Any Girl Can Program. Maria Kovalivska, Senior Software Engineer (React) at Innovecs

How did you enter IT?

After graduating from school, I had a vague idea of ​​what I wanted to do next, but I knew for sure that it had to be some technical field. So I chose Computer Science at KPI.

I have been engaged in Frontend development for over 4 years. Not that I deliberately chose the stack, however, my choice was right, and now I continue to develop in this direction.

What was your path from junior to senior developer like?

I started my career on the basis of the Training Center: such programs recruit inexperienced students, teach them and later offer the position of a junior specialist. I worked in this company for two years, the last six months as a middle developer.

Then I managed to work shortly in several other companies. Two years ago I joined Innovecs, where, in fact, I grew into a senior specialist. Here I feel comfortable, I see growth prospects, besides, we have an interesting project and a cool team. What more could I ask for?

What does a Frontend developer do?

Frontend developers are specialists who create web application interfaces using CSS, HTML markup, and JavaScript programming language. In the past, it was considered that frontend is the easiest area for beginners, however, in recent years the complexity of web applications has increased dramatically, and so has the tech complexity and requirements for frontend programmers.

Have you faced prejudice because of being a female developer?

Personally, I have never encountered anything like that. I think that employers in some cases are more loyal to female programmers. In my personal opinion, things are even easier for a girl in IT than for a guy in IT due to less competition.

What tips would you give to other female developers who want to join IT?

First and foremost, I would advise you not to be afraid of anything and not to worry about prejudice. I believe that any girl can program at will.

Therefore, feel free to consider technical specialties after school or take existing online courses for beginners. At Coursera, you can find many courses in web design, algorithms, databases, computer game development, machine learning, and much more.

Attend conferences and read a lot. Medium is a resource that I constantly read and find useful materials in my specialty.

What exactly do you like about your project?

The best part is that we started the project from the ground up. I was on it from day one and watched the project develop. It was also interesting to observe how the customer develops: the way processes and communications are set up on the other side, how the customer and the contractor adjust to each other. It’s cool, you see how the project evolves in 2 years, and you grow with it as well.