“When I grow up, I want to be an e-commerce developer.”
— No kid. Ever.
So why are we here then?
I’ll let people like you answer that first.
But usually, it comes down to one thing: More freedom.
And this career checks a lot of the right boxes.
I like the freedom to work on things I want to work on. And this pays better than anything I’ve ever done in my life.
I never really knew what I wanted to do with my career. But I knew the kind of life I wanted, so I looked for a career that could fit it. I even spent an entire winter in Japan and snowboarded almost every day.
Since becoming a mom I have really struggled with balancing work and this extra responsibility. Making my own hours on days that my daughter is sick or random school holidays is such a blessing
For me it's taking time off without needing someone’s approval, and choosing where and when I work.
I used to work in manufacturing, in electrical engineering. It was a super cool job, but I realized: if I keep going in this career, I’m going to be in factories for the rest of my life. And I just knew there was so much more I wanted to experience.
I also like being able to choose the kind of work and clients I want instead of being tied to a fixed schedule.
Working from home, remotely, internationally. Basically, wherever I have Wifi access.
Time flexibility is a big one for me, as well as eliminating the commute or travel so I can stay fit and healthy. Usually there’s not even an alarm
My story isn’t that different
I wish it was fancier or more heroic, but at least it’s real.
TL;DR: Studied engineering. Liked the field, hated the lifestyle, wanted more freedom.
And to be honest, it took me waaay too long.
Here’s what happened:
2018
German starter pack: beers and engineering degree.
I actually loved college. Math, physics, programming, living on my own schedule.
I invested the money I made tutoring in weed and played way too much League of Legends. (Surprise: I’m a completely normal dude.)
Had the time of my life living with my best friends, and still got a Master’s in Robotics.
10/10 would recommend.Then came the actual job.
And honestly, the work was still interesting. But the lifestyle wasn’t. It meant being in factories all the time, because that’s where the robots are.
Loud, hot, often in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes abroad in Poland, India, China… usually industrial areas, not exactly the parts you’d visit on vacation. And to make it worse, if something was urgent, that meant working over Christmas or other holidays that you’d rather spend with family.
Long commutes. Negative coworkers. Very little freedom.
I respected the job, and it’s a good career on paper...
but I didn’t want that life.
Engineering & robotics 
The factory days 2019
Failing as a Freelancer.
If I want freedom, I need cash.
So how could I make it on my own terms?I loved programming, but no one knew who I was.
Selling the next Windows desktop application to some enterprise company?
Probably not gonna happen.But everybody needs a website.
Maybe I can make that work.So I quit engineering, learned web development, and finally got some of that freedom back. Working remotely and on my own schedule.
There was just one problem:
Finding clients was hard.I had no real strategy. The few projects I did get, I drastically undercharged.
My savings were running down, and I started wondering if I was even good enough as a self-taught developer, because I had no one to compare myself to.
So I realized I still had a lot to learn.
I needed another job to see how professionals actually did this.
Immediately used that new freedom 
First tastes of remote work 2019
So back to learning ...
So I got a job at one of Germany’s fastest-growing Shopify agencies. They were hiring a lot at the time, and I spent the next two years learning from them.
For the first time, I saw the whole process:
Brand building. Finding clients online. Sales calls. Proposals. Pricing. Professional delivery.
Most of these things I didn’t even know existed.
They were unknown unknowns for me.(The stuff you can’t even ask about, because you don’t know what you don’t know.)
One of the founders, Patrick, became my first real mentor, and we’re still friends to this day.
Around the same time, I started making YouTube tutorials because I missed teaching and tutoring.
I basically made the videos I wished had existed when I was getting started.
And it turned out:
A lot of people had the exact same problems.
The agency years 
Patrick & me. Still friends today. 
First YouTube videos - Robot Jan 2021
This time, it worked.
After two years, I left the agency and gave self-employment another shot.
This time, people were already finding me through YouTube, and I understood how the business side worked.
Store owners hired me to work on their Shopify stores. Developers asked me for help building their own freelance careers.
Between teaching and freelance projects, I could finally pay the bills on my own terms.
In 2021, I met my first business partner, Aaron, and we launched Freemote, our first training program.
The goal was simple:
Help absolute beginners become paid developers in 6 weeks.
I spent my days reviewing portfolios, answering questions, and helping people through their first client projects.
And with every student, I got more data points on what actually worked, where people got stuck, and what helped them move forward.
That made it easier to help the next person.
Freemote was amazing.
Eventually, Aaron wanted to get back to building software, while I wanted to go all-in on education.
So after a great run together, we went our separate ways.
I kept building my own training programs from there.
Freemote students with their Hoodies 
Aaron & Jan 
Avery with his award 
Our first ever $100k freelance award 
Since then
The mission stayed the same.
I’ve spent the last few years all-in on education.
I’ve helped hundreds of developers learn Shopify, freelancing, and more recently, how to use AI to become dramatically faster at both.
AI is making one thing very clear:
The gap between junior and senior developers is getting bigger, and the bar is rising for everyone.
At the same time, I can help people even more.
Systems, workflows, and tools that used to take weeks or months to figure out can now be packaged into skills that members can install and put to work in minutes.
Along the way, I’ve worked with Shopify, built courses for Shopify Academy, grown this little YouTube channel into something I never expected, and been invited to speak around the world.
And the one thing I care about most is still pretty simple:
I want to do work I find meaningful.
A lot of the time, that means helping people who are in a similar situation to the one I was in before.
Today, that means helping Shopify developers become more valuable, work faster, cross six figures, and build careers with more freedom.
If that’s what you’re working toward too, this community is for you.
Teaching Shopify + AI 
On stage 
Shopify Academy Educational Partner 
Working from everywhere 
Time outside 
And time on the slopes
If you’ve read this far, let’s talk.
Would be awesome to work together. :-)