 He started out as a clerk in the local Ottoman bureaucracy in Crete and later came to İstanbul, pursuing an education with a particular religious emphasis.Climbing through the hierarchy, he served as governor of Trabzon, Kastamonu, Ankara, Sivas and Baghdad, and was noted as a successful administrator.He published his writings of a personal and political nature under the title "Letters of Sırrı Paşa" ("Mektubat-ı Sırrı Paşa").