Every company has its “jolly jokers”, someone such as a senior expert, who knows everything about their field. Our all-around developer, Peter, who considers his job rather a vocation and a passion, is undoubtedly the person to talk to. In this blog post, we introduce Peter, who graduated in Astrophysics and Biophysics at ELTE and is currently preparing for new challenges as a post-graduate student in Architecture.

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Let’s begin at the beginning: please tell us about how and when you first encountered coding.

I had an exceptional interest in science and technology from a very young age. I was only nine years old when I first tried coding, and I fell in love with it immediately.

Back then, Commodore 64 computers and Pentium processors ruled the tech world—those were the days! I remember when dial-up internet was part of everyday life and access to the online world cost like half a cent a minute.

I started my studies in coding with C64’s BASIC programming, then I moved on to Turbo Pascal on PC—I was self-educated in both languages. In high school, besides specializing in biochemistry, I entered maths and physics competitions and workshops, but I achieved my best results in programming. I took part several times in the national academic competition for high school students in programming. IT and programming always played an important role in my life.

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Let’s jump forward a little bit. How did you continue your studies, and how did your career start?

I never stopped learning, I continued to gain new experience even after finishing my university studies. I got familiar with JavaScript, and then with C and Python languages. I always tried to combine research work and personal interests. I was interested for example in data analysis, visualization, or typography, and these were well suited to bash scripting, Python, CAD programs or LaTeX. I’m a visual person, I enjoy finding order in chaos. This is why I was interested in image processing and algorithmizing. I love investigating things, and maybe that’s where my motivation comes from to find errors and resolve strange anomalies.

I worked in the industry for nine years coding in C and C++, but Python always stayed there in the background, which turned out to be especially useful during R&D projects. I started my career in the healthcare and the automotive industry as a developer, naturally.

I joined the SCALER team (formerly known as CodingLab—ed) in 2021 for a project where they needed developers with Python and Linux skills to analyze well-known web and Android apps. Today, in 2023, I’ve been working as a test engineer of the SCALER team for an automotive company again for 1.5 years now. Life can take interesting twists and turns: previously I provided company trainings for test automation engineers.

Those who never tried coding might find this passion hard to understand, but I think I can put this feeling into words.

Coding is a process of creation, actually, where we start from a blank sheet of paper and in the end a fully functioning program is born.

It can be anything: a game, an application with a function, or an artwork in the digital space.

Coding in my opinion provides a possibility to unfold creativity. It requires thorough consideration and planning and also provides exciting puzzles every now and then.

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What about the AI?

As far as I’m concerned, the AI is already a supporting tool for developers, I also use it for my work, but for now I’m still only experimenting with it. However, I believe the fourth industrial revolution is not only about the AI, but it also involves much broader changes, like the evolution of systems that are fully or partially automated and capable of making decisions on their own. We have a truly exciting future ahead of us! And both the coordination and the individual responsibility are going to be crucial in this process.

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And finally, a fun fact we got to know after the interview...

Turns out Peter is not only an expert in coding, but he’s also comfortable with the world of coffee, and since he loves experimenting, he gained considerable knowledge in brewing really fine coffee.

Peter can combine technology and science with creativity and curiosity in a perfect way. He is an example of how programming is not a mere profession, but a real passion and a creative activity, through which you can create a whole new world of yours.

Thank you for this inspiring chat, Peter!

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