Donato Yi

Software has always fascinated me since I ran a simple Pascal-based Hanoi Tower program when I was 9 years old. From that moment, I knew my purpose, what I will do in my life and what will make me happy. Video games were much fun, but they were nothing compared to the excitement of building programs that did smart things, animated, talked to me and surprised me.

After graduating from one of the best technology schools in Japan, I pursued my career as others did and made some achievements on the road: high salaries, prizes, awards, promotions. However, I realized building software as a job was not very fascinating — my scope of work was limited to what my superiors asked me to do. I was not allowed to be creative. I was a performer, not a creator. I am a huge fan of creativity — I am a firm believer of the idea that we are here to create things. I got high salaries and promotions, but they didn't make me happy anymore. Climbing the corporate ladder was not my thing either. Finally, I quit and chose to be a freelancer.

That was 2015, and fast-forward to now, and I am really happy with what I'm doing right now. Apart from the freedom of being able to choose when and where I work, the greatest thing as a freelancer I think is the freedom to choose what you want to do. I have enough time to work on hobby projects - all I need to do is decide. I can also earn my living by choosing the work I want to do, the client I want to work with and the hours I want to commit to.

My ultimate goal is building something truly awesome. Like Google. I have a few ideas but I don't want to sell the skin before the bear is shot. As long as I have time, the same energy and enthusiasm as I do right now and make continuous efforts to make it happen, I believe it will happen. It's the will that matters, not the method.