STARTUP
STORIES
Notes
from
Founders:
Codemotion
15
Chiara: 'Codemotion started with a
random encounter'
I was visiting my university professor in
Rome and he suggested I meet Mara. We
immediately found so much professional
and personal commonground that we
decided to work together. Without that
random encounter, there would be no
Codemotion. It's a particularly special
feeling when you know the moment
you meet someone that you'll be close
to them.
Mara: 'If the company you're working in
has room for improvement, launch your
own project'
Codemotion was officially born five
years ago, but in reality, it began further
back than that. I was organizing a tech
conference called Java Day and invited
Chiara to join me. Java Day was considered
groundbreaking at the time, but we
realized there were real problems with the
programming languages. Unfortunately,
we didn't have the authority to fix them,
which was frustrating. Java Day got
bought out by another company and there
were some internal complications so we
both decided it was time to move on and
start something ourselves.
Launched in 2013, Codemotion connects tech professionals,
communities and IT companies through a series of
conferences, hackathons, employment fairs and IT schools.
Today, the company has eight annual conferences spanning
seven countries and attracts 570,000 developers a year. The
startup has been widely-praised for inspiring women and
young people to join the world of IT.
Mara
Marzocchi
and
Chiara
Russo
live
in
Rome
–
Mara
with
her
partner
and
three
cats
and
Chiara
with
her
husband
and
young
daughter.
Driven
by
a
shared
passion
for
tech,
these
entrepreneurs
have
spun
their
friendship
into
a
movement
to
connect
IT
specialists
and
encourage
more
people
to
pursue
tech
careers.
Mara
Marzocchi
&
Chiara
Russo
Co-founders
of
Codemotion
Connecting
the
tech
world
