![[FSF Associate Member]](fsf_member.png){kind=small}
I emerged on a cold February day (Friday) as a "Model 1979" in the Regional hospital in Varna, Bulgaria. Despite my suspicions, there is no proof of large shiny objects appearing in the sky at that very moment. Following the family tradition, I was named after my father's father.
I was raised as a high-class kid in a middle-class family and drafted into the army at early age, when I was sent to kinder-garden. Here, I acquired a set of skills that would prove to be extremely useful during my college-years:
When I was 8, I moved to Bulgaria's capital - Sofia to live with my mother. In Sofia, I quickly discovered that there are dialects sounding even worse than the Varna-dialect.
Trying to recover from my troubling past in the army, I tried to live as a football professional, Indian chief, musketeer and at the end - as a black ninja. At the same time, I discovered my passion for women, who found me irresistible mainly because of my diverse work.
I went to school (20то ОУ - "Тодор Минков") and later high-school (НГДЕК - "Константин-Кирил Философ"), where I tried to stay alive while learning dead-languages. Meanwhile, I showed interest in history, geography, military tactics and martial arts.
I used to spend my summer-vacations with my relatives in Varna and Trondheim, Norway. Glory days!
At the age of 15, I moved yet again. This time to the Norwegian capital - Oslo, where I lived with my father.
In Oslo, I discovered that there are dialects sounding even worse than the Sofia-dialect and then again others that sound even worse than them.
During my teenage years I became interested in programming, chess and guitar playing. After graduating from high-school ("Lambertseter" vgs.), I decided to become an engineer.
Wanting to explore new frontiers, I decided to study in a different and more remote city. I began studying computer-science at Narvik University College (NUC) in Narvik, Norway (now part of The Arctic University of Norway). I went through the bachelor and later the master's engineering program, as well as managed to aquire a business economist degree. Here I was introduced to free-software and my life changed.
I spent more than 7 years in Narvik going through many ups and downs, tears and laughter, learning the value of knowledge and love, entering as a teenager and leaving as a man.
No other stage in my life has managed to change me to that extent. I will treasure it for the rest of my life.
On the other hand, it was never my intention to settle down in Narvik.
In February 2006, I moved back to Oslo and began working for a small company which specializes in the area of Artificial Intelligence (search & categorization, semantic webs). After spending almost 2 years developing proprietary software, I decided to leave the company and find an alternative that does not interfere with my ethics. I began working at Redpill Linpro - the largest company for free-software development and consultancy in Northern Europe at the time (2008 - 2014), later at the University of Oslo (2015 - 2020) and currently (2021 - ) at Statnett - the system operator of the Norwegian power system (TSO).
In Oslo, I rediscovered my passion for psychology, science and languages.
To be continued...
<<
Back
>>
