In this section of my website, I would like to tell you how I got here, how I got to this point. I believe that all those small things, all those small projects you’ve made in the past, even the ones you never finished and you never will, they do help, in one way or another. Life is about the things you do, not about the things you don’t do. Things you don’t do aren’t worth a dime to anyone, and yes ! .. not even to you, if you really come to think about it.

Before High School

Ever since I was a child, I wanted to build, to create my own things. I was the type of kid who always dreamed of making his own toys. I’d heard of creativity, personality, all sorts of crazy grown-up things (:P), but I didn’t understand a bit back then. Still, I wanted that, I wanted to be creative, I wanted to dream. I had a friend with whom I drew labyrinths, very complicated and full of traps and monsters, hidden rooms, special rooms, rooms that weren’t what they seemed and Dead Ends. This, along with playing with Lego bricks and “designing” computer games, was my favorite activity as a child. I always liked to dream things, to play things that followed certain story lines which I imagined. There were times when I really became trapped in my own stories.

I learned working on the computer, even in Norton Commander, Ms Office, etc. when I was in the third or the fourth grade, which was HUGE ! back then. In the 5th grade, I used to make animations in Borland Pascal. Then, in the 8th or 7th grade, I discovered Bryce 3 and I fell in love with it instantly. And then with Poser 4. I loved 3d modeling and imagined that I would one day do this for a living :P. I also knew Flash by the time I was in the 6th grade. I’m really glad I found some of the files from that period. I’ve uploaded some of them to flickr and to youtube.

I started to learn Game Maker and began programming in GML, it was the first time I’d met object oriented programming. This was also in the 8th grade. 

I used to do a lot of things, like sing hip hop, write stories (I even began writting a Star Wars novel and a Fantasy one) and develop games. I also had an Experimental Music project back then, called Darth Peter (yeah, SW again ::)) ). I made presentations in Power Point and Flash, and I also made all sorts of mini-programs in Flash. Oh, and reading History books was a real passion, along with taking excellence classes in programming.

High School times

Then, I’ve entered 2 graphics communities from Romania, where I learned a lot of Photoshoping and I began working on Sigs (signatures we used in the forums – that was your social media back then 😛 ) and wallpapers. I constantly posted on them, trying to get as much feedback as possible and improve my skills.

During all this time, I kept working on the ” Artworks ” project, where I had images made by me in Bryce, Poser, Terragen and Photoshop.

In 2006, the director of Cif Design, a small company with good reputation, known for company software products and Web Design, heard I was into webdesign and wanted to see what I can actually do, so he gave me a few tasks and a few website interfaces to design. I was only 16 back then. One of my designs was accepted, which made me really happy and then he told me of a competition he held that year. The prize was free hosting for a website and I really wanted to put my Zyrax Works online back then (yeah, that’s how I named myself and my “brand” :P). The best thing is that I actually WON 😀 he loved that design of mine. Did I mention that the director was Calin Vingan ? Yup, the current CEO of cif2.net 😀
 

Intel ISEF and a change of vision. 

Still in 2006, there was an interesting thing that happened. Me and some class mates heard about this national competition of Engineering and Science and we also heard that if we won at it, we’d go to the United States for the International Finals. I’ve been at some competitions before, but I didn’t get to national phase. Now was the time for us I guess.. I really didn’t expect anything like it. I took part in the project, just because I wanted to show off my 3d modeling, animation and Flash MX skills.

All-in-all, after a very memorable presentation from our part, we won ! We were Finalists at the great Intel ISEF 2006 😀 Woo-hoo ! We had a celebration and then.. we wondered how we’d get the money to go there, flight, a place to stay, etc. My mom talked to a friend who sent out details about our project to others in the media and let me tell you: that whole semester became full with only work on the project and interviews. I was very shy back then, but after a while I liked appearing on Television and in the Press.

After all the media attention our project got, the Local Council gave us the necessary money to go in the US @ the competition. We met a whole lot of great people there, I for one will never forget the Counsells and the Serbans, two great families. I developed a very great english accent in no time and the people we talked to assumed that we were actually from the US 😛

We had a problem .. we did not respect some standards for organizing the information and some of the judges overlooked it. Some really loved it and took a lot of notes regarding our concept. We didn’t win (there were an awesome lot of projects from all over the world in our section), but the experience really changed me and my perspective. I did not expect to be a Finalist in such a big competition, nor go to the US and have people like my ideas and the way I present them things.

I guess this is what opened me to the whole PR idea and the idea of developing projects.

Back in the country

I came back, received congratulations and I met with some of my american friends that year in Romania.

In 2007 I received 2 design orders from Calin VIngan. He said the client needed something new, something that showed “X-treme”, something that showed a skate-ish, modern idea. I gave him one design. The client loved it and said he wanted me to make the second one as well ! 😀 I made some nice money by this. Then I made a few more designs for Cif Design, but it ended soon, because of a stupid thing I did.. yup ! I was only in the 11th grade. I didn’t know anything back then about life.

In 2007 I made a documentary about ancient Dacian History, focusing on the personality of Burebista, the first king that united all dacians under one banner and made the Romans fear his name. My history teacher was very pleased with this and so were the judges of the contest I took part in, with this documentary. Too bad it did not fit the required category. I’ve written a solid documentary and have documented myself quite a lot, to be sure I do something awesome. I used Flash MX, 3d modeling and animation in Bryce and Poser, footage from some movies and sound editing software.

In 2008 I made an educational software for the same History Educational Software competition and a website for a friend of mine. They both won the second place, for the categories they were in. This gave me hope and I developed the software further, turning it into the software that helped me obtain my certification in Junior Programming. The software contained a presentation and documentation part made in Flash MX and an educational computer game, made with Game Maker and based on my New Abuse game project (it used that engine). The movies and music used in it were all Florin Muresan made.

During all this time, I developed two games, wrote more literature and made more music. I also started making videos for a competition, along with some friends of mine. I always liked doing many various things and going for my passions. I’m a person that does not like limitations when it comes to art and personal development.

I also made comic books.. yeah ! I began drawing comics and I’ve even made a few on the computer, by means of 3d modeling.

After High School 

Well, after being at a Computer Science High School, I opted in for a Technical University, the best (they say) in Transylvania ( that sounds cool, right ? ).

Anyway, I began working, besides going to school. I’ve worked for one year in a Hyper Market, being the guy who scans the products. One year was really enough for me, I only stayed that long because I’ve made a lot of awesome friends there, with whom I went out a lot during the week. 

I was supposed to work for some people, with web design and prints. I’m really glad I leaved them be. They were horrible people who didn’t understand anything. Just some over-the-night millionaires who invested a huge ammount of money in all sorts of latest tech thingies and did not have a mind for business.. they had to sell the whole thing :)) As Tom Peters said, you have to know who NOT to work with 😛

Cif Design was now Cif Net and Calin Vingan said he’d give me another chance. I started by doing only directory submissions, but I evolved at a fast pace and I began managing the social media accounts for us and some clients, as well as managing the blogs. After this, I became the Lead Webdesigner and have made quite the portfolio. All my designs have pleased and were accepted, some even gave me wonderful feedback on my works.

I had some ideas for marketing some products of ours, which were a total success and in February 2010, I guess, we came up with the “fundamental” idea for cif2.net, me him and Teo.

I also worked with the new employees, I was the one taking care of them and teaching them what and how to do. I’ve also been named Practice Tutor for some students who came to our company for their practice studies in webdesign.

As I’ve said before, I don’t really like limitations, so that’s why I’ve tried to do as many things as possible in the company and not just stick to HR, PR, Lead Web Designer, Tech Support, etc. And doing all of these is what made me see what I really wanted to become, becuase now I know how things work and what each of these jobs implies.

I’ve been named CBO in October 2010 after some smashing ideas on marketing and branding and I am pursuing my dreams and trying to make Cif2.net be everyone’s way of saying that they exist.

This is it for now, my friends. 

iExist !      – and now it’s your turn to say iExist 😉