Szilvi Horvath — Junior Software Engineer
Szilvi is a Junior Software Engineer at Capgemini, she started attending codebar in the summer of 2018 as a student and is also a Makers Alumni.
You can find Szilvi on the internet at:
- What did you want to be growing up?
- First, I wanted to be a Jedi, and when I realised that that wasn’t going to happen, I wanted to be a vet, but then in high school, I realised that I didn’t like Biology that much, so I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. After a brief adventure of studying to be a geography and English teacher, I ended up graduating from university with a degree in English and American studies, thinking, I’d just figure things out as I go along.
2) When did your interest in tech start?
I’ve always liked gizmos and gadgets, and I really enjoyed playing video
games, but when I was growing up tech seemed like a boys’ world and it
never occurred to me that I could be a part of it. I didn’t even have my own
computer until I was about 18!
A couple of years ago, I read a blog post about a woman who’d done the
same university course as me and successfully retrained as a developer. That
was the first time I thought that I should see what coding was about and that
maybe *even I*, who’s far from a math genius could give it a go. After a quick
Google search, and a few hours of doing coding exercises on Codecademy, I
was hooked.
3) How did you make the transition to being a developer?
After working in different customer service and admin jobs, I ended up
working in accounts as a bookkeeper, but I wasn’t very happy. I knew I had to
find a way to get into coding professionally, so I tried a few online courses but
with a full-time job it was too much for me and I just didn’t progress as much
as I would have liked. A coding bootcamp seemed like the best option for me,
but there was no way I could afford to pay for it, and the uncertainty of trying
to find a job once I finished the bootcamp would have been impossible for me.
I spent a long time researching different options when I came across the
Makers Academy apprenticeship scheme. After several interviews, I was hired
by Capgemini as part of this program, and they sponsored me to complete the
12 weeks full-time Makers bootcamp. I am currently working towards my Level 4 Diploma in Software Development with support from Makers, but mostly, my wonderful colleagues at Capgemini.
4) What was your first development job?
I work for Capgemini, an international tech consultancy, so it’s very interesting and there are opportunities to get involved in different kinds of projects. I am currently on my first project, where I started in May. The client is a multinational energy supplier, so the codebase is massive, and I had to learn about technologies I hadn’t even heard before. It’s definitely been a huge learning curve for me, but I’ve loved my time there so far. The team I’m in owns a few different products, which gives variety even being on one project and within one team.
5) Whilst learning to code what was a fun project or thing that you built?
I built a website for a friend’s business, which was the first thing I built from
scratch, beginning to end. It was sort of like a portfolio for a tattoo shop,
showcasing the artists’ works and providing information on the available
services, so nothing too fancy, but for me, it was magic. Unfortunately, it’s
never got released into production, but a newer, better version is in the
pipework sometime in the near future.
6) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?
At the end of the 3-month bootcamp at Makers we had to do a final
presentation of an app that we built. My team built a group holiday organiser
web app, that automates the hassle of organising dates, reminders and even
allow the people invited to a certain event to vote on dates, accommodation or
type of activity. While building this, I realised that I was definitely thriving most when working on the front-end. But at the moment, I’m actually working on my first official project at work and it’s pretty cool too. I was preparing to work with React but ended up working with Ember.js, which is a JavaScript framework and, as I understand, isn’t that widely known but it actually is really cool and I’m loving the process of learning more and more about it.
7) How did you get involved with codebar?
I first found out about codebar when I was looking for options to get into
coding, but I was too scared to attend because for some reason I thought I’d
make a fool out of myself, being older than most people starting to learn
programming, not knowing enough about coding or just tech in general, etc.
I gathered the courage once I made the decision to actively work on changing
careers and found out about the Makers apprenticeship. I knew I had to learn
Ruby, so I signed up to codebar to get help with that and attended my first
session.
8) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?
For me, codebar was and still is an inspirational place. It was at codebar
when I realised for the first time that I too can be part of the tech community,
even if I’m a woman and even if I joined the fun a bit later than most. I’m coming back to give back and help others feel the same way, that not
everyone is a gatekeeper in tech and that there is support for if they need it.
9) What are your plans for the future?
I have a few things on my list. Firstly, I’d like to get my Level 4 developer
certificate, and progress within my current role. I’m also very interested in
accessibility, so I’d like to get into that deeper and see where it takes me, and
once I’m more confident in what I’m doing, I’d love to be involved in
mentoring, especially for career changers like me.
10) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?
Ask questions. I know it sounds like a cliché and can be daunting because
there’s so many — at least I always have loads –, but if you have someone
more experienced who can help you and you don’t understand something,
just ask them. My experience is, that more often than not, my colleagues and
my peers are very happy to take the time to go over something with me and it
helps me so much more than just reading up about stuff on the internet, trying to find the right explanation. It can also save you a lot of time!
