[chx]

In 1985, my parents went to West Germany with an organized tour and smuggled a ZX Spectrum for us. At the same time, they sent me to a computer - focused daycamp at a community center. Yes, of course, we played games, I was ten but I learned ZX Spectrum BASIC, too.

Jump forward twenty years and I got my first Western programming job for the then-unimaginable 5000 USD a month. This company also happened to be headquartered in Vancouver where I decided to immigrate to and they helped me doing so. And when this company got acquired four years later, I got a salary high enough to buy my own apartment on the beautiful seashore of Vancouver.

Thanks Speccy for what my life could become.

[grujicd]

My father went to West Germany on a business trip with instructions to purchase Spectrum. Sadly, he returned with Atari 800 XL. I say sadly because any software was very hard to find in ex Yugoslavia while stuff for Spectrum was widely spread (all pirated, of course), even transmitted on FM radio.

Although I didn't move to Canada, it lead to the similar outcome of a good IT career. In essence, cheap home computers opened our eyes as to what oportunities exist, and that we are not bounded by borders where we were born in. I'm sure there are many success stories from East Europe which started with Spectrum, C64, or even Atari 800XL.

[vasac]

In my case, I started with the ZX-81 and never emigrated, but I can relate to everything else. Thanks to Sir Clive, I have a great career and lots of fun with hobbies that are mostly related to computers. 10/10 would do it again!

[com]

Well done Clive Sinclair, your parents and you!