On the eve of the birthday of the first female programmer: my story

In the picture: Ada Lovelace , who is not only the first female programmer, but generally the first programmer in history. Born December 10, 1815.

You would know how many times I’ve heard phrases like “You’re a girl, why do you need this?” Or “Women’s brains are not adapted to programming”. So many times I was told: “We will be engaged in business here, and you are the decoration of the team”. Worse, if "needed to wipe the board." At the same time there were sleepless nights, months without separation from the computer, tons of saved videos, bookmarks, courses, articles, and most importantly - a constant battle with ourselves and others for the sake of the Goal. And this is the result: I am 22 years old, I graduated from the university less than a year ago, but I already had time to work in the 2GIS main office in Novosibirsk, and then get a job at Mail.Ru Group. My name is Daria Pushkarskaya, and here I will talk about the chain of events that led me to this result.

There is no particular day on which the decision was made - “I will be a programmer.” Everything happened almost by itself. So much so that you can even repeat the banal phrase: it was not I who chose the profession, but she me. Why? Sounds beautiful.

I was born in Kazakhstan in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Even at school, it was not difficult for me to get first to the city, and then the international programming olympiads. The question of choosing a university and a specialty, therefore, was also not particularly painful - we take what is given the easiest to do for sure. The path of least resistance, yeah. If I knew how it would turn out later.
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And everything turned into a total disappointment in higher education. Even the most interesting subjects and themes there were given crumpled and boring. Of course, there were people who suited everything. In general, I often meet people who are "satisfied with everything and so." But personally, my desire to seriously participate in such an educational process disappeared rather quickly.

However, the university still had one big plus - this is the time to find oneself and try strength on various fronts. It’s hard to talk about it seriously, but by whom I haven’t worked like a bartender, waitress, hookah, organizer of events and student parties. I participated in beauty contests, was a promo at the expo shows (or, for example, a promotional consultant for Lenovo products) and even worked as an assistant to the head of a modeling agency. And everywhere I was pursued by the same thought: this should not be so. That is, it is normal to earn money when you are a student. But I met guys who are 25-30-35 years old, and they did the same.

Once I tried this scenario on myself and was horrified. Then she calmed down and decided to stop and look at her own life from the outside. At that moment, I realized that I already had three courses behind my shoulders, and I don’t want to continue to “earn money” after university. I set myself a goal - to graduate from the university, being a sought-after specialist, and as a diploma to bring a really cool project made from beginning to end on my own.

From that moment, it seems, I never left the computer again. I saved an apartment for accumulated savings and moved out of the dormitory, finally closing in on myself. I even started a dog so that at least something made me leave the house regularly and breathe fresh air. At the same time, in spite of everything, I felt happy.

The choice of direction for that very “cool project” fell on web technologies because of their relevance in the market and my craving for animation, dynamics and visual component. And then began the diving - to the depths of the topic. There were hundreds of fixed tabs, saved demos, videos downloaded and sorted by daddy. All the examples that I made from the video were also saved in files and sorted into folders. I subscribed to many VKontakte groups and YouTube channels. It was impossible to tear me away from the computer.

So I spent three months. It was my first summer in my life, when I did not tan and did not sunbathe in principle. However, no regrets. The only thing that really worried me was learning was too slow. I began to worry that I did not succeed.

Then I spent a good part of my savings on courses. Only 20 thousand rubles, but for me it was as much as 20 thousand rubles for an online course, provided that before I did not even buy things on the Internet. The most interesting thing is that I chose the training program clearly not at my level, but I promised myself that I would finish her best. It was crazy - a lot of new technologies, knowledge, again fixed tabs and the search for additional information. So you can call the whole stage in life - "time fixed tabs." This is the time when you are truly inspired by something.

With the completion of the holidays, the university began again, where, in order to pass on "three", you also had to work hard. In combination with additional courses it was time trouble. Webinars started at 20.00 Moscow time. In Novosibirsk, it was already 11 pm, and classes were held for 3-4 hours. Then he came into my life - a polyphasic dream. Since that time, I'm with this guy on you.

A minor shock, by the way, was the very first task on the course - to get to know your classmates. In my way of life, where only I and the code were, everything suited me. Nothing could disturb my peace. However, the experience was useful. We were divided into teams of the most successful students, and we worked together on a common project. My first project in a team. Moreover, I was a team leader. If we briefly describe the essence of the work, then we made watermarks. I have this project, by the way, survived on GitHub , it has now become for me something like an album with photos, over which you can feel nostalgic and remember how it was fun with some people.

One way or another, the deed was done. And that's putting it mildly. I just chose a new course for myself, as I received a gift for the New Year. Tars developer Artem Malko, to whom I addressed with questions about the use of his collector, noticed a project with watermarks. He sent me a link to my own repository and asked me directly: “What relation do you have to this project?” I almost did not start making excuses! When all the points above i were placed, Artyom suggested that I try my hand at his company, and after the New Year and a number of interviews I worked at 2GIS.

Here I got a great manager - Timofey Chaptykov, Makeup developer. And in general, I got into a strong team of very tough guys and a timlid of Roman Salnikov (here is one of his reports: “ Management of the state in Redux ”). Happiness knew no bounds! They were allowed to work by eleven, but I was there since nine in the morning. She left for the night just because it was interesting to me! The technologies that were used in the team were generally crazy - React, webpack, redux, mongodb. In general, a full set of hipsters.

In this case, everything that I learned, I wanted to share with other novice developers. Free time (read - nights) I used to teach in the online school of web development. I could not wait to tell others about the newly acquired knowledge. I liked to help them grow and develop. And I still enjoy it!

With this kind of feeding, of course, I made my “cool project” by the end of the university. What was my disappointment when in defense of the thesis no one understood a word at all. For the admissions office, my site was not visually different from the site on the designer. However, by that time no one expected anything from the university.

I continued to work with great pleasure, but soon I received another step. I had close friends, I became attached to people, and they began to leave the company ... One by one. Important people for me, cool experts flew to other countries or went to competitors. It upset me greatly: okay - one, well, two, but not in slender rows?

And then I decided that I also want to change the location to Moscow. By that time I tried to organize developer parties in Novosibirsk on my own, but nothing worked out for me. In the capital, such events have always been the sea, so I agreed with 2GIS to transfer to the Moscow office.

Before the move, I had to fly to the conference at the Mail.Ru Group at the Moscow Loftblog Meetup in order to speak there “ How long does it take to learn a new technology? ". And imagine, right before leaving, they told me that the office I needed was closed! But do not change your decision because of this? After the conference, I had an interview at Mail.Ru Group and, not having time to get off the plane in Novosibirsk, I received a call with a job offer.

Now I'm in a great team of media project developers. Most recently, the probationary period was closed, and I finally had my own slippers. In parallel, although I no longer work in an online school, I continue to share experience and knowledge with novice developers.



Agree, it all looks like a set of multiple accidents? But they would not exist, if I hadn’t applied my best to increase their likelihood. Yes, I heard a lot of unpleasant words. Yes, at times it was hard. Perhaps someone even considers me an upstart. But let me repeat something from the very beginning of this story - “I am 22 years old, I graduated from university less than a year ago”. For me, everything is just beginning! I am sure that for many of you as well. Therefore, if you have difficulties, questions or doubts, write to me. Sorry for the big words, but there is no chance. There are only goals that we achieve.