Born in 1986 in Rottenmann, Styria, - Austria - that's where my tech journey began. Still feels like yesterday when I was sitting in front of my dad's Atari computer, loading games and programs from 2.5" floppy drives. Mind-blowing to think that was nearly 30 years ago.

Growing up, I always wanted to do something with computers or, as I called it back then, be a "Byte Bandit" (yeah, I was that kid). At school, when summer break came around, I deployed my first website "patric.at" built entirely in Macromedia Flash (RIP Flash, you served us well).

Here's where it gets wild. I randomly discovered a full version of Flash 3 mixed in with my audio CDs - no idea whose it was or how it got there. This was before I even knew what Flash was.

Installed it, started experimenting - you know the drill: bouncing balls, spinning cubes, the classics. Then, plot twist: a friend calls asking if I'm "good with Flash." My response? "Very well." Total lie. Turns out he was launching a startup and needed a website.

Reality check: I had no clue, but I took the gig anyway. Three months of grinding, zero pay, and the final product was objectively terrible, but the client loved it! That disaster of a project taught me more than any tutorial ever could.

I'd already been doing 3D animation for about a year, but interactive 3D animations? That completely rewired my brain. The ability to create responsive, dynamic experiences was a game-changer.

Flash and that little white lie got me into programming and OOP with ActionScript. Kinda wild. That's how it all began.