Who's Behind My Code?
Published 2025-08-07 by Faraz Rahimi
Not a résumé. A conversation about growing up on a small island in Iran, falling in love with computers at five, leaving Sharif for the U.S., and why I still build like that kid who needed to know how machines think.
Tags: about me, freelance developer, web development, programmer journey, iranian developer, computer science, coding life, personal story, software engineer, self-taught programmer
People usually come to my blog looking for something technical. Maybe you want to see what stack I use. Maybe you're trying to decide between React and Vue. Maybe you're just checking if I'm legit before hiring me.
This post isn't about that.
This one's about me. Not a résumé. Not a list of achievements. Just the real stuff: who I am, where I come from, and why I care so much about what I do. Think of this more like a conversation than a pitch.
---
A small island, and a first computer
I was raised on a small island in Iran. Most people don't put *islands* and *coding* in the same sentence. That was my beginning anyway.
The first time I used a computer, I was five. My dad introduced it to me. He showed me how to turn it on, how the mouse worked, and what double-clicking did. I don't even remember what was on the screen — maybe a simple interface, maybe a wallpaper — but I remember how I felt.
I was completely hooked.
I wanted to know how the thing *worked*. I didn't want to use it. I wanted to understand it. How is it doing what it's doing? What's going on inside? Why does it respond that way?
Most five-year-olds move on quickly. I didn't. That moment set the tone for my entire life.
---
ICDL at seven. C++ at eight.
By age seven, I had already completed my ICDL — a basic international computer literacy certificate. It's still wild to think about. I was this little kid in primary school. Other kids were learning multiplication tables. I was figuring out Excel and PowerPoint.
At eight, I was enrolled in my first C++ class. I wasn't great at it — let's be honest — but I was fascinated. I didn't need to understand everything right away. What mattered was that I was already writing my first bits of real code.
I still remember messing up loops and trying to understand what the heck a pointer even meant. But I was in it.
By my teenage years, programming had already become my hobby. Some people skateboard. Some learn instruments. I was coding for fun.
---
The PlayStation I asked him to sell
Then I turned twelve, and like any other kid, I asked for a PlayStation. My dad got me one. It was the best day ever. I still remember tearing the box open like it was the most exciting thing on Earth.
Here's the part where I realize I was a little different.
Two months later, I asked him to sell it. Not because I didn't like it. Because I wanted something else more: a laptop, and some plug-and-play electronic kits.
I wanted to build stuff. Games were fun. Building real things was *more* fun. That's the part that got my heart racing.
That was the story of my teenage years, honestly. Little projects. Soldering. New languages, just to see what they could do. I wasn't making money. I wasn't thinking about college or jobs yet. I was just doing it. For the love of it.
---
COVID, the Olympiad, and Sharif
Then came COVID.
Everything shut down. People were stuck at home, uncertain about everything. Me? I signed up for the National Informatics Olympiad. Because, you know, why not give myself more pressure during a global crisis?
I passed the first round. Then the second. The challenges were tough, and that's what I loved about it. I didn't want easy. I wanted the feeling of solving something hard.
Then came Konkour, Iran's national university entrance exam. The kind of test people study *years* for. Intense years. I did well. I got into Sharif University of Technology, the most prestigious tech school in the country.
Getting in was a big deal. For a lot of people, that's the goal. That's the finish line.
For me, it turned out to be just another chapter.
---
An unexpected door
Around the time I started at Sharif, something completely unexpected happened.
I got an opportunity to move to the United States.
It wasn't part of the plan. I hadn't prepared for it. But the door was open, and I had a choice to make.
Stay in Iran. Stick with Sharif. Keep building what I already had.
Or walk away from all of it. Drop out. Leave behind my family, my friends, my home, my language. Start over in a place where nothing was certain — but everything felt possible.
---
I chose the hard path
I left Sharif. I left my country. I left the comfort of everything I had built up to that point.
Not because I was running away from something. Because I was running *toward* something. Something bigger, and unknown.
And here I am. Living in the U.S. now. Trying to rebuild everything from the ground up. It hasn't been easy. I haven't once doubted that it was worth it.
---
Rebuilding
In my first year here, I didn't waste time.
I earned eight certificates from IBM, covering front-end development, cloud computing, and GitHub workflows. I joined a hackathon and ended up winning with my team. I'm back in school, working toward my degree here now.
And I'm still freelancing. Still building. Still learning. Still coding like that five-year-old who couldn't stop asking how computers think.
---
Why I'm telling you this
Because I want you to know that when I build something, I mean it. I care. I've been doing this almost my whole life. Not because I had to. Not because someone told me to. Definitely not because it's trendy.
I'm here because I *love* this. Because I've built my life around this. Because for me, writing code isn't just a job. It's how I solve problems. It's how I make things better. It's how I contribute.
When you work with me, that's what you get. Someone who brings their entire story to the table — not just their skills.
---
That's the guy behind the code
If you've read this far, thank you.
Really. Thank you.
Whether you're a client thinking about working with me, another dev on a similar journey, or someone who landed here by accident and decided to stick around — I appreciate you.
That's it. That's the story.
> One of my favorite things in life is discovering that strangers have shared the same kind of memories or moments I've had. If anything in this post feels familiar, I'd honestly love to hear your story — reach out to me here.
Original post: https://farazrahimi.com/posts/the-guy-behind-the-code