Code Chrysalis Cohort 5

Student Introductions

Code Chrysalis is happy to welcome another international cohort of students that have traveled far and wide to be a part of our program. An exciting move that marks the start of their journeys towards becoming versatile software engineers with the potential to become the next generation of industry leaders.

Let’s meet the students!

Michael Arnold

Michael comes to us from Berlin. Having spent the last 6 years living across the world from London, to Singapore, to San Francisco, he now finds himself with us in Tokyo.

Using his business and management background alongside a keen interest in technology, he started his own startup around an app for e-sports fans called PatronGG. He’s also an advisor at Lead Sports Accelerator, mentoring esports startups and entrepreneurs.

While at Code Chrysalis he aims to develop programming skills to understand the technical details of the startup industry. He’s excited to continue building community platforms for esports fans and to get his hands on blockchain technology.

You can find Michael on LinkedIn.

Dustin Tran

Coming from California, USA, Dustin earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science in 2014. He’s worked at various software QA (Quality Assurance) jobs, particularly in the video game industry, before joining our program.

While he has some experience with programming languages from his time in college, learning Javascript is new to him. Dustin loves video games, so is interested in hardware, software, AR, VR, and anything else related to games.

You can find him on LinkedIn here.

Tsuyoshi Akiyama

Tsuyoshi is a local Tokyoite. He has two older sisters that are both musicians: one is a conductor and the other is an organist.

Before joining Code Chrysalis, he worked at an IT company called Roboken where he maintained their existing websites.

He is interested in mobile applications and enjoys riding his gliders.

Tsuyoshi in his glider.

You can follow Tsuyoshi on Medium.

Kimiko Motoyama

Another globetrotter in our cohort, Kimiko has lived in Hyogo, Miami, Thomasville, Atlanta, Hyogo and now Tokyo. She was an English teacher in Hyogo for 7 years and later was hired as a programmer.

A fun fact about Kimiko is that her voice was used on a morning show called “Ohayo Asahi Desu” for 3 years, and she also did some voice acting on an iPhone quiz app for hip-hop culture called “Juice”.

As a new programmer, she’s come to us to improve her skills and further develop her tech interests and knowledge.

Tsubasa Kondo

A Tokyo native and ultra-marathoner in his spare time, Tsubasa has experience as a CRE (Customer Reliability Engineer) for a product called Track.

Before joining Code Chrysalis, he worked at a startup in Shibuya called Givery. He is very interested in Mesh Networking, Blockchain, Low-power, long-distance IoT and Pentesting.

He enjoys being in nature by foraging wild herbs, building campfires and meditating in the woods.

Tsubasa on a trail-running ultra-marathon.

Tsubasa graduated from Sophia University with a degree in international business and also served in the Japan Air Self Defense Force as a medic.

You can find him on LinkedIn here and GitHub.

Nour Balaha

Nour comes from Damascus, Syria, also known as the“Jasmine City”, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

He worked as a lawyer in his native country, but developed an interest in technology and began studying Java and understanding how to use Oracle.

His main tech interests are 4K TVs and HDR content, Virtual Reality, Smart home tech, desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones and video game consoles.

Nour was a graduate from our first Foundations course.

You can find Nour on LinkedIn here.

Hiroyuki Momoi

Hiro is originally from Osaka, Japan but now lives on Tokyo. He’s been working as a Japanese system integrator (Japan Business Systems) for 14 years. He has experience as a project manager, a product owner, and Windows network infrastructure architect.

Our Foundations course was his first experience with serious coding, which he is now building on through our Immersive course. His main tech areas of interest are Blockchain and Machine or Deep learning.

You can find Hiro on LinkedIn here.

At Code Chrysalis we are privileged to have such an international set of students with us. To see what our students have been doing in person come along to their Demo Day on September 27th at the Code Chrysalis office.

If you’re interested in learning more about us, check out our website to apply!

Code Chrysalis is a coding and English school located in the heart of Tokyo. Our programs include a 12-week advanced software engineering bootcamp, a beginner coding course, and an English communication immersive.

See why we are an industry leader in tech education in Japan.

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