Your Django Story: Meet Anna Siwack

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.

Hello, I’m Anna. I’ve lived in Wrocław, Poland, all my life. I’m 23 years old and I graduated from the IT faculty of Wrocław University of Technology this year. I’ve worked as a programmer in Mirumee Software for over a year. It is a fast-growing company specializing in e-commerce. I write code in Python using the Django framework.

How did your story with code start?

My first steps with programming (apart from playing with HTML in elementary school) were at high school. I joined a specialized mathematical-IT class in which we learned C++ language, and I found that programming came to me quite easily. My classmates and I competed on the SPOJ platform, trying to solve as many problems as possible, as well as taking part in contests organized by Wrocław University. IT was an obvious choice for university and I knew it was the career for me—and that is just the way it worked out!

What do you love the most about coding?

I like doing things that can help make other people’s work easier, and programming lets me make that difference. I also love seeing the effects of my work immediately. Of course, it’s not always a quick process. Sometimes it takes a couple of hours or even days to solve some complicated problem, but finally achieving it gives me great satisfaction.

Why Django?

I came across a lot of languages and frameworks during my studies. I liked C++ at first. It was the first language that I worked with and I appreciated its obvious syntax (even if it’s sometimes hard to understand at first glance) and it’s well-organized code. It was a good background to gain a deeper understanding of the wider concepts of programming. I even worked as a C++ developer, but it was not my dream job.

My path changed when I came across web applications. It showed me the ‘other side’ of programming. I tried many languages but Django impressed me with its simplicity and ease of use. It’s written in Python and they both have a number of helpful packages that speed up work, as well as a large and engaged community of people providing answers to common problems. And I like how quickly-written code can generate fast, visible effects.

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

The most interesting project was Saleor, an e-commerce platform written in Django and JavaScript. It’s an open-source project and it was really important to write high-quality code. I learned a lot during the 8 months I spent working on Saleor. I’m now working on another interesting, fast-growing e-commerce project. The online store was based on the older versions of Python and Django and we are in the process of migrating to the newest versions, so I am getting a good insight into the past and future of both technologies.

What are you the most proud of?

It’s not always easy to find a great job in your chosen field straight after graduating, but I’m very proud that I managed to do so. I really recommend the path I took. Working in IT is a very desirable career option nowadays; there is a relatively low chance of finding yourself without work, it offers a stable life, and there is also the chance to spread your wings if you want to explore some remote job offer in another country ;)

What are you curious about?

I love cooking after work. I used to be passionate about baking cakes (even some fancy, decorated ones) and other sweets, but now I’ve discovered savoury food and I’m trying out some more or less classic recipes.

I recently got to be a mentor for Django Girls Wroclaw at their workshop. It was a fun and rewarding experience in helping other people start out on their journey with coding. It was really nice to give something back to the community.

And, like other programmers, I love cats!

Do you have any advice/tips for programming beginners?

Don’t be put off by rough beginnings; they are always difficult. And don’t be afraid of asking. A programmer’s work is a continuous learning process and every programmer has doubts from time to time. If you have experienced people around you, make use of their knowledge. Ask for a help if you have any trouble. You’ll find that most people are only too happy to assist you.