The author, a self-taught PHP developer, recounts their journey from building their first website at 15 to starting and eventually losing their web design startup. They reflect on the life lessons they learned from "The Lion King," particularly Mufasa's explanation of the "circle of life" and its relevance to being born to help others. After experiencing a loss, they rediscovered their purpose by realizing they could teach others how to code, leading them to join Twilio as a PHP Developer for Technical Content.