Do what you love, stay out of debt: My story

I was supposed to be a dishwasher. Instead I built the life I dreamt about.

I was born in a small Turkish village and for 9 years it was the only place I knew in the world. Imagine a life with no TV, phone or cars. We just had some hazelnut fields that barely provided enough income to survive.

Then my family immigrated to Austria where I couldn't speak a word of German. We were welcomed as new members of the low skilled work force. Tourism was exploding in Austria and it needed immigrants to do the work Austrians wouldn't do.

Nobody in my family had higher education. My dad spoke basic German, the rest of us nothing. I looked very different from everybody else in class. So naturally I was expected to drop out and join the workforce at 15 like most immigrant kids.

I refused.

But I had little chance of making it. I wasn't able to catch up learning German fast enough and got bullied by teachers for it. I was failing to do my homework because when most kids got support at home doing them I didn't.

I still graduated from middle school, but I wasn't about to join the workforce as a low-skilled worker. School was my only way out, even if I was barely hanging on. So I took my chances and joined Handelsakademie, a business-focused high school. I barely passed the entrance exam and got my ass kicked for two years before dropping out.

I was so defeated I couldn't even get a job that required any sort of skill. I went from applying for an office job, to a skilled job like plumber or car mechanic to finding a job as a dishwasher.

One night changed everything.

I was in my dormitory room at the hotel, covered in pork stains from washing dishes all day. My friend who'd also dropped out of Handelsakademie called. He got accepted to evening high school in Innsbruck, 50 miles (80km) away from home. He wanted me to come with him.

I told him no way. The teachers were racist and my German sucks why go back for more humiliation? Then I looked down at my stained shirt and realized: I was already being humiliated. At least school had a future in it. I told him I'd sign up.

When I resigned, the boss offered to put me through vocational school to become a professional cook. In Austria, that's how you go from low-skilled worker to high-skilled tradesman. I turned it down.

So at 18, when most people my age were starting university, I went back to high school. Not just any high school but Gymnasium, the academic track that's even tougher on language than the business school I'd failed. During the last year of school I worked as a paramedic during the day for my mandatory civil service. Worked from 6am to 2pm saving lives, then went to school at 5pm only to arrive home at midnight.

I graduated high school at 23 and went to university. But instead of following the classic immigrant path into medicine or engineering, I studied what I loved: Transcultural Communication. People thought I was making a mistake. Communications wasn't exactly a go-to choice for building a strong high-paying career.

I had one financial principle that carried me through everything: do what you love and don't go into debt while doing it.

The college degree was the ticket of getting out of the immigrant system. I moved to Ireland as an expat, what an upgrade. I landed a job at a video game company as a community manager. As a kid video games were the escape from the hell in school. And as an adult I was making money from video games.

Soon after, I landed a job at Twitter in 2013 and I worked there until 2023. The company literally had "#LoveWhereYouWork" as their slogan. Started as a localization specialist, worked my way to Program Manager for global training. Learned investing, traveled 50+ countries, lived in 6 countries, built real financial security. Got married.

But then on my honeymoon, Elon fired 80% of Twitter including me. Now I'm writing this from my apartment in Malaysia with a perfect view, financially secure enough that getting fired was just another Tuesday.

Life isn't linear. The systems that tried to limit you don't define you.

Just do it against all odds.