Paul Stamatiou: No Quarterlife Crisis

Visit Paul’s Page: PaulStamatiou.com

For some the idea of the quarterlife is not so much a “crisis,” as much so a time to realize yet another life transition. Though most have their lives organized to continue with the inflexible “life as usual plan,” set up by generations before us, there are some in Generation Y, like 23-year-old Paul Stamatiou, whom have had an “independent flair” about them for as long as they can remember.

Stamatiou is one of those individuals whom are currently using their quarterlife to reaffirm the self-confidence and sense-of-self many use their 20s to seek out.

I asked Stamatiou a series of questions regarding his quarterlife and how he came to be; firstly if he was having a quarterlife crisis and he replied definitively, “Nope! Definitely going through some changes – finishing college and moving into the “real world” – but, it’s not all that different.”

“Different,” this is the word most use to describe why the quarterlife is full of “crises” – the life they are leading is different from the one they had planned on.

Leaving friends from college/hometowns to make new connections, finding a new job or career, while at the same time trying to find their new identity as a functioning adult in the “real world.” Many find these transitions to be overwhelming all at once, especially when you may no longer have the physical, monetary or emotional support of your friends and family you did before.

Stamatiou said his “independent flair” came from his strong belief in the mantra of “if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself,” and from this stemmed his preparation for his quarterlife prior to even leaving college.

Stamatiou said, “I had already made the ‘switch’ from having roommates to living by myself during the last year of college, and I found it has boosted my productivity quite a bit.”

Working essentially for himself from his Atlanta home, “going to work” for this Generation-Y entrepreneur is no different than how he has been “tinkering” with his passions for the past few years while in school.

Stamatiou says, “I just have a lot more pressure to make sure it all works out this time.”

Many of us had some idea of where we wanted to be when we were 25/30 – some did not pull this together before their 20s. I asked Stamatiou when he was 21, just a few years ago, did he know where he would be today? He said,

“At that time I was still wondering what the ‘bigger picture’ was going to be. I knew I was headed down the path of working with software and Internet services – but not exactly where and how. I figured I would pick up some type of product manager job at a funded start-up in Silicon Valley – know enough about coding to talk with developers and plan out the rest of a company’s offerings, but not be tied down to coding all day.”

Being so young, and yet having a very realistic concept of where he wants to be, and how to get there – some would figure Stamatiou is “living the dream” and he is very successful. Though he did not speak of having the $100,000 cars, villas in Italy and going on holiday in Thailand, he views his own ” success” as being very proud of his own accomplishments from before the age of 20. However, he did speak of one particular moment that rang “success” very loudly to him.

In the Summer of 2008, Stamatiou received a a phone call from TTI/Vanguard inviting him to speak at a private technology conference in Rome. It was not until after his breath-taking taxi ride to the top of a mountainous area, to the “ridiculous,” aka very lavish hotel they put the speakers in, which over looked the city did Stamatiou say, “Damn! I could get used to this…”

So, how does one go from college student to international speaker?

I am sure there is a lot of hard work and professional determination behind it, but how much of a factor does personal life play into one’s professional career?

Stamatiou says for him, he has extrapolated his personal curiosity and inquisitiveness to almost naturally progress him in his professional career. He said he grew up taking things apart and tinkering with electronics, and these traits followed into work in a few ways:

“First – I enjoy a good challenge and getting my hands dirty! I remember when I started blogging, I would start an article with a vague ideas of how to get something technical done. I would then research and research and play around with all these things until I had a strong working knowledge of the subject matter, and could teach others the same.”

Stamatiou continued,

“Second, my lust for knowing how things worked and learning about them brought me to be an early adopter – never afraid to use and test out the bleeding edge technology; which is why I have been on the whole ‘cloud’ bandwagon for years now. Lastly, I have learned how to deal with failures and disappointment; wanting to test out all this new stuff leads to lots and lots of trial and error.”

Stamatiou’s combination of personal thirst for knowledge, young Generation-Y sense of independence and adventure topped off with Stamatiou’s “daily inspiration” (and favorite online source)  Hacker News, has for now staved off the “quarterlife crisis” many in Generation Y are facing.

Paul Stamatiou’s lack of a quarterlife crisis is not an anomaly; however it is not possible to replicate for everyone. Some of us just unfortunately (or fortunately – if you’re a optimist) have to take the rougher road through this transitional period in our lives.

Whether a quarterlife crisis is avoidable can be debated; however in the end, either way, your quarterlife is unique to you and how you handle it – crisis or not – ultimately speaks to you about who you are.