From Curiosity
to Code.

Chapter One

The Curious Kid

Long before I wrote a single line of code, I was the kid who spent hours at the family computer, not just playing games, but wondering how they were made. What happened when you pressed a button? How did a character know to move? That question never left me.

Growing up in Turkey, access to resources was limited, but curiosity was free and unlimited. I'd tinker, break things, fix them, and ask "why?" more times than anyone around me could answer.

Chapter Two

Şemsi Türkmen - Where It All Started

High school at Şemsi Türkmen Anatolian High School was where I finally stopped just wondering and started building. With limited resources and a second-hand computer, I discovered Unity, and my world changed completely.

I taught myself 3D modeling, C# scripting, and game physics. Then I built my first real game: Witch Land. The moment I handed my phone to a classmate and watched them actually play something I had made from nothing, I knew this was it. That feeling of creation was irreversible.

Chapter Three

Atatürk University — Going Deeper

University cracked my perspective wide open. At Atatürk University (Computer Engineering), I wasn't just learning to code I was learning to think architecturally. The shift from "making things work" to "making things right" happened here.

I dove deep into the .NET ecosystem, mastered ASP.NET Core, discovered Clean Architecture, and started shipping real APIs. For the first time, I was building systems that other people relied on, not just games, but production software.

My GPA sits at 3.20 / 4.00, but the real grade is the 29 repositories and 1,700+ commits I've shipped alongside my studies.

Chapter Four

Estonia & The Promise

A trip to Estonia, one of the most digitally advanced countries in the world, hit differently. Walking through a society where software genuinely runs everything, I saw what technology's full potential looks like when taken seriously at a national level.

But the biggest thing that happened wasn't what I saw it was what I realized about myself. Sitting alone one evening, I made a promise that I still carry like a compass:

That sentence reshaped how I make decisions in my career and in my life. It's the reason I choose depth over shortcuts and genuine understanding over quick wins.

Chapter Five

Building Something Real

Ideas became systems. I designed and shipped FertileNotify a full-stack notification platform built with ASP.NET Core, PostgreSQL, React, and Docker. Not a tutorial project, not a toy a real application with authentication, multi-channel delivery, and an admin dashboard.

It taught me that the gap between "knowing how to code" and "building production-ready software" is enormous, and deeply exciting. I've since published 29+ repositories, closed 225+ issues, and made over 1,700 commits.

The work is never done. That's the part I love most.

Chapter Six

Atlas & What Code Can't Teach

Software taught me how to build systems. My cat, Atlas, taught me something software never could: responsibility, patience, and presence.

There's a kind of care that comes with looking after another living thing, being fully there, not half-distracted by a terminal window. Taking care of Atlas reminded me that the best engineers are fully human first.

I believe staying grounded and emotionally intelligent is just as critical as being technically sharp. A great engineer who can't empathize is just a complicated machine.