2 and ROM kitchen

Then came the era of smartphones, and I dove headfirst into Samsung firmware. I started with the Galaxy S2 — I would take the stock firmware, unpack it, add functionality that wasn’t there out of the box, remove unnecessary things. Essentially, this was working with someone else’s code: understanding the structure, finding where things are, carefully making changes without breaking anything else.

Now I understand that this was an excellent way to learn how to read and modify existing code — a skill that is needed much more often in real work than writing from scratch.

WordPress, Joomla and first websites

In parallel, I started making websites. WordPress, Joomla — I learned both CMSs, made quite a few projects with them. I explored themes, plugins, then started writing my own. This was my first conscious experience with PHP and layout. I realized that I prefer it when I control what happens under the hood, rather than just clicking buttons in the admin panel.

Pedagogical university and a double life

Here the story takes an unexpected turn. I got a completely different profession — I graduated from a pedagogical university. All this time, programming remained a hobby, a parallel life. I worked in my field, but in the evenings — code, experiments, my own projects.

Honestly, my pedagogical background still helps me. The ability to explain complex things in simple language, structure information, work with people — that’s not superfluous for a developer who communicates with clients.

2022: the degree I had been missing for a long time

By 2022, I had many years of practice under my belt, real projects, an understanding of the stack. But without official confirmation of qualifications, doors to some places remained closed. I decided to get a Fullstack Developer diploma in Python — not for the knowledge, I already had enough of that, but for the document. To go through the official process, close this question once and for all.

The studies confirmed what I already knew, systematized some gaps, and gave me the certificate. A fair deal.

Now

Now I am an experienced freelancer registered as self-employed, working on several projects as a Fullstack Developer. My main stack is Python/Django on the backend, Vue 3 on the frontend, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker. I build both small websites and serious web applications.

If someone asked me — was it necessary to take such a long path? Probably not, I could have gotten here faster. But I’m not sure I would be the same developer. Each stage — hardware, firmware, CMS, pedagogy — added something that is hard to get from courses that last only three months.