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

Ana is a Software Engineer at Red Hat, @OpenStack Horizon core contributor, cyclist and speed cuber. She was a coach at the first Django Girls workshop in Berlin. You can follow her on Twitter @infraredgirl.

How did your story with code start?

It is probably the typical story of many geeks. I was fascinated with computers as a child, loved the programming classes in high school and decided to study computer science at the university.

What did you do before becoming a programmer?

My first “real” job, which I got right after finishing the university, was a junior programmer at a local internet service provider. Before that, all I did were small jobs to earn pocket money during my studies - data entry, tutoring maths to high school kids, etc.

What do you love the most about coding?

I’m afraid I don’t have a very original answer to this question, in fact I’d bet it’s probably the most common answer you get: I like the feeling and the sense of accomplishment you get when you manage to make the computer do your bidding. Bonus points if what you made it do is actually useful! ;)

Why Django?

In my first job, I wrote python CGI scripts by hand, with all the boilerplate that comes with that. So imagine my excitement when I came across Django and found out all these problems have already been solved and you can just use the solution for free, instead of re-inventing the wheel every time. So I started looking into Django in my free time, and although I didn’t get to use it at work at the time, I did get that chance at my next job.

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

At the moment I am working on a project called Horizon. It is the UI for OpenStack, the free and open source cloud computing platform. I am also working on the TripleO UI, TripleO being the deployment program for OpenStack. Both of these project are written in Django.

What are you the most proud of?

That’s a very difficult question to answer without getting too personal. :) Let’s say, making the right choices at the right moments.

What are you curious about?

Many things. One very interesting current topic is the ways in which technology impacts our lives, especially when it comes to personal freedoms and personal privacy concerns.

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

I like travelling and cycling. Sometimes I combine the two and do long cycling tours. I also like learning foreign languages.

Do you have any advice/tips for programming beginners?

When you get stuck with a problem, step away from the computer, take a break, take a walk. A clear-headed approach does wonders for one’s problem solving skills. I can’t even remember how many times I’ve lost hours sitting stubbornly at the computer, only to arrive at a solution minutes after taking a break.

Thanks Ana! :)