How did I get to where I am?

Let’s think

Some people might be wondering how all this knowledge was accumulated (yes, I don’t have a computer)…

How I approached these topics? (Android etc.)

Now let’s go back to 2020, the time of Covid-19. Distance learning had started. I didn’t have a suitable device to attend classes. My family bought me a tablet for this. Alcatel 3T 10… I didn’t choose the device, but I didn’t have any information at the time, so I still think I was going to buy a bad device.

It was not a good device. It was slow and of course laggy. I was complaining… I wanted to fix this situation. Back then, I would search for everything on YouTube 😂. And of course, how to speed up your device. I saw a video: “Speed up your device with root access”. I was curious and watched the video. And I decided to do it.

A custom recovery mode project was required (like TWRP). There was none, I didn’t know how to do it. I searched for a long time. I learned that a device tree was required. I learned that I could do this with SebaUbuntu’s twrpdtgen tool. But a boot image was required. This was something that could be found in the stock ROM, as you know. But there was nothing about the device on the internet.

Then I discovered the MTK Client tool. But I didn’t have a computer and local internet cafes didn’t allow software installation. Then I discovered GSI images. I downloaded a rooted image and tried it. It worked without any problems (Lineage 17). I immediately took the boot image from the device and started working (custom recovery). But my inexperience prevented me. Someone in the “TWRP device tree generator requests” channel on Telegram noticed me and helped me. And he taught me about the things I was curious about. I thank him very much…

So where did Linux come from?

I realized that the speed of the device would not increase with root access. I learned the kernel. What it is, what it does, what it can do/can be done… At that time, I said I would change it somehow. But the reality of being an amateur did not leave me alone (please do not think that I hate amateurism). Do you think a device that does not even have a stock ROM on the internet would have a kernel source? No. Alcatel did not share the kernel source. I had heard about custom ROMs at that time, and of course their requirements. I did not have enough resources or knowledge for this job. Anyway, let me not get off topic…

I had learned that there were operating systems that used Linux. And of course what Linux offered. I really liked that everything was changeable. Especially the terminal… I wanted to learn. The year was 2022. ChatGPT was seen in the square. I learned terminal information using it. I was more curious and learned more!

Where did programming come from?

When I got a personal phone in 2023, many things started to go better for me. I wasn’t very interested in this period either. In 2024, while I was interested in Linux, programming caught my attention. I had no knowledge, I didn’t even know the names of the languages. GPT told me about languages like C/C++, Python, Java. I wanted to do things similar to the tools in Linux. He suggested C/C++ for this. I chose C because it was simpler. I started learning. Over time, I improved a lot. In different subjects too. While I was interested in C, he mentioned that make was a good language choice for compiling code. I learned that too (I’m at an intermediate level right now). I took things to a higher level and started learning C++. And now we are in 2025. I’ve learned a lot since 2020.

While I was dealing with Linux during this time, I learned completely different things. The simplest one is the Git system. I can give a few examples of this. But this is going to be a long article anyway, so I don’t want it to get too long.

But since I didn’t have a computer, I was very limited since 2020. That didn’t stop me. I wrote a few small C/C++ programs (mostly for Android). One of them is in the ShawkTeam repository (the team I’m a part of).

I changed a lot while all this was happening…

My experience in life had increased, I had met people. I learned as much about life as I did while dealing with things like Android and Linux. The environments I was in had damaged my morale. The things I was interested in among all these things gave me morale. These had long since become hobbies.

In my country (Türkiye) the economy was not very good (still is), I did not have access to everything. Some economic situations affected my thoughts…

In 2024, I turned my career goals towards software because this hobby gave me so much pleasure. I could do it (I had gotten rid of my inexperience in 5 years), I was interested in it, and it was a direction that could provide me with good financial income in the future.

From the past to the present

Now that old tablet is hardbrick. It got that way because of a stupid mistake. Well, that’s another story. I found out that I unknowingly bought a phone with an not unlockable bootloader (sad thing, vivo Y22s). My academic performance was a bit off. My current software career is on track. Things are going well!

My last speech

Don’t let any obstacles stop you on your way to your goals. When I look back at my progress from the past to the present, I am a little surprised myself. I never thought I would be capable of going this far. I am a huge fan of Android, Linux and the open source community! Anyway, take care of yourself!