My mother is a self-taught developer. Her background is in landscape architecture, but she learned programming in the early 2000s from books and made it her career. I borrowed her copy of a book on HTML and that's what started everything. I taught myself to build toy websites that nobody but my parents would ever see, and worked my way through books on Java and Android development.

When I was in 11th grade, I coded an app that showed the substitution schedule for my school and the cafeteria's weekly menu. I showed it to my teacher, the school adopted it, and they gave me about 100 Euros for it. That was the moment I got hooked — the first time I had built something other people found useful and actually paid me for.

After school, I started a dual study program, where I combined an apprenticeship as an IT specialist with university coursework. I finished the apprenticeship and transferred to the University of Münster to get my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. The hands-on experience from the apprenticeship was a huge advantage in courses. I found that my understanding of code helped me grasp topics like linear algebra on a fundamental level and develop a deep intuition for them. Forming connections between maths and programming is what made me fall in love with computer science.

For my Bachelor's thesis, I worked with FH Münster on automating bacterial colony segmentation using deep learning. I built the full pipeline: a custom annotation tool using the Segment Anything Model, a Faster R-CNN detection system trained with a strategic multi-stage approach, and a web application for researchers to use in the lab. The model achieved 92.9% precision and processes a full petri dish image in about four seconds.

Now I'm pursuing a Master's at TUM, focusing on machine learning and data analysis. I work as a web developer at Rohde & Schwarz alongside my studies, building Angular applications in distributed systems. I also run Step Two Labs, through which I take on freelance projects.

A lot of people study computer science because it pays well. I got into it because I love it, and I want to work on things that change the world. I'm still looking for the right group of people who think the same way — people who push each other to do their best work.

Outside of code, I'm into design, sewing, and jogging. I care about how things look and feel, not just how they work. I think that sensibility makes me a better developer.