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

Magdalena is a Python and web developer from Berlin. She is very interested in open data, data visualization and civic tech. For about a year she has been organizing the OK Lab Berlin, which is a weekly meeting for developers, designers and other people who are interested in building great apps that help citizens to interact with administration.

How did your story with code start?

A couple of years ago I was working as an editor for a publishing house where I was involved in the relaunch of the publishing house’s website. While working with the developers I realized that I was really interested in web development and programming. I started doing tutorials and after a while I quit my job to go back to university and study computer science.

What did you do before becoming a programmer?

Before studying computer science I was not really into IT. The high school I went to had a special focus on teaching music and art and I am not sure if there even was a computer class at all. After high school I got a degree in political science - so during that time I was using computers basically to write texts and to use the internet.

What do you love the most about coding?

The thing about coding I love the most is being independent. Whenever I have an idea for an app or a website I could just decide to sit down and write it. Even though this is also a matter of taking the time it still feels good.

Why Django?

At university I started to use Python. So when searching for a web framework I wanted to use a Python-based one and decided to use Django. I think it is a great web framework which makes a lot of stuff easier.

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

I am really interested in how technology can be used to help citizens to interact with public administration and politics. So about two years ago I started to work on a website called ‘Bürger baut Stadt’ which was actually my first Django project. It helps citizens of Berlin to find out about urban planning projects in their neighbourhood. Next I was involved in the launch of ‘Code for Germany’ which is a network of developers, designers, journalists etc. who are interested in civic tech and open government data. In Berlin we meet every week to work on our projects - including quite a lot of Django projects.

What are you the most proud of?

Looking back I am really proud that I made it through my studies of computer science - especially since I had been out of university for a few years. At some point I was not sure if I would be able to make it - so today I am glad that I did not give up and finally succeeded.

What are you curious about?

Questioning what impact IT has on society and democracy.

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

I like to do a lot of sports such as cycling, running and horse riding.

Do you have any advice/tips for programming beginners?

Be patient - you can’t understand everything right away. It takes some time to get into the way of thinking that you need for programming. If you are stuck, take a break. When you look at it later, it becomes clear most of the time. If not, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Thanks Magdalena! :)