My name is Alex Pavlov, and I am an Engineer.

You got it right, software development is addictive. It gives you the power of building your own worlds, where everything obeys your code, your orders. It starts as a computer game: you grab your coffee, launch code editor and start creating your digital kingdoms. And you think you are just having fun.

But one day you meet someone who uses your program. Then other people come, inhabit your kingdom, and start playing by the rules of your realm. Your rules. That’s how you realize that the world you created is real.

And that's how you get hooked on coding.

I passed my point of no return soon after graduating from university. That program was just a command line utility for printing C source code. But seeing a complete stranger running it on his computer was enough to develop an addiction.

Since then I authored and co-developed plenty of seriously awesome software titles ranging from healthcare teamwork systems to mobile apps for photographers. But no matter what app I worked on, I always had a feeling that all that hard work is just for one moment - the Release, the day you set your app free, the day you open the castle gate and start watching for the users to come...

Did I tell you, I am proud to be an Engineer?