I Quit My Office Job So I Could Live in the Wild

How It All Began

My connection with nature started forming when I was about ten. I couldn't really explain what drew me to the outdoors back then - I just felt that I wanted to be in the forest, exploring and discovering the life around me.

It began with simple trips with my parents or my uncle, and later came the bicycle, which suddenly opened up a whole new world of places to explore. My brother Jakub, who is just under two years older, was my perfect adventure partner in those years.

Over time, our hobby grew into a real passion. We wanted to capture the moments we experienced in nature and our encounters with wildlife, but the old family film camera quickly reached its limits. As soon as we were old enough, we took on part-time jobs and put every saved euro toward better gear. Eventually, we started sharing our photos on our website fotolovci.sk.

Wildlife Photography as My Top Priority

By the time I was around 16, photographing wild animals had become my highest priority. School was going well for me, so I kept the time spent on homework and studying to an absolute minimum. I finished assignments in the morning or during breaks, and I didn't need to put much effort into studying either. Right after school, I'd rush to my part-time job on my bike - it was about ten minutes faster than taking the bus.

In spring and summer, when the days were longer, I sometimes even managed to head out into nature with my camera after my part-time job, hoping to catch the last - and most beautiful - rays of sunlight. And always on my bike. At that time, it was the only means of transport that matched my idea of efficient travel. Buses were often late, didn't run at the right times, and rarely went anywhere useful. There were definitely no buses heading to a fox den or to the riverbank where the kingfisher flew by. But a bike could take me there. So I cycled my way through high school, usually in camo pants with a camera on my back, all the way to university.

Building a Career and a Promising Future in IT Management

Studying computer science at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava brought a whole new set of challenges. The faculty was no longer a 15-minute bike ride away like my high school, but closer to three quarters of an hour. My old strategy - putting minimal effort into studying and doing assignments in the morning or between classes - suddenly stopped working. This field of study demanded far more time and preparation than anything I'd done before. It wasn't easy, and I had to start rethinking and prioritizing the values I had lived by until then.

And so, little by little, my photography and time spent in nature faded, while the hours behind a computer working on academic assignments kept growing. I was doing well in school, but it required real effort. Then came my first interesting job offer, followed by a second and a third. Before I even realized it, during my master's studies I found myself working in a great team within a large tech corporation. I became part of a group working on the digital transformation of healthcare, and that work genuinely felt meaningful.

And I was doing well - I worked my way up from a hardworking student-developer to a Scrum Master and eventually a Team Lead. At that time, we were building a department that grew from just three people to fifteen. We started recruiting and training new colleagues, and I was nominated to become the manager of this newly formed team. I had also earned the trust of our partners in Austria, where we often traveled for business.

That's also why, out of more than three thousand employees in our division, I was nominated and later awarded a prize for individual performance. You could say that my career was taking off like a rocket. The bigger the challenge placed in front of me, the harder I pushed to overcome it. But with every step forward, the idea of returning to the forest seemed to slip further away. And I started to miss it.

How the Desire to Return to the Forest Started Calling Me Back

So I slowly began to seek out the quiet of the wilderness again, noticing its subtle details. In the forest, I finally felt like I was truly resting - away from all the technology, the fast-paced consumer world, the phones and computers. And somewhere in that calm, a small, innocent thought began to form: what if I could actually make a living doing this?

Slowly but surely, I began unconsciously taking steps toward that idea. Time spent in nature gradually climbed higher on my priority list. Just as it had once slowly slipped down, it now quietly worked its way back up.

And that's when I made the decision to fully return to my old passion. But this time, not just as a hobby - full time. I decided to leave behind the "stable" environment of office walls, carpets, and desks, and set out to explore something bigger, more mysterious, and also far more uncertain.

"Back to the Roots," or Joining Forces Again

While I was building my "office" career, my brother Jakub started focusing on filming wildlife. Together with his friend Lukáš, they began working on a unique documentary about Lynx in Slovakia - Mysli ako rys. They also launched a platform for comparing and reviewing gear they used in the field. That's how the website - not only about trail cameras - was born: Gearcheckers.

I had been following their work closely for at least a year, and reaching out to Jakub with the idea of joining forces again felt like a very natural step. By that time, Jakub was already developing an idea for something bigger than Mysli ako rys or Gearcheckers. And that's how TENTAUR was born. Back then, we didn't even know what it would be called, and the vision for where we were heading was only just beginning to emerge from the fog.

When Peťo joined the Tentaur idea, bringing his extensive experience in launching businesses, the whole project finally started gaining a clear direction. His insights, his ability to spot opportunities, and the way he encouraged us to think in those terms moved us forward in a big way - not only from a business perspective, but also personally and development-wise.

Because we wanted high-quality, tested gear to be available in Slovakia - for people who truly appreciate it - a place began to take shape where we could offer such equipment to others. That's how the website, our e-shop, came to life, where we offer the gear we personally use for filming and observing wildlife. We created Tentaur because we believe that exploring nature should be a joy, not a struggle with technology.

I Left the Office to Fully Devote Myself to My Passion

During my university years - when I was drifting away from wildlife photography - I learned a lot. I had to overcome many obstacles and challenges that taught me persistence and responsibility. Many times, I had to step out of my comfort zone and push myself further than I thought I could. Working in several companies and in different roles taught me flexibility, as well as how to work with people and motivate them.

I owe a lot to the inspiring leaders I worked under and to the trust they placed in me. Over time, they entrusted me with more and more responsibility, and at one point I was managing teams across three locations - in Slovakia, Germany, and India.

Even though I was doing well in this job and mostly surrounded by great people, I increasingly felt that something was missing — and it was the time spent in the forest.

That's why I decided to leave the office behind and fully pursue my long-standing passion, which I had dusted off and rediscovered its meaning. Surrounded by a fantastic team — and, most importantly, by nature — we strive to get closer to our dream.

I don't yet know where this journey will take me, but with the right people and surrounded by the wilderness, it's sure to be an amazing adventure.