My First Encounter with PrestaShop and the Person Who Sparked PrestaRock’s Journey

In my previous story post, I described what I learned during my first freelance programming job and how, even back then, I applied B. Tracy’s ideas: to be proactive, become indispensable, create value, and always take one step further.

It would probably be fair to say that apart from WordPress, I was most interested in CodeIgniter, a very popular MVC framework at the time. MVC architecture in programming was taking its first steps, just like the initial frameworks were emerging. I practiced the described techniques by copying CodeIgniter functions and memorizing them from my notebook to understand them better.

I used the smaizys.lt page for my career development, dedicating a section for potential clients to hire me and listing my skills at the time. Imagine my surprise when, before starting my first university year, I received an email from my current mentor, Audrius Lučiūnas. “Would you be interested in working for me?” he asked.

Yes, this was the moment when life challenges and fears were looming: a new city, university, and, in July, a fantastic job offer—a proper employment contract with a decent salary of 800 LTL net, which seemed astronomical to me at the time—for a PHP developer position.

Working with a real programmer was a completely new experience. I felt immense respect and awe mixed with a certain level of fear. It was different from being a freelancer, where no one else sees your code. At first, I was embarrassed to show my code; I wanted to make it as good as possible. I reviewed every line, tested extensively, and only submitted it for review when I was confident it was flawless.

Audrius constantly improved the code and gave advice, often requiring implementation or rework. During this stage of my career, I learned the value of quality. Writing poor code wasn’t acceptable; it had to be refined until it was right. I realized that doing it right the first time made the code easier to expand and more straightforward in the long run.

In essence, I owe this value—quality—to Audrius, and it’s the foundation of our PrestaRock company and the work we do there. Perhaps that’s why I’m detail-oriented and often nitpick on small things.

Even today, when I meet Audrius at conferences or when he visits me, I tell and show my employees, “Look, without this person, there would be no you, no me, and no PrestaRock.” This is another coincidence that shaped the course of my life.

Interestingly, my first job started with something other than PrestaShop, which was then at version 1.1 and used by Audrius’ company, but with a CodeIgniter project for a lens game called laimekpremio.lt. The system I built successfully handled significant traffic, and we transitioned to working on the leading e-commerce store with PrestaShop, where I developed simple modules and plugins based on predefined tasks.

Unfortunately, as a shy kid, I faced a challenge that summer when my desktop computer broke down. I am trying to remember if it was due to RAM generations changing, but I had to wait a couple of weeks for a part. I felt terrible—it was my first real job, and such lousy luck struck! How would I look in front of my employer? They’d think I was making excuses and didn’t want to work.

But despite the setback, my colleague waited for me and welcomed me back after unpaid leave. Even then, I was a timid boy, afraid to disappoint my employer again, worried about balancing work with university lectures (especially in the first year), and eventually quit. Here’s the kind of email I wrote back then:

Looking back now, I realize I was a typical junior, unsure of what I wanted, scared, and giving up after barely three months of work. But it might have to be that way.

It’s funny and strange, but that three-month stint with Audrius was the only regular job I ever had in my entire career. Today, I am deeply grateful to him and hold him in immense respect. Even now, when he tells me to address him informally, I can’t bring myself to do it—it just doesn’t feel right.

This is one of those moments when a colleague might not even realize the impact they had. In such a short time, Audrius instilled a programmer’s mindset in me, laid the foundation for my career, and indirectly contributed to the creation of PrestaRock—all from one simple email—one random encounter in life.

I even remember how Audrius drove from Vilnius to Kaunas’ Šilainiai neighborhood to sign some documents and took me out for kebabs. It’s funny, but that’s when I learned that Kaunas is also known as the “city of kebabs.” What an introduction: a career, a city, programming skills, and my first glimpse into PrestaShop.

In future posts, things will get even more interesting as I finally discuss what shaped PrestaRock—a fantastic company that’s been thriving for ten years and, I dare say, is home to the best PrestaShop developers in Lithuania.

P. S. if you are interested in company growth, AI, and engaging tools, follow Audrius on LinkedIn. He describes himself as a 38-year-old pensioner, which is definitely a nice thing to achieve.