(05)personal story
A great product is built by someone who moves — not someone who sits still. Behind every interface I build there's a bigger story — forged in the mountains, on hitchhiking routes, and in constantly pushing past my own limits.
from a small town
to big products
2015 — 2019Andrushivka · college
A small town and the open road
It all started in Andrushivka, a small town in the Zhytomyr region, where I lived until I was 14. In 2015 I enrolled in an auto-mechanics college — four years that taught me how complex technical systems are built and how they actually work.
But the real spark was travel. In 2018 I hitchhiked for the first time and discovered the camp movement — East Coast Camp near Mariupol, then the "Vovcha Stezha" training in the Lviv region, and a hitchhiking leg from Kyiv to Kherson for the "Your Country" project. In 2019 I started a Computer Technologies degree, joined a "Building Ukraine Together" volunteer camp in Ostroh, and travelled on Erasmus+ exchanges to Romania, Turkey and Cyprus.
2019running becomes a lifestyle
Running stops being a hobby
In 2019 running quietly turned from an activity into my whole lifestyle. The road wasn't smooth — I hit injury after injury, had to stop, analyse my mistakes, recover, and start again. Running taught me a discipline I later carried straight into designing complex products.
2020 — 2021Lviv · Lycian Way · Ararat
Lockdown roads and 400 km on foot
When the world locked down for COVID-19, I didn't stop — I hitchhiked across eastern and southern Ukraine, then moved to Lviv at the end of 2020. In 2021 I flew to Turkey and set myself a huge challenge: I walked the Lycian Way — 400 km solo, with a 25 kg pack.
Then I hitchhiked to attempt Mount Ararat — and turned back just 170 metres below the summit, with no crampons or mountaineering gear. A hard, honest lesson about preparation and reading risk. After a month volunteering in Lithuania, I ran my first classic road marathon (42 km) in October 2021.
2021 — 2022web design · the war
Into design — and a country at war
Around 2021 I started, step by step, going deep into web design: landing pages first, then websites, then complex interfaces. Symbolically, one of my first large concepts was a platform for running events.
When the full-scale invasion began in 2022, the map of my life changed again. I evacuated to Ternopil, then settled in Ivano-Frankivsk — home for the next three years.
2023 — 2025Carpathians · ultras · the 100-miler
Trails, ultramarathons and a 100-miler
Living in Ivano-Frankivsk opened up the Carpathians, and my running finally became trail running. In 2023 I trained in the mountains systematically; in 2024 the distances got serious — my first mountain 30 km, then 60 km, and finally 80 km at Bukovyna Trail. When injuries forced a pause, I switched to the bike and kept "rolling out" long distances across the region.
I also went wide: rafting, kayaking and multi-day SUP trips down the Dniester, plus at least two full winter seasons on a snowboard and skis at Bukovel and Dragobrat. In 2025 I hit my endurance peak — I set out to run 100 km and went further, finishing my first 100-miler: 170 km in the mountains with nearly 10,000 m of elevation gain. Proof that human limits stretch a long way with a clear strategy and psychological resilience.
