Hello! I am Andreas Bourakis.com and I work as Software engineer and part-time lecturer. I briefly mention my professional skills so that we can get to know each other better:
Project management: 90% of the projects I have managed have been on schedule and within budget.
Software Development: I use modern software development technologies. I have 30 years of experience in programming and IT in general! (quarantine friendly person).
Team player: In all the teams I’ve been a part of I’ve never had a problem (with very few exceptions) where I hit toxic people (they’re everywhere, but it takes a way).
Tutoring: In my student evaluations every semester I receive high marks in imparting knowledge, communication and proper preparation. In general, I’m an awesome lecturer but also a modest at the same time (no offense), don’t judge me!
Coding
I have been writing code since 1991 when PCs were known to many from science fiction movies. My first language was Turbo Basic (thank God I didn’t start with GW Basic). I continued with my great love for Turbo Pascal and ended up in C++. The reason I got into programming was because I wanted to make my own game! If you’re wondering if I finally made my own game, the answer is no.
Operating Systems
I started working on Intel 8088 and MS-DOS 3.1 Operating System! My excitement was of course great when I saw the source code of the OS I was using on GitHub. Good thing I started with MS-DOS because at the tender age of 11 blue screens would be crucial to my psychological development. I started seeing blue screens when I was 16-17 at a somewhat more settled age (technologically!). The blue screens led me to look for alternative OSes and so I fell into Linux. Around 1998 I started with the Slackware linux distribution, then Debian and ended up with SuSE. I had built my first lab at the time, I remember, in a space intended for a warehouse. I occupied it normally by placing my PCs there 🙂 I had laid out a telephone cable for Internet (dial-up of course) and everything was ok!
Around 2000, together with other restless spirits of Ptolemaida, we made plug.gr (Ptolemaida’s Linux Users Group) one of the most dynamic lugs in Greece at that time.
The Web
1997 was decisive for me as it was the year I connected for the first time to the Internet at the local ISP of Ptolemaida the legendary soft-hard.gr! In one night I learned HTML and the next day I had my website up. Around 1998, I remember I created cyberworld.gr, one of the first on-line magazines of various topics in Greece. I remember paying 100,000 drachmas for the domain name and hosting at the time, around 300 euros for 1 year. Different times and different prices! Since then I started with web development in the years of innocence 🙂 In 2000 I met PHP and MySQL and there I found a new more interesting and dynamic world in web development.
Studies
I participated in the Panhellenic exams and I didn’t pass where I wanted. The goal was IT and nothing else. So I had to move to the UK to for Computer Science studies. I was lucky because I lived 3 wonderful years in the city of Cambridge at the then Anglia Polytechnic University (APU), now Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) completing my undergraduate degree. Then I wanted to level up and do a master’s degree. So, I applied to the top 10 UK universities and I was accepted by Lancaster University and had a wonderful experience there, just reading, classes, assignments and sleep. I finally survived and completed my master’s degree in 2005 in Distributed Systems Engineering.
Work
In 2007, after I completed my military obligations, I chose the path of self-employment. The truth is that many had asked me if I was sure about what I was going to do. Then over the years I understood what they meant. I founded wideweb.gr and since then (until today) it is my main activity in which we develop software for the web and for mobile devices. A large turnover is based on outsourcing, developing software for other businesses.
Education
Since 2008 I have been professionally involved in education. I especially enjoy being an IT educator because I get to interact with students in the IT field trying to pass on my experience and knowledge in the best possible way. My goal is that, upon completing their studies, my students have all the necessary resources to become good professionals in the industry. All these years, I have worked in English-speaking colleges and I.I.E.K. in Thessaloniki.
Family
Family came into my life as a natural consequence and not rushed. I married a woman who hacked my life (she is also a computer scientist) and we have three daughters so far. Vasilia, Agni and Maria and we live happily in the family ring! In so many years of married life I have come to the conclusion that we men may win the battle (sometimes), but almost always the war is won by the women (anyone who wants any further discussion about this, I’m open for a couple of beers). Before I had a family I thought I had achieved work-life balance. When my daughters came it was like a bomb dropped on this balance. But with a little good will and patience everything finds its way. Family is the most important thing that can happen to a person despite any difficulties.