12 questions for Elliot, our new apprentice!

A few questions from Marc to get to know Elliot, who joined us a few weeks ago. He's doing his CFC in computer science development (an apprenticeship through the Jobtrek foundation). His thing is programming.

During the lockdown, I had more free time. Feeling a bit bored during my high school studies and wanting to do something interesting related to the video games I had been playing with my brother since childhood, I wanted to understand how to create a game. So I started developing a game in Python using a YouTube tutorial, which involved destroying asteroids.

You spent some time at École 42, can you tell us more about that?
Still during the lockdown, I considered quitting high school to start training in computer science. A close friend told me about École 42 in Lausanne, which was about to open. Free and based on self-learning, without teachers, the school already exists in other countries. After passing the online tests, I was selected to participate in the "pool," an intensive month of training. I was selected and then followed the curriculum for a year and a half. What I preferred was the pool, because it was motivating and exciting, and I found a real purpose in it. The team spirit was also extraordinary.

I chose to do an apprenticeship because the diploma is recognized, but that wasn't the primary reason. I was looking for a work framework; I wasn't mature enough to be sufficiently disciplined. My experience at École 42 made me realize this lack. Today, those 18 months add value to my CV. Between ETML, EPSIC, and École 42, it's very different. I appreciate being able to self-train, and it's sometimes better than more traditional teaching. Having to search for information, start from scratch and arrive at the finished product alone is closer to the reality of work. Today at Antistatique, I have the same freedom as at École 42, the challenges but with the framework I needed.

It might sound a bit geeky, but I really like programming. It's one of the things that makes me lose track of time.

Good question 🙂 Many things have surprised me. Not having had a work framework until now, it's difficult to compare. But team meetings like Dev coffee, Team meetings, Dailies, Standups are something I discovered. I think it's good, it allows for a lot of cohesion. Sharing information is also important.

I've always seen the Internet as an ocean. There are so many things, but we know almost nothing. There's a depth still unexplored, like stages we access. The more we work on it, the more we discover. How to contribute? That's a good question. By going where few people have gone. I aspire not to stay on current knowledge and to motivate people to look further than the first results.

More people explore the oceans than space. You can go barefoot swimming. It's much more accessible.

Rather the beach by a mountain lake :-P

Yes, I use it. I'm still learning to use it correctly to make it do what I need. People are afraid of AI because they don't understand how to use it or for what purpose. Later, I think these skills will be important to automate one's work. It's important to use it and learn to use it now to remain competitive in the future. We will use it to optimize and improve rather than completely replace us. The promises of technologies have never been fully realized

I arrive in the morning at 8:15. At 8:50, there's the standup where everyone says hello and we get the information for the day. Then, it's the daily with the dev team where we share our tasks for the day and the achievements of the previous day. Then I do my tasks, perform code reviews with the different specialists. At the moment, I'm developing on the Citadel application, which is the piloting and management tool for all projects maintained by the agency. I'm creating a reminder system for projects or common tasks. I eat at noon and then resume my tasks.

Many things, it depends on the topics. In everyday life, I try to see the bright side of things. Finding a purpose in everything to have motivation and find meaning in my actions. Waking up in the morning with a purpose is the best recipe.

There are many dishes I like to make. Hard to choose. But recently, I'd say Thai Papaya Salad (Som Tam Lao).