This week, Aveni welcomed Anais to the team!
Anais is our newest engineering superstar: a coffee lover, martial arts expert and definitely not a mathematical genius, she started her career in 2019 and worked at a marketing agency before joining Aveni. Learn a little more about our newest member…
What led you to this career?
I took the long road. After I graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MSc in Developmental Linguistics, I took some time out to really think about what I wanted to do. I trained to be a martial arts coach and travelled back and forth between the UK and China for that purpose. I had the opportunity to teach English to nursery kids in Hong Kong for a few months. I realised that I wanted a career that would bridge creativity and problem solving, that would be intellectually challenging and where I would be constantly learning. Coding ticked those boxes and also offered more flexibility and options such as remote work. I started by doing online courses and then took the leap and completed a boot camp, which I enjoyed a lot.
What attracted you to Aveni?
I love their human-centred approach to product design. Aveni uses a cutting-edge tech stack and has access to up-to-date research in NLP that allows them to constantly improve user experience and human-computer interaction. I think it’s fascinating work! The team is a friendly and supportive bunch. All that a developer starting out dreams of I think.
What’s the biggest misconception people have about your role?
People often confuse software engineers/developers with hackers or cyber-security experts or they think that you need to be a mathematical genius (which, I am… NOT).
How do you like to start your day?
I usually start with some breathing exercises and a cold shower to wake myself up. Then I work out for 45 or 60 minutes depending on how much time I have. By then, I’m normally in a good frame of mind to start my working day. While my coffee is brewing, I check Slack and my emails, review what has happened the day before and prioritise my tasks accordingly. This also helps me to prepare for the stand-up later.
What’s one thing you’re learning now and why is it important?
Alongside picking up TypeScript and keeping up to date with React and Node.js, I’m working on improving my understanding of serverless computing and AWS. These tools have become so popular in the past few years due to being cost- and time-effective.
What do you like doing outside of work?
I am passionate about exploring my body’s movement capabilities and helping others do so while keeping healthy and happy. I love bodyweight training (L-sit, handstand, playing around with gymnastic rings), martial arts, of course, running… just about anything that gets me moving and being outdoors really. I’m also studying toward getting a gym-instructor certification to complete the practical knowledge I am getting through my daily practice. I cook a lot (I’m a vegan, so my partner and I love re-creating our favourite dishes and making them vegan-friendly). When I need to slow down, I like reading and journaling. I almost forgot: I love coffee and trying out different methods to brew it. My favourite one so far is using a V60 dripper.
