Safet Hoxha
Engineering
Making my own path
As an only child, I was raised in a family that had endured many hardships in communist Albania. My parents sacrificed and went through a lot to support me and give me a better life than they had. A parent's primary goal is to raise their kids in a world better than theirs. Ever since I was born, my parents sacrificed their ambitions and dedicated their lives to that one goal.Growing up in a small city, opportunities were very limited, and my path was set. I was to finish my education and take over my family's business. That did not sit well with me. I wanted to be free and do exactly as I liked. I believed back then, and still do, that freedom is the true meaning of joy, and joy leads to happiness. "Stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. You've got two good legs. So get up and use them. You're strong enough to make your own path." - this quote from one of my favorite fictional characters as a kid really affected me. As much as I appreciated that path my parents laid out for me, a path that many kids around me envied, I wanted to abandon it and build my own. The first stone in my own road was winning my first Math Olympiad in second grade. Since then, I have repeated my achievement year after year. In ninth grade, I went to my first International Math Olympiad, and I realized how much bigger and more advanced the world outside of my country was. I realized that if I wanted to keep chasing after my own freedom, I could not do that in my current environment. Therefore, I decided to move to the capital of Albania and continue high school in my country's best high school. I continued getting my math achievements, which opened the door to Vanderbilt for me. During my four years at Vanderbilt, I changed from Math to Computer Science, as I believed that would give me a freer future and allow me to become a builder—free to create what I wanted, use what I wanted, and do what I wanted.
And now, I have decided to start my career at DevRev, a company that I believe will give me the best opportunity for growth and help me keep moving on the path I have been building for myself. My motivation might seem trivial, but I have to move forward as I have to live up to the hopes of the ones who have supported me. The "two good legs" supporting my walk down this path have been my parents. Before I can continue to the future I dream of, I first need to let go of the past and repay my debts to my family. To provide them with a better life than what they have. My work will not be complete until I find my way to make the world a freer place so that everyone can be free to build and follow their own paths.