Love for coding

My name is Luca Zelioli, and I am 37-year-old Italian. I met my Finnish girlfriend more than seven years ago, when I went on a vacation to Finland with a friend. To my surprise, instead of her coming to Italy, I moved to Finland in 2014 because she helped me find work here. In Italy, I lived in the Alps, so the cold weather and dark winter days were not a novelty for me. I also liked the characteristics of the Finnish people, they are quiet and honest. Everything in Finland works punctually, and before coming here, I had also heard that Finland is an excellent place to study, especially computer related topics.

After working a year in Finland, I decided to start studying my big passion, Information Technology. It has been a hobby and a dream of mine since I was young. I was accepted in Turku University of Applied Sciences with a specialization in Embedded Software and I graduated in January 2018. During my studies in TUAS I realized that I love all sorts of coding languages as well as software engineering. I wanted to continue learning more about programming, software architecture and about different operating systems so I applied to Åbo Akademi University to become Master of Science in Computer Engineering.

The challenge was to learn to study in a new environment. Every school is different, and they use different methods. My master studies were more difficult and on a higher level. Especially writing my thesis was a great challenge, but I had a remarkably interesting and current topic, “Environmental damage assessment based on satellite imagery using machine learning”. Before my studies at Åbo Akademi, I was already good in practice, but during my 2-year-long studies I really improved my writing skills and capacity to learn theory. Basically, I learned to think before practice which has been valuable.

Åbo Akademi has also opened new career paths for me. For the moment I am working as a research assistant and assisting teacher at the university. There are several interesting projects which I can take part in and I can utilize both theory and practice. In addition, I have opened my own little company Revontuli Coding to be able do interesting projects privately. My studies at Åbo Akademi University have taught me a lot, and I can gladly recommend the university for anyone interested in studying abroad.