Imen

1. Do you remember your first thoughts when the Junior Software Developer course began? What were your experiences during the first few days?
I remember in the beginning that I was a bit nervous but excited at the same time. I really loved the course being interactive, and I felt comfortable and empowered when I was surrounded by women.

2. Has anyone or anything convinced you to start learning programming? What was the main drive and how the decision process looked like?
My husband always believed in me, and he thinks that we need more women in the IT industry, because diversity enables different perspectives, different ways of problem-solving and better solutions. So I decided to learn by myself until I was given the opportunity by SmartCoding to pursue my dream which was my real start.

3. How do you feel about your new skills once the 3-month Junior course is almost finished? What are you most proud of and surprised with, and is there any dissatisfaction?
For me it was like from zero to hero, I am very proud of what I have achieved during the course. Right now I’m able to understand the problem and solve it by writing code. I acquired many skills and I became better at problem-solving. I cannot describe the feeling when my code runs without errors, it always gave me a great satisfaction.

4. What would you tell to yourself back in April from a Junior programmer perspective now? And how can you motivate other women to start learning?
It is going to be a good decision, it might look hard in the beginning but I always find great lovely people to help me. I definitely encourage women like me to do it, even though you don’t have any programming experience.

5. Can you share your opinion about SmartCoding’s approach to teaching? Would you recommend the courses to women who want to start their programming journey?
I am very happy with the whole experience and being empowered by other women gave me a lot of motivation. It was well organized, everybody was friendly and helpful. I definitely recommend it to other women.