How Lucas Paganini Built a Tech Empire without a Tech Degree?

From self-taught developer to business leader: Lessons in rapid skill acquisition and leadership from a young achiever

Aug 29, 2024

Lucas Paganini, founder of unvoid.com & host adventuresinangular.com and reactroundup.com

Scene 1

As I clicked the “end call” button after my guest appearance on the podcast, a thought lingered in my mind: how does he do it?

Here’s a guy in his late twenties, no formal computer science degree to his name, yet he’s running companies, hiring engineers, mastering Angular and React with the ease of a seasoned developer, and hosting podcasts about them.

Meanwhile, many middle-aged software engineers, with long years of experience, find themselves often overwhelmed by life’s curveballs and the relentless pace of technological change.

Who is this wizard, and what magic does he possess that propels him to such heights of success?

Determined to uncover his secrets, I decided to dive deeper into his story. Maybe I could find the motivation to sprinkle a bit of that magic onto my own journey.

Scene 2

“Rakia, how should I present you?” He asked a few minutes before going live.

“Mm.. you can mention that I’m a freelance software engineer, and maybe just a GDE in Angular, and a content creator,” I replied.

“JUST a GDE?” he asked with a smile on his face. “There are people who say ‘I’M a GDE, with a huge pride.’”

I laughed. “Well, that depends on how we see ourselves. A GDE doesn’t know everything.”

“I tried to become a GDE in the past, but my application wasn’t accepted,” he confessed. “I think that you deserve respect for becoming a Google Developer Expert (GDE) in Angular.”

“Thanks,” I said. “By the way, it worked for me after the second try. My first application wasn’t accepted either.”

“Ah, then maybe I should give it another shot,” he said.

This wasn’t the first time I’d been asked how should I be introduced. Every time I sent a talk proposal to a tech conference, there was a short bio form field that I had to fill out. Before previous podcast appearances, hosts asked me to send them a short bio to present me to the audience. My answer was usually something like this:

Rakia is a freelance senior software engineer, Google Developer Expert in Angular, speaker, and content creator. She is active on Medium, with about 200 articles, and YouTube, and has two Udemy video courses with 35K+ students:
- Software Architecture, System Design, & Cloud Computing,
- and Web Performance Optimization.

So why my answer was a bit different this time, and why did that “JUST” slip out of my mouth?

First, I’m not always great at answering spontaneous questions, especially when I’m caught off guard.

Second, giving a verbal answer with the same content as my written one felt like bragging.

Third, I hate being boxed in.

I started my career 18 years ago as a Java developer and have worked with many technologies and frameworks since then. In recent years, I’ve focused on Angular, which sometimes leads people, who do not know my background, to mistake me for a frontend or JavaScript developer.

It annoys me when that happens, and I feel like shouting, “NO, I’m not a JavaScript or frontend or Angular developer.” Yes, I master these technologies to a certain level, but that’s not all I am or all I can and want to do.

My latest video course about Software Architecture, System Design, and Cloud Computing is part of my way of saying “NO” to such narrow judgments of my technical identity.

Finally, there is a misjudgment about what being a GDE means. To become a GDE, you need:

a certain level of expertise in the technology,
and a significant impact on the community through sharing articles, videos, mentoring, podcasting, meetups, or even conference talks.

There are many impressive experts worldwide who know more about Angular than I do. However, they aren’t ready yet to apply to the GDE program because they haven’t shared their knowledge with the community or made a big impact yet.

There are also experts like Lars Gyrup Brink Nielsen, from him, I learned about the Container/Presenter pattern and smart and dumb components. Lars is a significant contributor to the Angular framework and its community but chose not to become a GDE for his own reasons.

So, being an Angular GDE doesn’t mean knowing everything about Angular or having superior knowledge to other Angular experts without the title, like the Adventures in Angular podcast host who wondered how could I say “JUST a GDE.”

Breaking Down the Paganini Path

Lucas Paganini — a name I hadn’t encountered until I was invited to be a guest speaker on the Adventures in Angular podcast he hosts.

A few hours before we went live, I decided to do my homework and listened to a couple of episodes.

As I listened, I realized Lucas wasn’t just any host.

He exhibits great listening, insightful contributions to the discussion, and an uncanny ability to follow and understand complex narratives, which isn’t easy for anyone without a deep knowledge of the topic.

However, he is still in his twenties and doesn’t have a formal computer science degree. At 28, he’s the Founder of unvoid.com with clients in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

What struck me most was not just his technical prowess but his ability to lead and inspire.

He isn’t just riding the wave; he’s creating it.

Determined to uncover more insights behind Lucas’s journey, and gather clues that inspire me to navigate my own path, I reached out to him with a series of questions.

Below are his candid and thoughtful responses.

Access to My Udemy Video Courses 📚

The coupon for my second course is available for a limited time:

Software Architecture, System Design & Cloud Computing Explained
Mastering Web Performance: From Novice to Expert: Coupon 49E170B8526FC74205DC

See you next time!

— Rakia

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