Michal Ptáčník

Michal was born in 1985 in Prague as an only child of a scientist working with laser anemometry and a music teacher. He studied at Mensa High School until 2005, and in 2011, he finished his Law and Jurisprudence degree at the Faculty of Law at Charles University. As he entered the workforce in the middle of an economic crisis, this forced him to put all his plans on hold, and he had to accept the available job, which happened to be the post of a lawyer at the Ministry of Defense. 

After first rough months in the State machinery, things began going well again: Michal ended up at the Department of Law and Legislature, in the inner circle of the minister’s legal experts. The team represented a group of lifelong classical liberals and democrats in the middle of a post-communist (and largely old regime-minded) ministry. 

Michal found kindred spirits in that small team. He learned a lot about law and lawmaking from his most competent and professional colleagues and superiors (as well as the many good people in the army). They made some real, good changes, keeping the new legislature at least marginally sane. 

They had good times together, and he enjoyed working there very much. After the team completed their long-term project, the Reform of the Czech Defence Legislature, things were going stable and increasingly stale. Michal realised that a future career as a lifelong State bureaucrat in Czechia might not be what he wanted to do in life. 

In 2016, Michal went abroad, as he wanted to see the world, and he enrolled at the University in Utrecht to study international law and EU law. Michal loved learning there even more than he had liked his job at the ministry in its heyday, showing him that this change was a good choice. 

After finishing his degree, he experienced some difficulties learning a new language and getting accustomed to the realities of being an Eastern European expat (or a migrant) in the West. Michal currently works in Exact, a tech corp, the market leader in business software in the Netherlands. His hard work and dedication secured him the job of a compliance specialist.

He is interested in futurism and systems of alternative governance, economy, and international law and affairs. He writes sci-fi books in his spare time with his Fiancée, with whom he has lived since 2019 in Gouda, the Netherlands.

Want to learn more from Michal? Check out Escape Artist Insiders magazine today!