CREATING. LEARNING.
BUILDING.

animations

Childhood — the game begins with PowerPoint

As a kid, the computer screen was my window into another world. In 6th grade I discovered PowerPoint — and my brother showed me tricks I didn't know: how to move text, how to make a shape "fade in," how to make a slide look "professional." To me, it was real magic. Every school assignment turned into an experiment ground — the more animations, the better — and at the end of every presentation, without fail, the same little skeleton showed up saying "thanks for watching." It was my first signature, even though I didn't know it yet.

⏸ level: paused

Natural Sciences High School — the first real challenge

I wanted to attend a vocational high school focused on informatics, but my parents preferred that I enroll in a general high school instead. So I attended a Natural Sciences High School. In 10th grade, I started a one-month front-end course covering HTML & CSS — just enough to understand how the web is built. The course was interrupted because of commuting between cities, but my interest in informatics never faded.

networking

University + CCNA — when computers started talking to each other

In Computer Science, I started by learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bootstrap, C#, and Python — building a solid foundation across both front-end and back-end development. But over time, I became more and more curious about how the internet actually works — how computers talk to each other behind the scenes. That curiosity led me to enroll in the CCNA training in Prishtina, at InfoTech.

I still remember professor Qendresa Peci, who motivated us every single day, and director Burim Sherifi, whose warm words pushed us even further. He always told us: "Do hands-on work with routers and switches, build your labs." And if a day wasn't enough to learn and practice, he would simply hand us the key and say: "Stay here, sleep here if you have to — just learn, just work."

That environment is where everything changed. Suddenly the internet wasn't "magic" anymore, it was engineering. I learned how data travels through the 7 layers of the OSI model — from bits on a cable (Layer 1) to the application the user actually sees (Layer 7):

I also learned routing protocols like RIP and OSPF, which tell routers "this is the shortest path," and why Telnet — convenient but insecure — got replaced by SSH, where every command travels encrypted. I built VLANs to split a single network into several independent "virtual networks," configured routers and switches from scratch — and for the first time I saw the internet not as a "webpage," but as a living map of connections.

real world

Internship, IPKO — the real world

A good challenge, with good colleagues. I learned how network planning actually works, including how to use QGIS software for planning. I got hands-on with taps, multitaps, amplifiers, nodes, and splitters — learning where each piece belongs and how to place it correctly in the field. Beyond the technical side, I also learned a lot about how work actually functions inside a corporate environment — communication, planning, and coordination between teams.

⚔ boss defeated

Virtuo & SISH — the big battle

A company with wonderful people — Arita and Glauk still stand as role models for me today. There I worked on SISH, the Health Information System, as a contractor for the Ministry of Health. My role was essentially a mix of Sys Admin and IT Support: creating and managing user accounts with Active Directory, managing virtual machines across several servers (VM servers, print servers, and others), configuring printers, and monitoring the network with IP Monitor — along with providing day-to-day support for doctors and nurses.

The project was split 30% Virtuo / 70% Ministry of Health, covering around 30% of Kosovo across 5 cities: Prishtina, Prizren, Rahovec, Malisheva, and Dragash.

Blendi was our team leader, but honestly, titles never got in the way of friendship — working alongside him felt less like reporting to a boss and more like building something together with a friend who just happened to carry more responsibility. And Vatani was the Project Manager on the Ministry of Health side — our main point of contact, responsible for overseeing the project and approving our work.

Alongside SISH, I also took part in other projects with VMware and Barracuda in several public institutions, including KOSTT and UP (University of Prishtina) — though SISH remained the main focus of my time at Virtuo.

Beyond the technical work, what I remember most is the people. Shkëmbimi was the office comedian — there wasn't a day without laughter, even in the middle of the most serious moments. And with Muhamedi, who had also studied programming, I found a real friendship — we'd spend hours discussing interesting topics from the world of programming, trading ideas and perspectives.

★ level up

Valezo — a new path, built from scratch

After Virtuo, the journey took its own turn. Building something together with my brother had been a dream of mine for a long time — and that's how Valezo was born: a place where we create websites and applications for different businesses. We're still early on, but every project teaches us something new. So far we've completed several projects, which you'll find showcased in the Trophies / Projects section below. This page is just another checkpoint on the same path.