Your Django Story: Meet Cecilia Augusto

This is a post in our Your Django Story series where we highlight awesome ladies who work with Django. Read more about it here.

A brief biography, two to three sentences, about who you are, where you’re from, and the work you do

My name is Cecilia Augusto, I am 19 years old from South Africa, Roodepoorte, Florida. I am a first-year college student, studying for a Bachelors of Education in an intermediate phase teaching degree.

How did your story with code started?

I was introduced to a computer when I was 9 years old, but due to my primary school conditions, I was not taught immediately how to code neither introduced to any coding language. We were just to the basic. When I was in high school I chose Computer applications technology out of curiosity in grade 10 in 2015. I was first taught the basics for the first term of school. Second term I was introduced to HTML. I did Computer applications technology till the 11 grade due to my low marks in the subject but I still continued working on my laptop at home. Then on I was introduced to Python in 2018 along with dataframe such as Ruby on Rails and Django.

What did you do before becoming a programmer

Before I became a programmer was just an ordinary high school nerdy student. I participated in art classes and did sports. I did some morning patrolling for the school.

What do you love most about coding?

Coding, just like mathematics, is not a spectator’s sport. I love coding for the fact that it’s like a new language. At some point, you will have difficulties, not understand some terms or even how to construct a sentence, but in this case a code line. Although, in the end, if you have put your blood, sweat, years and on repeat, one becomes fluent in coding.

Why Django?

I was Django dumb. But it was also a surprise. Django has a lot to offer for beginners and it is easy to work with.

What cool projects are you working on at the moment / planning on working in the near future?

I plan on organising more Django Girls workshops. It would nice once I get my degree in Education and have extra-classes with kids who will be interested in computers and science. My intentions are to work with Africans kids, especially in undeveloped and developing states, so they have better carrier choices.

What are you most proud of?

I’m proud of my perseverance. I continue doing IT besides not doing an IT related course. I always help and encourage women to take this course so that they get to experience the greatness of such a field.

What are you curious about?

I’ve always been curious about human psychology and the function of the artificial world. Humans are the weirdest species, thus that fascinates me.

What do you like doing in your free time? What’s your hobby?

On my free time, I like to read books that have to do with psychology. I like to watch series that have to do with forensics. I help school kids with their homework, especially mathematics and language homework. I like to listen to rock and pop music and I do artworks.

Do you have any advice/ tips for programming beginners?

Falling is part of life, but getting back up is living. Not giving up is the key. Success isn’t gained overnight. So no matter what difficulties or obstacles are in the way there is always help. One shouldn’t be shy about asking when having doubts.

How did attending (organizing, or coaching!) a Django Girls workshop influence your life/ career? What did you get out of attending (organizing, or coaching) a Django Girls workshop?

I attended the first Django in Maputo city. It was amazing and I managed to finish my blog. There was so much support from the coaches and they were very interactive. I helped organize the second workshop in 2018, which took place in Matola City. There is a different atmosphere when you see the faces of young girls having accomplished their first blog. It gives a peace of mind knowing that I organized an event and a girl was happy with what she did. It proves that it is not a waste of time. There is so much competition with oneself. The moment I decided to achieve excellence in creating a blog, I noticed that it is not a competition with other girls but within myself to finish what I had started. Even though sometimes with other blogs we don’t finish them on time, they take the tutorial home and finish it. And for young girls who didn’t realize how important or useful the field is, end up selecting such courses.