My turn
My name is Nikos Dimopoulos (Nikos being the first name translated to Nick in English). I come from Greece, 32 years of age.
Growing up in Thessaloniki (the second biggest city in Greece) we never had the resources in computers. It was an untouchable subject. Finished high school and all I wanted was to become a DJ cause I loved music - to prove it stands my collection of 3500+ vinyl records (and yes I did buy Kylie's "I should be so lucky")
Having failed the national exams for the university cause I was lazy to study (universities in Greece are state owned and in order to pass you need to get points by scoring as high as possible in 4 written exams), I ended up in a private school where I started a Finance and Accounting degree with Computers. That private school (ICBS) was doing the course in collaboration with the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.
Inbetween working at my dad's restaurant as a waiter, attending classes, playing music at a local radio station and being a dj in a night club I managed to do quite well in the exams. My course of study was interrupted for a year to do my national service - tank division (unfortunately it is obligatory in Greece) for 19 months and then came back for the 3rd and 4th year.
I got a Bachelors in Finance and Accounting with Computers and set sail to London to do a Masters degree. I attended the Southbank University where I got a MSc in Finance and Investment and before I finished that one, I found an opportunity for an MSc in IT in Queen Mary and Westfield college and I grabbed it.
In the meantime I was a really good Clipper programmer (yes those days) and was beginning exploring Visual Basic 4.0 and SQL Server 6.5.
Before I finished my second MSc I found a job in a Greek textile manufacturing company. Slaving myself on a daily basis to earn a living - since all my family was in Greece, I managed to learn as much as possible. Network admin as well as VB programming were my areas.
I left that job nearly a year and a half later and then I changed jobs every year or so. In the meantime I got married, bought a house and two cars.
I got a divorce nearly two years ago, sold the cars, the house - everything. I even changed jobs, and now I am working as the senior developer/network admin in a hedge fund.
Folllowing my divorce I subscribed to the official Ferrari world club. Through that I found many friends all around the world and even met some people that do work in Ferrari.
Unfortunately all the promises that that club gave went all up in smoke, and loads of my friends - myself included felt cheated. So just because I got pissed off, I bought the threads software and a chat software and set up a club for my friends and myself.
We are only 59 at the moment but we average 70+ messages a day - all hard core Ferrari fans
We all hope that sometime in the future Ferrari will get their act together and provide us with the club we deserve as members. In the meantime we are just having fun.
I heard about the threads from Josh in the official Infopop support forums and am a regular ever since
Hope my life's snapshot was not that boring
Warm regards
Nikos
