I began to code because...

My mom was a programmer. In our house, punched cards were a thing to draw on when I was a kid. She quit her job when I was 3 and never went back, but every time I was asked who I want to be when I grow up, I answered: an astronaut or a programmer, like mom.

Despite that, I saw a real computer when I was 13. I struggled with a mouse a lot, and had troubles with MS Paint.

At 14 I was reinstalling Windows for all my friends. I was also bringing them music on floppy disks, 3 diskettes for one song.

At 15 I signed up for a programming course, and after my first line of code (a green button showing a modal window saying "hi", written in Delphi) I was hooked.

I found my first job on my 3rd year of the university because I felt like I needed real experience. It was a C++ position. I loved C++. I argued with the interviewer about some tricky template question, and at home figured out I was right. Never told the interviewer though.

It's been almost 10 years since I've been writing code for money now.

I'm an expert at...

• All things Geo: storing location data, spatial databases, spatial operations on geometry. I actually developed a GIS-system from scratch.
• Maintaining data quality with smart tools and validations.
• Translating from users' language to technical and back.
• Project management.
• Writing good code: read about it here, here, and here.
• Refactoring.
• Learning technologies on the fly.

I want to brag about...

WordCloud app

I proudly present to you my Android app WordCloud. I wrote it for myself and didn't expect much, but I have 1 million users now, and last month I got €1315 revenue from in-app purchases. I sell themed packages of shapes: Love shapes, Halloween, New Year.

Articles

My most popular articles are:

• Do I Want To Work In This Company, or What Questions To Ask On An Interview.

• 15 Random Pieces Of Wisdom About People Management
  .

• One Useful Advice To Fight The Impostor Syndrome.

• What's Common Between Opera Houses And Software Projects, or 10 Reasons Software Developers Go Overtime.

But I have much more! Check out my personal website smartpuffin.com and subscribe :).

Outside of work I do...

Photography. Travelling. Rock climbing. Gym. Playing the piano. Skydiving in a wind tunnel (once). Learning Dutch. Running pet projects and writing articles.

My advice for allies to support women and non-binary folks who code is....

• Be not only mentors, but also sponsors: advocate for them to help them move to the next career level.
• Trust in them and show it.
• Believe them.
• Educate yourself about biases and correct yourself.
• Ask them what you can do to help them personally.