--- title: The Person Behind the Portfolio description: From curiosity to building production-ready applications, this is the story of my journey into software development url: https://amarbiradar.me/blog/the-person-behind-the-portfolio author: Amar Biradar --- # My Story I am Amar Vishwanath Biradar. I was born in Bidar, Karnataka, and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As a child, I was a quiet introvert. Now, I am slowly trying to become an extrovert 😊 ### School Days I studied at Krist Raj High School. I always sat on the back bench, and I never thought of myself as a topper. I used to joke that I was a "below average" student. But looking back, those backbench days taught me something important: grades don't decide your future, curiosity does. Back then, I loved sports like cricket and kabaddi. Video games were my weekend escape too. Every weekend, I would ask my mom for 5 rupees so I could play WWE and racing games at the PS5 shop for half an hour. That simple routine was the highlight of my week. I grew up in Nallasopara, a place surrounded by hills. Maybe that's why I have always felt a deep connection with mountains. Even today, I tell myself, "I am a climber at heart." One day, I want to stand on top of Everest, Kanchenjunga, and Annapurna. These three peaks are my biggest dreams for the future. ### The Turning Point ![IMG_20260706_234239.jpg](https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/69a9d877-8c8d-81b6-9b95-000363ae9cfb/4d12a628-7044-4b68-8e19-13cfa692bc9b/IMG_20260706_234239.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAZI2LB466TQE54IM5%2F20260907%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260907T083135Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEHEaCXVzLXdlc3QtMiJGMEQCID0rZRniEVwp5ovoKqygMzEgEM%2BAVWcBIb1B9XTohoXMAiAv6z8oR3Y4s7aVCBHk%2BWiMM0nsEjf1NJezdNmn%2BCxSgCr%2FAwg6EAAaDDYzNzQyMzE4MzgwNSIMt%2BsoUbmgOtbrV07PKtwDnRx3qKwn2BWDJwPUQyrr4ca6W2QSnflfAZffgk5HG0ff59VkDDZLv0OeGCag9VBKIwu4OEIqsH64rpJzdU0EDiKvt3NhXToGrVC%2BiY0z41N9dNtmAQzi51UWNphK4KYbdzQHASQZPcoz8VHMUeSCztfKiPbGZIo5YhQQDL5vBlE0VSJ4L%2FfNCKTtJcsoGfJ1%2BQL0cjCj6qE5HB2NW4uNnlRxfGpDqSFoZQG0HwxZrpfOEtgDm%2FsOnBQi3KOGV5KH2%2BD%2FCFI8XY81QYo7XHvz%2F7%2BFl7WJnWdF9FVt6bP6PMsfBtxsBN1RkAIT7UiD3jY8214DSsWD5kHy0UCiBb6PqODaCZ1z9Qg2NmEEfkImSNrESOVbGeOjkEsSXZ%2Fm3owkrxuqTpRTxnIN07wOcIcHdMYjz0x8EFkhuGko%2FJjt7JFt%2B939SxLu1wsLB%2BInoEpg1zL%2FXYCecy8swji%2FMQsnf%2BQeBuBdg5EIshWV1q6PLdrcdfHqUbbSw9X9G3tpLkF0TIskQj0SGAguOMCoQksdMau6P9LFToH1HFfIuXc8COR8YBltGD1O9%2FzI08FKx07At1tkab%2BLL4CZGjS0zUYcalsZjS4IrrxJme%2BzYIPUUBGSzmozyZALQCOGHvYwtOz51AY6pgFr8fRl8a8T2i2c2XG84fCARN6IDIOISf4rDMLxhgs70TGh3LFSI00rCtg19sSOGRx0ZlLvjhZaWOPjj9HQc76a7O6ZZZ79vXHBrX%2FHWIO5Ear0nVKfqu%2BpzalNI%2B6g5uod5cHcUDhzpko5dfX8f0V8TSUdvWBUWFTZmY1CVa%2Fxkr1tGa2Tuss7LpfCpSrX8YFNKv1NOrppU0%2FHvgaSTsSyR9q1%2FnZ7&X-Amz-Signature=93a19e35d8e79b3f8e0d1237b910f4c383df37cfb0482d6451db5993977ab734&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject) After finishing 10th grade, during the pandemic, my dad bought me a laptop. It wasn't easy for him to afford it, but that struggle made the gift even more special to me. With my new HP laptop, I first explored graphic design. I learned Figma, Adobe Premiere Pro, and After Effects. I picked up a lot of skills, but somehow, this field didn't excite me the way I expected. That's when I discovered coding. I started watching Code With Harry's web development tutorials and built small projects like a tic-tac-toe game. Something clicked. Coding felt different. It felt like mine. ### Moving Forward After 10th grade, I joined Abhinav Junior College for my 11th and 12th. I completed my HSC board exams with First Class. Looking back at this journey, from a backbencher who loved video games to someone who found real passion in building things with code, I know my story is just getting started. And somewhere between the mountains I dream of climbing and the code I love to write, I am figuring out who I want to become. --- # My Worst Regret ![IMG_20260707_124102.jpg](https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/69a9d877-8c8d-81b6-9b95-000363ae9cfb/d0895c88-3d79-4548-8b4c-ee56ae6f319c/IMG_20260707_124102.jpg?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAZI2LB466TQE54IM5%2F20260907%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260907T083135Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEHEaCXVzLXdlc3QtMiJGMEQCID0rZRniEVwp5ovoKqygMzEgEM%2BAVWcBIb1B9XTohoXMAiAv6z8oR3Y4s7aVCBHk%2BWiMM0nsEjf1NJezdNmn%2BCxSgCr%2FAwg6EAAaDDYzNzQyMzE4MzgwNSIMt%2BsoUbmgOtbrV07PKtwDnRx3qKwn2BWDJwPUQyrr4ca6W2QSnflfAZffgk5HG0ff59VkDDZLv0OeGCag9VBKIwu4OEIqsH64rpJzdU0EDiKvt3NhXToGrVC%2BiY0z41N9dNtmAQzi51UWNphK4KYbdzQHASQZPcoz8VHMUeSCztfKiPbGZIo5YhQQDL5vBlE0VSJ4L%2FfNCKTtJcsoGfJ1%2BQL0cjCj6qE5HB2NW4uNnlRxfGpDqSFoZQG0HwxZrpfOEtgDm%2FsOnBQi3KOGV5KH2%2BD%2FCFI8XY81QYo7XHvz%2F7%2BFl7WJnWdF9FVt6bP6PMsfBtxsBN1RkAIT7UiD3jY8214DSsWD5kHy0UCiBb6PqODaCZ1z9Qg2NmEEfkImSNrESOVbGeOjkEsSXZ%2Fm3owkrxuqTpRTxnIN07wOcIcHdMYjz0x8EFkhuGko%2FJjt7JFt%2B939SxLu1wsLB%2BInoEpg1zL%2FXYCecy8swji%2FMQsnf%2BQeBuBdg5EIshWV1q6PLdrcdfHqUbbSw9X9G3tpLkF0TIskQj0SGAguOMCoQksdMau6P9LFToH1HFfIuXc8COR8YBltGD1O9%2FzI08FKx07At1tkab%2BLL4CZGjS0zUYcalsZjS4IrrxJme%2BzYIPUUBGSzmozyZALQCOGHvYwtOz51AY6pgFr8fRl8a8T2i2c2XG84fCARN6IDIOISf4rDMLxhgs70TGh3LFSI00rCtg19sSOGRx0ZlLvjhZaWOPjj9HQc76a7O6ZZZ79vXHBrX%2FHWIO5Ear0nVKfqu%2BpzalNI%2B6g5uod5cHcUDhzpko5dfX8f0V8TSUdvWBUWFTZmY1CVa%2Fxkr1tGa2Tuss7LpfCpSrX8YFNKv1NOrppU0%2FHvgaSTsSyR9q1%2FnZ7&X-Amz-Signature=4d0d3353744108ca5d10cbf68d2544c9be121ab4028ec9a3b9a0836918bb8290&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject) After 12th, I dropped a year. I couldn't clear a fucking competitive exam, and my rank felt like a phone number with negative infinity in front of it. It was a hard pill to swallow. After that setback, I started learning web development in depth. Curiosity pulled me in, and within three months, I had learned a lot. But somewhere along the way, life turned dark. I fell into a low, depressed mood. I had no job, and I carried a constant feeling of sarcasm and frustration. At one point, I decided to give up on tech altogether and gave an interview at D-Mart. But my family stopped me from taking that path. They pushed me to look for something different, maybe an IT job instead. Around that time, I also faced bullying and constant comparisons with friends, which made things even harder. Then, in January 2025, I finally landed an internship. It was unpaid, but it didn't matter. I learned more in those months than I had in a long time, and it rebuilt my curiosity about how the internet actually works. --- # Curiosity Goes Further ![file_000000000ae871f5b9bac7fac6af2a0a.png](https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/69a9d877-8c8d-81b6-9b95-000363ae9cfb/0c108132-e948-4efe-a8c4-5e9d2da51538/file_000000000ae871f5b9bac7fac6af2a0a.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAZI2LB466TQE54IM5%2F20260907%2Fus-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260907T083135Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEHEaCXVzLXdlc3QtMiJGMEQCID0rZRniEVwp5ovoKqygMzEgEM%2BAVWcBIb1B9XTohoXMAiAv6z8oR3Y4s7aVCBHk%2BWiMM0nsEjf1NJezdNmn%2BCxSgCr%2FAwg6EAAaDDYzNzQyMzE4MzgwNSIMt%2BsoUbmgOtbrV07PKtwDnRx3qKwn2BWDJwPUQyrr4ca6W2QSnflfAZffgk5HG0ff59VkDDZLv0OeGCag9VBKIwu4OEIqsH64rpJzdU0EDiKvt3NhXToGrVC%2BiY0z41N9dNtmAQzi51UWNphK4KYbdzQHASQZPcoz8VHMUeSCztfKiPbGZIo5YhQQDL5vBlE0VSJ4L%2FfNCKTtJcsoGfJ1%2BQL0cjCj6qE5HB2NW4uNnlRxfGpDqSFoZQG0HwxZrpfOEtgDm%2FsOnBQi3KOGV5KH2%2BD%2FCFI8XY81QYo7XHvz%2F7%2BFl7WJnWdF9FVt6bP6PMsfBtxsBN1RkAIT7UiD3jY8214DSsWD5kHy0UCiBb6PqODaCZ1z9Qg2NmEEfkImSNrESOVbGeOjkEsSXZ%2Fm3owkrxuqTpRTxnIN07wOcIcHdMYjz0x8EFkhuGko%2FJjt7JFt%2B939SxLu1wsLB%2BInoEpg1zL%2FXYCecy8swji%2FMQsnf%2BQeBuBdg5EIshWV1q6PLdrcdfHqUbbSw9X9G3tpLkF0TIskQj0SGAguOMCoQksdMau6P9LFToH1HFfIuXc8COR8YBltGD1O9%2FzI08FKx07At1tkab%2BLL4CZGjS0zUYcalsZjS4IrrxJme%2BzYIPUUBGSzmozyZALQCOGHvYwtOz51AY6pgFr8fRl8a8T2i2c2XG84fCARN6IDIOISf4rDMLxhgs70TGh3LFSI00rCtg19sSOGRx0ZlLvjhZaWOPjj9HQc76a7O6ZZZ79vXHBrX%2FHWIO5Ear0nVKfqu%2BpzalNI%2B6g5uod5cHcUDhzpko5dfX8f0V8TSUdvWBUWFTZmY1CVa%2Fxkr1tGa2Tuss7LpfCpSrX8YFNKv1NOrppU0%2FHvgaSTsSyR9q1%2FnZ7&X-Amz-Signature=b6108925af851fdc03177aae689d056d37653fba8d009e895a61a9d5d46a507d&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&x-amz-checksum-mode=ENABLED&x-id=GetObject) That unpaid internship became the real turning point of my life. I dove deep into backend development and built a small WebSocket project, a chatting app, while also learning database design and architecture. From there, I moved into DevOps. I learned CI/CD pipelines, Docker, and deployment processes using GitHub Actions. I worked on a few local freelance projects too, an e-commerce site and a company portfolio. Then came my biggest project yet: an LMS (Learning Management System). It was one of the most challenging things I've built, full of research, late nights, and constant grinding. I finished it within a month. The video and live streaming features in the LMS ran on the YouTube API, so I integrated the full YouTube API along with OBS software using OBS WebSocket to connect everything to the LMS. But then I hit a new problem: YouTube's auto-quality setting inside the iframe wasn't giving me the control I needed. That problem sparked even more curiosity. I dug into AWS, EC2, SES, S3, ASG, SQS, and CloudWatch Alarms, learning and practicing each service until I finally built my own video streaming and encoding architecture. I learned all of this through YouTube videos, documentation, blogs, and AI. And if there's one thing I've come to believe, it's this: **If you stay curious, you will always beat everyone else.** # Where I Am Now I'm currently pursuing my **B.Sc. in Information Technology (2025–2028)** at **Vidyavardhini's Annasaheb Vartak College**. This blog is not a finished story. I'm writing it as an ongoing record of my experiences the projects I build, the technologies I learn, the problems I face, the mistakes I make, and the things I discover along the way. I'm still learning. I'm still building. And there is a lot more to come. **Stay tuned. The journey continues.** --- # Fav Movies Bollywood 1. [3 Idiots](https://www.google.com/search?q=3%20idiots) 2. [Munna Bhai M.B.B.S](https://www.google.com/search?q=Munna%20Bhai%20M.B.B.S) 3. [Taare Zameen Par](https://www.google.com/search?q=Taare%20Zameen%20Par) 4. [12th Fail](https://www.google.com/search?q=12th%20Fail) 5. [The Lunchbox](https://www.google.com/search?q=The%20Lunchbox) 6. [Lion](https://www.google.com/search?q=Lion%20movie) Hollywood 1. [**The Shawshank Redemption**](https://www.google.com/search?q=The%20Shawshank%20Redemption) 2. [Interstellar](https://www.google.com/search?q=Interstellar) 3. [The Social Network](https://www.google.com/search?q=The%20Social%20Network) 4. [Silicon Valley (series)](https://www.google.com/search?q=Silicon%20Valley%20(TV%20series)) 5. [The Pursuit of Happyness](https://www.google.com/search?q=The%20Pursuit%20of%20Happyness) --- # Books - [Psychology of Money](https://www.amazon.in/Psychology-Money-Morgan-Housel/dp/9390166268) - [Atomic Habits](https://www.amazon.in/Atomic-Habits-James-Clear/dp/1847941834/) --- > _**"If it was easy, anyone could have done it."**_