Barbara Ferrante describes her new professional start.
Classical studies, music, singing, competitive sports, and law... Barbara Ferrante has explored many different worlds, following paths that seemed to diverge. Yet, we now know that the concept of "a job for life" belongs to the past. Educational and professional paths can take tortuous, often unexpected, routes before arriving at a fulfilling destination.
So, what career did Barbara choose? Music, sports, or law? The answer is surprising: none of the three. It was programming, which she discovered thanks Programme SWAT and the Back-end Developer Course. It captured her attention and changed the course of her life.
And yet, as Antonello Venditti sings, passions, like “certain loves never end, they take immense turns and then return” (Amici mai, 1991). Because, if you think about it, music and coding are not so far apart: both follow a logic, a harmonious structure. And Barbara, along her path, was won over by the beauty of coding, which she now considers her melody. She tells us about this new chapter of her professional life in this lively and inspiring self-interview.
Who is Barbara Ferrante between studies, careers, and interests?
I began my studies at a classics high school, but I had two great other passions: music (cello and music theory) and competitive volleyball. After graduating from high school, I enrolled in university to study law. Although I was fascinated by Latin phrases and the exams went well, I realized that my career could not be that of a lawyer. So, at twenty, I decided to start studying again my greatest passion: singing. A few years later, I enrolled in the Conservatory, and then graduated with top marks, both in the three-year and specialist programmes, in Singing and Jazz Music. Then, I taught singing, also strengthening my career as a concert performer.
Programming came quite suddenly. I approached it driven by curiosity. I was attracted by the coloured lines of code that I saw on the screen of my boyfriend's PC (even though he worked in hardware design) and the logic behind each step: the code as a "language" that allows you to communicate instructions to a machine. Back-end development, with its dual rational and creative nature, aroused my curiosity.
Why did you join the project and that specific course?
I decided to sign up for an intensive coding course, which lasted three months, where I was lucky enough to meet excellent teachers, including Cristina Galfo, see object-oriented programming up close, start coding with PHP and Laravel, and learn about the MySQL database management system and its language. The course went well, so I signed up and was selected for another two-month course to learn another programming language and framework (C# and .NET). Complex courses, condensed into a short time, but which allowed me to consolidate concepts and experiment with software development. The choice to follow the course with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale came from a post on social media. I already knew PHP, Laravel, and MySQL, so I decided that it should consolidate my previous knowledge in the field. The presence of Cristina Galfo, a prepared, motivating, and empathetic teacher, was a big plus and so I signed up.
How did the course go? What did you appreciate the most?
I was very satisfied with the course. I could say that it was almost decisive for my latest goals.
Although intensive courses are short, the organization of the lessons was their strong point. The topics were introduced progressively by the teacher to allow all the participants (with different backgrounds and levels of knowledge) to come into contact with object-oriented programming, through PHP and Laravel, and to work with databases through MySQL. The module on computer security was also very useful. The final project was a sort of e-commerce site. It proved to be a useful course, in my case, to consolidate and deepen what I already knew.
The course, diluted in two appointments a week, allowed us to attend the lessons, review them asynchronously, and also study, allowing us to carry on with our personal, family, and work commitments. This too, in my opinion, is the winning formula of the back-end programming course organized by Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
After the project, how did you find work?
After an active search phase, it was the job that found me. I was contacted by a manager of the company I was working for this summer. He had noticed my profile on LinkedIn and my skills included those required by the company. The selection process began, and I turned out to be the most suitable candidate for by the company, which, by the way, is international. My role is software developer, mainly back-end but sometimes also front-end. I use PHP and MySQL. My tasks are quite complex, but they are driving me to do better and better and I have already achieved some goals, also thanks to the presence of mentors. I do a fair amount of coding now. My work concerns software applications focused on the design and management of hydraulic infrastructures.
What’s your dream for the future?
I like my current endeavour. Having found a job in this sector has shown me that, with commitment, one can potentially do anything in life, even reinvent oneself professionally at thirty, and most likely even after, especially in a sector like this. I dream of increasing my skills, of becoming a reference figure and of mastering the subject. Music and singing, however, will always be the backdrop to my life.
