I'm Lou Cyx, The Code Witch
My love for technology began in the ’90s with a bootleg Famicom and a SEGA Genesis my brother and I saved from the trash. Growing up in Mar del Plata, Argentina, I didn’t have a computer of my own, so I spent countless hours at cybercafés playing games, making friends, and dipping my toes into web development. After finishing middle school, I enrolled in a technical high school, dedicating ten hours a day for three years to become a programmer. With my high school degree in computer science in hand, I took a year off to reconnect with old friends. During that time, I discovered my passion for deejaying, starting at small gatherings and eventually performing for massive crowds at anime, manga, and gaming conventions, late-night parties, and more.
Determined to broaden my skill set, I pursued two paths simultaneously: enrolling in a program to earn a System Analysis Technician degree while also teaching myself web development. As my skills grew, I began sharing knowledge through technical talks at local events. This self-taught path ultimately led me to my first job at a small studio and later, a multinational company.
Eventually, I began freelancing directly for clients in the US, which gave me the chance to travel abroad for the first time, granted, just to Uruguay, but still a big deal! Later on, I returned to big tech, and after a year of proving myself, a US-based client sponsored my visa. I moved to the US in March 2020.
Despite the challenges of relocating during the early days of a pandemic, I found new ways to share my passion for web development through educational streams on Twitch and YouTube. It’s been incredibly rewarding to connect with people beyond my work bubble and pass on what I’ve learned.
2024 became a year of self-discovery, as I began my gender transition, a journey full of challenges, especially as an immigrant. But despite the haters (and yes, they’re out there), I’m incredibly lucky to have friends and family who support me unconditionally. Their voices are the ones that matter. Not only that, some of them fount the courage to get out of their closets thanks to me. That’s why I don’t hide the fact that I’m trans, even when it’s scary. Visibility matters.
Testimonials
“I had high hopes for the person we'd bring into Lou's role, and she exceeded them in many ways. I appreciate her openness, honesty, and willingness to help the team, both immediate and across the overall client engineering practice, with the right mix of humility and confidence. I enjoyed every single one of her Lunch & Learns and really loved having her on the squad organizing them to help us share more knowledge.”
“Lou's TypeScript prowess is unmatched, she shared her knowledge and made the teams she worked with better, and I'll definitely miss her Lunch & Learns. Wherever she ends up will be lucky to have her.”
“I learned a lot from Lou's Lunch & Learns, and while it saddens me to see her go, at least we'll still have access to the latest LouGPT model.”
“Lou is passionate about great UX and accessibility. It has been nice having someone like her as a teammate. I know she'll do great things.”
“I had the privilege of working alongside Lou, and she has truly raised the bar for me on what it means to be a great engineer. She has a deep, conceptual understanding of engineering that allows her to solve problems thoughtfully and guide others effectively. Beyond her technical skills, Lou is an incredibly encouraging and supportive teammate. She always gives honest and insightful feedback, and it is clear that her intentions are always to help us learn and grow. Not only is she passionate about engineering, but she also makes a great effort to foster an environment where everyone can do their best work. Any team would be lucky to have her!”
“I can't say enough good things about working with Lou. She was highly professional, extremely well-versed in all things front end, and was very proactive in offering best practice solutions for our UI. Lou would be a great addition to any team and I'd gladly work with her again.”
“Lou commands the arcana of browserspace with great skill. She's easy to collaborate with and after such projects I'm left with a strong sense that she has imbued the front end with a durable sanity--both for users and maintainers. A great addition to any team.”
“Lou is a witch -- we threw the most challenging problems at her and she handled them with so much thought around DX, maintainability, and quality. She's extremely knowledgeable at TypeScript, a fantastic collaborator and overall UI software architect. Anyone who works with Lou is lucky to have her on their team, and I look forward to potentially working with her again in the future.”
“Lou is such a joy to work with. She is a kind and empathetic communicator, always eager to help teammates with any problem. She has extensive knowledge across frontend technologies, a seemingly boundless well of curiosity, and uses her skills to do excellent individual work that is highly reusable and idiomatic. She also cares deeply about the success and quality of whatever she is working on and is an advocate for solving problems well across a product. I thoroughly enjoyed working with her for the 4 years we were on the same team, and I hope to again some day!”
“Lou is one of the best engineers that I have encountered. She always strive for excellence and truly embodies what it means to be an engineer. I have had the great pleasure of working with her and she has provided me with so much knowledge and insight and inspiration. She was always willing to help the team and always provided the team with joy and laughter when times were tough. She's an excellent co-worker, mentor, and engineer and any body who has worked with her before will echo the same sentiment.”
“Lou is one of the kindest and smartest developers I've worked with. Technically speaking I've met and worked with few people with more insight in React, Node, ES and the whole ecosystem around it than her. She also is a very awesome human being and a helpful teammate in every possible way. I would be delighted to work with her again in the future.”
“I can't believe Lou moved from Argentina to Bellevue right at the beginning of COVID, worst timing ever, yet she remained positive and supportive to our team.”
“Isn't there a fairy tale where elves fix stuff in the middle of the night? That's how I imagine Lou to be.”
“Lou is always looking for new challenges. She's up to any task since her knowledge allow her to face any difficult or issue. She is in on the vanguard and will inform the team of updates or new ways to work or new technologies. She has very good ideas and will follow UX best practices.”
