The speaker, who is the head of data engineering and DevRel at DAGSTER, started learning Python due to laziness while working at a bank, facing repetitive server patch verification tasks. This happened pre-cloud era, amid transitioning from Python 2 to Python 3. Utilizing 'productive laziness,' he found ways to automate tasks, leveraging his aversion to manual work to drive automation initiatives, leading to increased efficiency and motivation to find better and more efficient ways of working.