At 39 I decided that whatever happens,
I'm going to fight for this.
This is not an epiphany story. It's a story of wrong decisions, years in the right place for the wrong reasons, and a mental click that came when I understood that the path I thought I couldn't take had always been there.
The origin
When I was 8 or 9, my father bought our first home PC. The only way to play games was through the DOS console. Commands. Directories. File paths. Without knowing it, I was learning to think in a specific way — if you enter the right command, the system responds. If not, nothing.
Then Windows arrived and that faded into the background. But I was always the person who fixed computers. At home, among friends, at work. Not because I had any training — but because something in me enjoyed the process of finding what was broken and fixing it.
When I finished high school, the grade requirement for Computer Science was high. I chose Physical Education because sport also drove me and I thought I could teach it. I was wrong. I like doing sport, not teaching it. I worked in that field for a few years, but it never fully fulfilled me.
"I was always the person who fixed computers. Not because of training — but because I enjoyed the process."
The real path
I moved to the UK at 30. Six years in hotels. I learned real English, learned to work under pressure, learned to manage crises with people from ten different nationalities. Hospitality wasn't my first choice — but I was good at it and it opened doors.
When I came back to Spain at 35, 36, I already knew I wanted something different. But I thought that to change careers I needed years of university, formal training, a path I couldn't afford while working and supporting my family.
The click came when I understood that wasn't true. I don't need a degree to do this. I need real projects, demonstrable consistency and applying everything I already know. Because at 39 I have something a first-jobber doesn't: judgement, real experience under pressure and the maturity to know why I do things.
"I decided to change careers at 39. And whatever happens, I'm going to keep going."