About Me

Hello, my Dears!

I'm Ava Katushka, a software engineer, an artist, and a self-proclaimed coding interview nerd. If you're here, you probably have some interest in tech, algorithms, or just figuring out how to survive a coding interview without losing your sanity. Good news—I’m here to help!

How It All Started

In school, I was that kid who actually enjoyed solving Olympiad math problems. I found them fascinating, like little puzzles waiting to be cracked. But university introduced me to a different passion—travel. There was just one problem: I had no money. Then, I discovered a magical thing called internships. Turns out, not only can you travel through them, but companies will pay you to do so! Sign me up!

That’s how I ended up on a wild journey: googling my way into tech, reading every article by Lara on how to get an internship at Google, and preparing like my life depended on it. It took almost a year of studying, desperate LinkedIn reach-outs, English courses, and countless interview prep sessions—but I did it! I landed a software engineering internship at Google New York.

And you know what? I loved the preparation process. Solving problems, learning new things, and pushing my limits—it was like my own personal Olympics. Later, when I worked at Google in Munich, I realized that many of my colleagues absolutely dreaded coding interviews. And that’s when it hit me: what if I could show people that interview prep could actually be fun?

Building a Safe Space for Learning

For the next few years, I coached people for coding interviews at Exponent, IgotAnOffer, Yandex, Carrus and Verbetcetra. I did over 150 interviews and saw the same struggles again and again. I also noticed something frustrating—people who had competitive programming backgrounds weren’t always welcoming to those who didn’t. The unspoken message was, if you don’t know this, you must be stupid.

I hated that.

So, I decided to create a space where all questions are welcome—yes, even the ones you think are stupid. You don’t need to know everything beforehand. You can learn, and you will get better. Complex math? I’ll break it down into simple examples. Algorithms? We’ll make them fun. And yes, you are smart enough.

At the end of the day, coding interviews (and coding in general) should be exciting! My goal is to help you feel confident, prepared, and—dare I say it—enjoy the process. And if you’re a woman in tech, I especially want to see you succeed. If I had never seen a happy female software engineer, I would have vowed to become the first one. And you, my dear, are welcome to join me on this journey.

Teaching has always been my passion—whether it’s helping my sister, a small class, or an individual mentee. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing someone get it and feel excited about learning.

So, welcome to this space! Whether you're here to level up your coding skills, survive an interview, or just geek out about algorithms, I’m thrilled to have you. Let’s make learning fun, together! 🚀