Agathe is originally from France and has a strong background in mathematics and computer science. She studied at ENS Lyon and also did a postdoc at INSA Lyon, where she lived and studied for ten years. After completing her master’s degree, she pursued a PhD in computer science with a focus on computational geometry. Later, she also explored the field of computer music, reflecting her wide-ranging interests in both technology and creativity.
She discovered Essensium through a job posting that immediately caught her attention. Although the position she initially applied for was never actually opened, she had a good feeling about the company and stayed in touch. When the Portal Developer role came up, she decided to go for it, even though it wasn’t exactly aligned with her background in mathematics. She saw it as an opportunity to learn new, practical skills while still working within the field of computer science. She started at Essensium in February.
Agathe now lives in Leuven, which she describes as a cozy student city. Although smaller than Lyon, it’s lively and full of energy. There’s always something happening, and it never feels dull. She also appreciates how close everything is, including Brussels, which is just a short distance away.
Can you tell us a bit about your responsibilities?
I work as a Portal Developer. I was brought in to take over many of the responsibilities from Omid, who previously worked on both the portal software, front-end and back-end, as well as the related data analysis. While his background is more in data science, my focus is more on software development.
On the front-end, I work on what our customers actually see, mainly the dashboard where they can monitor their fleet and view productivity statistics. This part is mostly built using JavaScript.
I’m also involved in the back-end side of the platform. I work on the server logic, including the login system, managing user roles and permissions, and defining who has access to which parts of the portal. This is mostly developed in Python.
It’s a nice balance between front-end and back-end work, and I enjoy having a clear view of how the entire system fits together.
What’s the best thing about your job?
This isn’t exactly the kind of job I studied for, but that’s actually what I love about it. I’m constantly learning new things, especially more hands-on, practical skills that I didn’t get during my academic studies.
Working on the portal has taught me a lot about how the web actually works, from front to back. It’s given me a much better understanding of how websites are built and how everything connects.
I also find it exciting that I can apply what I learn here to my personal projects. It’s really empowering to build things from scratch and see how all the pieces fit together.
What are the biggest challenges in your work?
One of the biggest challenges for me has been learning things I hadn’t worked with before. The most exotic part so far was definitely CSS, the language used to style web pages. It’s very different from the kind of programming I was used to during my studies, and it took me out of my comfort zone.
At the same time, I’m actually enjoying the learning process. It’s fun to discover new things and to understand how everything fits together. Learning the architecture of the website, and seeing how all the components interact smoothly with each other, has been both challenging and rewarding.
Which things are on your bucket list – what do you absolutely want to have done?
Privately, one of my goals was to move and live in Belgium and in February I accomplished that. I’d love to explore even more countries, especially because I really enjoy learning new languages and experiencing different cultures.
Another personal dream is to play more music concerts, and maybe even perform on bigger stages someday. Music has always been an important part of my life, and I’d love to keep that competence going.
Professionally, I don’t have a fixed plan yet. For now, I’m really enjoying my job and learning a lot, so I’m curious to see where the future takes me.
What do you do in your free time?
In my free time, I love making music. I play the clarinet, mostly in a jazz style, and I also do live coding music, that means writing code live on stage to generate music in real time. It involves a lot of improvisation, which makes every performance unique and exciting.
I also really enjoy making my own clothes. I knit and crochet, something I learned from my grandmother. Over the years, I’ve collected a huge number of books, magazines, and patterns, and I often use them to create new pieces. It’s both relaxing and creative.
Another hobby of mine is learning languages. I’m currently learning Dutch, and I already speak French, English, and Russian. Russian was quite difficult, but I enjoyed the challenge. I also studied Arabic at one point, because I spent some time in the Middle East when I was younger, but that one has been really tough!