New chapter introduction: codebar Helsinki

To go along with the opening of a new codebar chapter in Helsinki, here is a quick Q&A with the organisers (Anastasia Kuprina and James Elderfield) to let them introduce themselves.

What motivated you to bring codebar to Helsinki?

James: I used to coach with the codebar chapter in Cambridge, UK, and loved it. I ended up moving to Helsinki for work, and found myself missing the fun of codebar. I decided to see whether there was a Finnish chapter. On finding there wasn’t, I thought I might as well fix that!
On a less selfish note, I strongly believe that education and work should be accessible for all, and every little bit we can do to remove some blocks to that accessibility seems worthwhile

What is your day job?

Anastasia: I work at a mobile game and entertainment company called Seriously, which created the game Best Fiends. I’m a Data Analyst and work as part of the product team. My role is to turn data into insights that are useful for the business. Although I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a developer, I code in R and use SQL daily.

James: I work for a small technical consultancy called Verifa, which is based in central Helsinki. We consult on many different types of work, and our consultants have a very broad array of skills. My day-to-day involves putting together data analysis scripts, configuring software build pipelines, researching novel tools and techniques and writing work proposals for clients amongst other things.

How did you get to your current job?

Anastasia: I studied business and marketing in university, but shortly before finishing my bachelor’s degree, I joined Seriously in a Player Support role. Around the same time, I realized that I wanted to do something different, so I decided to pick up programming.
For a while, I dedicated all of my free time to learning a variety of skills within the field. I started with C# and coded simple games and then moved on to HTML, CSS, JavaScript and its libraries for web development. About six months later, I fell into my current role and began studying once again, this time focusing on SQL, R, Python.

James: I studied biology at university and by chance ended up spending a Summer working on a computational biology project as an undergraduate. This was my first real taste of programming and I was hooked. On finishing my PhD about 6 years later I decided I didn’t want to stay in research, and tech seemed the obvious alternative. Fortuitous mutual connections lead to some conversations with Verifa, a job offer, and a move to Helsinki!

What is your favourite thing about your job?

Anastasia: I really enjoy the combination of quantitative and qualitative in this role, incorporating the business knowledge from my degree with the coding that I learned in my spare time.

What advice would you give to an aspiring developer?

Anastasia: I’m convinced that people don’t need specialised degrees to work in tech. I know amazing programmers, designers, and product managers who didn’t received degrees in the field in which they work now.
Having a small portfolio of projects is very helpful in applying for jobs. Brushing up on theoretical concepts after learning by doing also really helps to deepen understanding and advance one’s career.

James: Just get started working on something. Although having formal training is good, what really stands out is people who are excited about tech and work on this stuff because they want to — not just because it’s a job. Go write something cool!
Secondly, don’t necessarily focus on learning something “useful” or “popular”. Learn a technology you find interesting, and somewhere out there will be a company willing to pay for your new-found expertise.

codebar Helsinki is here to help people from groups underrepresented in the technology scene to get some extra help on their way to programming as a hobby or career. We provide free workshops, matching up experienced programmers with those just getting started.

Join our mailing list at https://codebar.io/helsinki, find us on the codebar Slack channel at https://codebar-slack.herokuapp.com/ or follow us on twitter @codebarHelsinki.