I am Software Engineer being paid two times over the standard Greek wage. But why you say.

When I was growing up I had to deal with two things: a) I didn't had the money to do anything I wanted to do and b) I had to do shitty jobs to get that money.

So I had to find a solution. I was introduced to programming and everyone were talking about how is the job of the future. I fall in love with it since my first key strokes. I made my decision at that moment.

I had a mentor back then. My cousin. 20 years of experience more than me and he really wanted to stack them all in my head. Once he said to me: "There are two options in life. You can either be a cow, walking around the same grass land your whole life or you can be a hawk, flying and traveling every day and watching the world from the sky. You got choose." That completely messed up my childhood. I had to find a way to be hawk.

I don't like long term goals. Even for my longest goals I will break them into smaller tasks and commit to those.

My most long term goal was and still is one. Is the one that I set when I was a kid in order to solve my problems.

To be a high paid professional in my industry until my thirtieth birthday.

Let's break that down:

Professional: I love programming and that is the primary reason I do it for living. If I didn't do it for any reason, I would probably doing it in my free time. I wrote my first lines of code in the age of 10. That was it for me. Right there I discovered what I wanted to do in life.

High paid: Not just paying the bills. I want to be high paid. Have you ever declined a suggestion for a road trip or even to get out for some drinks, cause you couldn't afford it? Yeah, I know. I don't want this. I want money to not be problem. They're supposed to be the ticket, not the barrier.

The original goal was until the age of 25. I failed, so I rescheduled it. If I were to predict my next deadline, I would say I won't fail this time. Even if I do, I will just set the next goal and move on. I had enough.