Years ago, when people thought tech and design had nothing in common … TUMO created an intersection between the two! Now you can see that intersection in every TUMOian.

Anna Stepanyan was 13 years old when she joined TUMO in 2016. Back then, she was fascinated by music and illustration. Little did she know that programming would soon become a significant part of her life.

“At first, I stuck to the workshops in drawing, graphic design and music. It took me a while to understand that I should push myself and try out robotics.”

After wrapping up all three levels at TUMO, Anna became more interested in the design and engineering of robots. Anna and her friends won third place in the tech category of the 2020 Vahé and Lucie competition.

^{The A.M.A.S. – short for autonomous multifunctional ambulatory spider}

The robot is designed to move across a variety of surfaces.

^{TUMOians developing a logo for AMIC in a learning lab with Aram Mirzoyants, 2021}

Her curious mind and inquisitive nature brought Anna to another educational program located on Halabyan Street: the 42 Yerevan programming school at TUMO Labs. “When I heard about 42, I decided to try my luck there too. My first attempt wasn’t successful, but I didn’t lose hope and applied again the following year.” (Days after our conversation with Anna, we found out that she was accepted into the main curriculum.)

^{Anna at 42 Yerevan, 2020}

The end of the 42 Yerevan piscine didn’t mean the end of Anna’s time at TUMO Labs. Immediately after, she began working on real-life projects with companies like SAP and SpaceChain.

^{Anna learning Python in the TUMO Labs guided self-learning program, 2022}

“In the SAP project, we’re creating a virtual bot that analyzes the dialogue between two people and suggests an online meeting according to the conversation,” she explains. Although Anna’s peers have more experience with Python, they’re helping her adjust to the syntax of the language.

^{Favorite hobbies: music and illustration, 2021} 

Anna still loves to paint and create music. Her days are now equally divided between her passion for tech and the arts.