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

Iulia is a full-stack web developer and open-source enthusiast. She’s been working with Python for the last three years (and loving every minute of it), but before that she tried a series of other languages and technologies, including C/C++, C#, PHP and Java. Iulia currently work as a web developer for the Romanian company Eau de Web (http://www.eaudeweb.ro), based in Bucharest.

How did your story with code start?

I wrote my first lines of code in my 9th grade computer science class. I have vivid memories about that time because our teacher used to challenge us in interesting ways in order to arouse a passion for programming. Finding a solution, and more than that, finding the most efficient solution, was then, as it is now, very rewarding.

What did you do before becoming a programmer?

Before becoming a programmer I was studying computer science and economics at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies.

What do you love the most about coding?

I love the ever-changing domain of technology. I like that every new project has its own particularities and brings new challenges into the picture. I love struggling with an inexplicable bug and finding an unexpected solution during a coffee break or after a good night’s sleep.

Why Django?

In addition to all of those features that everyone loves about web frameworks (fast development, clean and elegant code, good performance), what I highly appreciate about Django is its vast and thorough documentation and its strong community. I have actually contributed to the Django project during this year’s sprint session at PyCon and I had the honor to meet some of its very passionate developers. I had the chance to overview the contributing process and it struck me as very organized. It has allowed user-reported issues to be solved quickly by contributors even though each contribution goes through a thorough review process. The feedback from the reviews only serves to improve the individual contributor’s work and in the long term this virtuous loop grows the quality of the community and the technology.

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

I’m not working on a personal project right now, but I have a few ideas floating around that I hope to materialize in the near future. Most of them revolve around the concept of volunteering. I would like to build a platform that connects people who have the know-how and disposition to do volunteer work with those in need.

What are you the most proud of?

A project I am very proud of is the Python & Django course I taught at the Bucharest University last autumn. This was an extracurricular course meant to offer students an introduction to web programming using Python and our beloved framework, Django. This experience filled me with joy as I could pass my knowledge and experience to young and enthusiastic minds.

What are you curious about?

I am curious about people and places, about other cultures and mindsets.

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

As you could tell by my previous answer, I love traveling. I find great pleasure in wandering around the streets of a big city or exploring the slums. I also enjoy reading, running and spending time with my friends.

Do you have any advice/tips for programming beginners?

It’s ok if you don’t understand something the first time you encounter it. Don’t feel discouraged. Try reading the same piece of information from multiple sources - this way you’ll get a better understanding of the subject.

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Before starting to write code, research available options. Most of the time it’s easier to extend an existing feature, than to write your own custom one.

And last but not least, have fun coding! :)

Thanks Iulia! :)