Petro Podrezo Software Engineer

One of my passions in life is sharing knowledge. To that end, I have increasingly been participating as a mentor (with regards to the field of Software Engineering specifically) in various contexts: at work, through the University of Toronto, and just on an ad-hoc basis with friends of friends and aquanintances or through online mediums like Reddit. Many times I find that the questions I get from my mentees are very similar or that a particular concept is so fundamental that at some point it’s worth just writing it out in detail and referencing it later. For this purpose, I have created this section of my website to document some of the more common questions I get and to provide a resource for those who might benefit from it.

A bit about me

From a young age, I was always fascinated by computers and the endless possibilities they represented. My childhood was filled with building blocks like Lego, which later evolved into a passion for creating animations by way of my desire to create. This creative outlet led me to experiment with simple game development, where I encountered my first taste of programming. As my games grew more complex, demanding features like score-saving and advanced interactions, I delved deeper into ‘real’ programming languages. By the time I reached late high school, it was clear to me that my future lay in Computer Science. After finishing my degree at the University of Toronto in 2012, I embarked on a career in software development, which has taken me to various corners of the world and allowed me to work on a wide range of projects.

Throughout my years of experience, I’ve worked at small, medium and large companies in many different industries. Looking back, my career is dotted with many proud moments and achievements not only in terms of building software that reaches and impacts people’s lives, but also teaching and mentoring others, running bootcamps, and sharing the knowledge I’ve accumulated.

I recommend heading over to the Starting Off page to get a sense of what to expect from a mentorship with me and to see some great questions to ask a mentor. I’ve also written an article over on medium titled “Advice for starting out in career programming” which may be of interest to you.