Interview with Mariana Cely, engineer trainee at Ledgy

Hello Mariana, can you tell us in a few words a little bit about yourself?

In a few words I’ll go straight to the point: I recently graduated from mathematics in ETH, I love riddles and books, I’m quite small, I like to recycle objects a bit randomly, like turn the cardboard box that contained a piece of furniture into a second piece of furniture, or shrink huge dresses to fit my size. I was born in Colombia and moved to Switzerland when I was five or so, so I love the guitar in boleros, food that contains corn or coriander and green mountains, but I would pay quite a lot of money to get quality chocolate if I had to.

You had several tracks that you could have followed after completing your Masters in Mathematics – why did you choose to enter into the startup world as an engineer?

I always wanted to be an engineer. Both my parents studied engineering and I grew up with the idea that it was the best thing you could with your life. The math path was just a beautiful challenge I decided to take. People say that when you study mathematics, you can become anything. Well that’s not true, but I figured I could still become many great things. I got a bit scared as I progressed in my studies, because it seemed like the startup world was reserved for people trained in a very specific subject. But you've got to try and see. I tried: I started coding in my free time during the last semester of my studies. And I saw: coding is broad enough for my taste – not as broad as mathematics, though, but nothing is 😇.

You were one of the chosen candidates from Ledgy’s Women-in-Web program. It’s been a month now since you started. What’s your impression of the team and the work so far?

The impression hasn’t changed from day one to day thirty: everyone is welcoming and open. You get to talk to all employees, even working remote. I’d also say it’s quite young and dynamic, and it has a sort of team-spirit, making all moments enjoyable. Work is, at all scales, split, and the good organization allows employees a strong independence on the daily.

Which part of Ledgy’s tech stack do you hope to work with and why?

That’s a tough question for someone who knows as little as me. I’d say that in general I feel torn apart between the desire of expanding my working zone to all fields and that of digging into a challenging, logical and precise one. Until now I’ve been mainly dealing with front-end tasks, so for sure I hope I’ll learn about the back-end as well. I wish I’ll work on both parts and won't have to choose one.

And what does the future hold for you? Where do you see yourself in the next three years?

I hope that I’ll become a constantly-learning-but-also-admirably-well-working engineer for Ledgy (and for myself), and that I’ll keep feeling challenged and motivated. I also hope I’ll become extremely cool with computers, get to see the keyboard as an extension of my hands and the terminal as one of my brain.

How do you feel about Ledgy and the impact it’s making on the startup ecosystem?

I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to hold back from working in your product, as a growing company, because you’ve got to focus on some financial aspects and organization. On a personal level I’m excited about contributing to Ledgy’s expansion, and I couldn’t imagine a better immersion to the startup ecosystem: understanding Ledgy is understanding a key aspect all companies have to handle.

Thanks Mariana, it was great talking to you!