Meet Renee and Maive – from scaffolding and retail to learning code
29.01.2026
Our Selection Sprint brings together people to learn coding from very different directions, and this week, we’re meeting two sprinters whose journeys highlight that variety. Renee, a 28-year-old from Viljandi, joined the Sprint in kood/Võru after returning to Estonia from Australia, where he had worked as a scaffold installer before deciding to try coding for the first time. Maive, a 35-year-old former retail product specialist, came to the Sprint with no programming background at all and was surprised by how quickly new concepts began to make sense.
Renee – Building new skills after coming back to Estonia
Renee comes from Viljandi, is 28 years old and joined the Sprint in kood/Võru after returning to Estonia after 4 years in Australia. In down under, he worked as a scaffold installer and coding wasn’t part of his world at all.
Then life changed quickly. Due to health reasons, he returned to Estonia on short notice and found himself rethinking what comes next.
“Plans changed,” he says simply. “And my aunt suggested I should apply to //kood.”
What surprised him most about the Sprint wasn’t the difficulty it was the people.
“Most of my friends are still in Australia. Being here, socialising every day, talking to people, it’s actually really exciting.”
When it comes to math and coding, Renee is clear:
“You can use math, sure but what matters more is logic. First you need to understand what the task is even asking.”
His biggest tip for new sprinters?
“Don’t take it too seriously. If you do, it’s very easy to feel like you’re failing.”
And to someone unsure about trying coding:
“You should try it,” Renee says. “Life is moving more and more toward IT anyway, there’s no escaping it. Gaining a better understanding of your computer and programming will provide you with valuable knowledge.”
Maive – Trading product knowledge for learning code
Maive is 35 and joined the Selection Sprint in kood/Võru without any prior programming experience. Before coming to the Sprint, she spent years working in retail as a product specialist, managing large product ranges and working closely with both customers and teams.
“Before this, I didn’t even know what syntax meant,” she laughs.
What surprised her the most was how quickly things started to feel familiar.
“The most unexpected part was realizing I already understand what certain words in code mean.”
For Maive, the most exciting part of the Sprint has been the people, the group, the conversations, and learning together.
She’s also learned how to approach problem-solving more consciously.
“When I look at a task, I first try to understand what’s actually being asked. Some basic math helps like knowing how to calculate a square but you don’t need know sin, cos, or pi.”
Her advice to new sprinters focuses on communication:
“Talk to people. You never know who knows what. If you communicate early, you understand tasks much better than if you rely only on AI and ask questions too late.”
And her message to anyone unsure about coding?
“Just come and try the Sprint.”
Join our next Selection Sprint and start your career in tech!
//kood was founded in Jõhvi, Estonia in 2021, with the aim of making technology education accessible to everyone and address the software developers shortage. From 2025, students can study in Jõhvi, Võru and Paide. Its 12–15 month curriculum is based on 100% practical, self-directed and peer-to-peer learning, covering full-stack software development, teamwork and problem solving. Students can later specialise in fields such as cybersecurity, mobile applications, or AI.
//kood has welcomed more than 1,200 students in Estonia with close to 400 graduates – half of whom are now working in the technology sector. Students represent over 30 different nationalities, 21% are women and the average age is 29. You can find the //kood peer-to-peer learning method and curriculum also in Finland, Ukraine and Kenya.
In 2025, the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications recognised //kood as one of the best entrepreneurship promoters in the country. Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs and the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications (ITL) selected kood/FutureCoders as the ‘Best ICT Cooperation Project between the Public and Private Sector.’ Regionally, kood/Järva was recognised as the county’s act of the year and nationally as the learning act of the year.
The accessibility of IT education is supported by Skaala, Swedbank, Wise, Kaamos, LHV, SEB, Barrus, SA Võrumaa Arenduskeskus, SA Järvamaa, ESTDEV and others.