Ivan Karaban

WordPress developer · In the business since 2022

Fragments

I grew up among ordinary lads from the neighbourhood, and that's who I am.

My stepfather met my mum when I was two, but I never felt any difference in how he treated me and my brother. And I've always loved him very much.

My mum is a magistrate judge. She sleeps very little, works a lot and cries a lot.

I'm a person of moods; mine change often, and a great deal depends on them.

My mum really wants me to have a university degree.

I smoke because I grew up in Chekhov, a town outside Moscow.

I often set myself goals, otherwise life is boring. I'm a goal person.

If the people around you are smarter and better than you, you'll pull yourself up to their level.

Money, money… They say it's not motivation, but it is. Since childhood it was hard for me to ask my parents for money, probably because I saw how hard they worked for it.

I dream of working as a taxi driver. Or a long-haul trucker.

It has always amazed me how people can sit in one place their whole lives, complain about life and not try to change anything.

Strange people make me uneasy. In that respect I'm not very tolerant.

I believe in myself and the people around me. I believe I can achieve everything on my own, and if something doesn't work out, I have family and friends who'll help and support me.

I'm a sincere person; I tell everyone what I think. And most of the time people appreciate it.

I think a lot about everything. It often leads me into the weeds, but at the same time it gives me new thoughts, new paths and new knowledge.

Sometimes you need to stop and think.

What worries me most right now is the future. I'm wary of it in general, because I don't know whether I'll manage to carry out my plans in my personal life and at work.

Being alone is rotten. But an unhappy relationship is rotten too.

I want to see progress in my life with my own eyes.

I thought about becoming a pilot, but failed the medical because I'm colour-blind. As a kid I used to draw grass brown.

It annoys me when I can't reach an understanding with another person.

I'd try working far away from people, something like picking up fallen penguins at the North Pole.

Sometimes I think nothing matters. Things people attach huge importance to will lose it today or tomorrow, and you'll simply forget about them.

A person is a member of society with their own desires, thoughts and needs, who is always running somewhere, always wanting something and always needing more and more.

As a kid I had fantasies about changing the world, but they're slowly fading. I guess I'm starting to grow up.

I want to have a sense of what tomorrow will bring and the ability to help my loved ones physically, financially and emotionally.

My cat is my daughter; I raised and fed her. I once tried living without a cat, but it felt very uncomfortable.

A real life is whatever you fill your existence with, whatever you wake up for.

I really love cars and speed, that pleasant sense of risk when it takes your breath away. But I wouldn't go skydiving.

My successes inspire me. That's when I understand I'm not doing something for nothing.

Winter is a depressing time, and it's hard on me.

Love comes in different forms, but it's an unconditional feeling either way. It's understanding the person, accepting their flaws, being ready to put yourself in a not-so-comfortable position so that she is comfortable. When you put her interests above your own and sometimes hope for the same in return.

My father influenced me the most. He has always been the example I strived towards. He says what he thinks and he's honest, and that's why I'm like this too.

Common sense is needed everywhere and in everything, but not everyone has it.

I really like Matthew McConaughey. He looks a lot like my grandfather, who was a colonel and ran a military town outside Moscow.

I get tense when I feel drawn to someone.

I take work and the feelings of the people close to me seriously.

I'd really love to visit America; I like that country. They supposedly have democracy there, and I'd like to see it.

It came as a surprise to me that people can see the same thing in very different ways.

In difficult situations I panic, but it doesn't last long.

I'm happy when I have a girlfriend I love. It's very important to me.

As a teenager I earned money in a computer game, and then I thought: why not earn it in real life? That's how I got into programming.

Freelancing doesn't pay at all.

With my first pay cheque at fourteen, I bought myself a PlayStation.

In ten years I'll most likely still be a simple guy, but I hope I'll amount to something and be doing something meaningful.

Strict business suits aren't my thing.

IT practically grew up alongside me: I've been tinkering with computers since I was a kid, I liked it all and I still do.

What matters most to me is making the client's interaction with the website convenient, so the product gives people pleasure, is nice to use and everything is clear.

I don't like having to redo the same project many times. But such projects exist, and everyone has them.

Work takes centre stage in my life. I'm at the age when you need to work a lot to achieve something.

I dream of working in Silicon Valley, but that would take a really big turn in life.

I'd advise a newcomer to learn as much as possible before starting work. Now that I'm working, it's sometimes hard to find time to study, so mostly I learn on the job.

What makes a project fail is the lack of a proper specification and of quick, regular contact with the client.

There's template design, and there's design you want to support and improve with your development.

A beautiful website to me means minimalism in fonts and buttons, nice custom graphics and images, pleasant colours. I like the layouts our designer Dasha makes. She approaches her work creatively, never in a cookie-cutter way.

If you give our team free rein, they'll do everything brilliantly. But sometimes the client spoils their own project. That's the paradox.