After a scientific baccalaureate, I started my higher education at ISEN Toulon.
However, after a difficult preparatory year, I decided to leave the school. I then joined Marseille university in mathematics and computer science (first year), then moved to Paris to continue in mathematics with computer science option until the beginning of the Master’s.

At the time of starting the Master’s, I realized that I didn’t want to do research, but rather work and specialize more in computer science.

While waiting to find the right path, I followed online courses in C and developed my first mobile application in Objective-C and Java — all alone, self-taught. Shortly after, I heard about a new programming school, École 42, known for its very practical approach.

I therefore passed the famous 42 “piscine” and joined the school in 2015. We mainly learned C and C++, but above all methodology and teamwork. In 4 months, I validated the equivalent of a year, which allowed me to quickly go on internship.

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First internship

My first internship took place within a small startup whose concept was to share books between users to give them a second life. I started by making small modifications to the application, then gradually became interested in the backend, a field that immediately appealed to me.

At the time, we used Parse, but we had to switch to AWS when Parse was acquired by Facebook. At the end of the internship, I had already got my hands on serverless, which was just beginning to emerge.

Back at school 42, I realized that I no longer wanted to continue the training and that I wanted to go directly into the field to develop my skills, particularly in backend and infrastructure, the fields that fascinated me most.

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Technologies

Here are some of the technologies and services I discovered or used during these first years:

Category	Technologies / Services
Languages
Backend / Cloud	Parse Serverless (first steps)
Mobile
Training	École 42, online courses (OpenClassrooms)

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Challenges

1. Bouncing back after difficult study choices
   Finding the motivation to reorient several times before really finding your path.

2. Moving from theory to practice
   Learning to work in a team, manage concrete projects, and develop applications with real impact.

3. Evolving quickly
   Learning new technologies in a short time (Parse, AWS, serverless) and being able to adapt to a changing environment.

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Lessons

1. Being self-taught
   Learning autonomously (languages, frameworks) is a major asset for progressing quickly.

2. Prioritizing concrete experience
   The theories seen in class or online take on their full meaning when working on a real project in a company.

3. The importance of curiosity
   Testing new technologies, understanding how things work behind the scenes: that’s how you discover passions and opportunities.

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Thank you for reading!