CODE4FUN: Meet Sydney Programming School Team

The Best programmers to educate children

Meet the Sydney Programming School team. To put it plain and simple, we’re passionate about what we do and it shows in our work! Together we are a bunch of creative enthusiasts who believe that coding is the language of the future.

We understand that every child is unique, therefore our team of experts has carefully developed a number of tailored k ids programming courses that reflect the capabilities of children enrolled. Fostering a culture of collaboration, we believe that the best way to teach kids to code is through creativity, innovation and teamwork. All our staff members are experienced IT professional and each has a current Working With Children Check.

Grigory Punanov

Director, Co-founder, Lead Coding Teacher

Former Digital Product Manager at News Corp, now Grigory is a Director and a Co-founder of CODE4FUN. Having a Master’s degree in IT and being a father of very techie children, Grigory understands both an importance and a challenge of teaching the basics of Computer Science to kids at a young age. Grigory believes that children only really learn coding when they code their projects themselves. Therefore Grigory, looks after all CODE4FUN coding challenges and teaches coding classes six days a week.

Andrew Diggins

Lead Coding Teacher

Andrew is a graduate game designer from Macquarie University. He is the founder of Australia’s first academic chapter of the International Game Developers Association; the IGDA MQ. With IGDA MQ, Andrew has acted as project lead for games such as Simple Paintball Game, Simple Fighting Game, Ricochet and Labyrinth. The team’s games can be found here: https://igdamq.itch.io/. Specialising in the Unity engine, Andrew is well versed in 3D Modelling, UI Design and Programming.

Kevin Tran

Lead Coding Teacher

Kevin has recently graduated from Macquarie University in Games Design and Development. He currently focuses on website and games development, and plans to learn more. Kevin has previously worked on games for the International Game Developers Association (IGDO MQ) such as Simple Paintball Game and Simple Fighting Game as a 3D Modeller and artist. Kevin believes that learning how to program from an early age is one of the major steps in becoming a successful software engineer in the future.

Lachlan Christophers

Lead Coding Teacher

Lachlan is a budding game developer currently studying his final year of games Dev at UTS. Since starting UNI he has learnt C++, C#, Java, and JavaScript, whilst working significantly with the Unity game engine, and is currently working on a Unity project intended for public release. He enjoys experimenting with hobby code projects in his free time such as Discord bots and game modding.

James Gareski

Lead coding teacher

James is a graduate game designer from SAE Qantm Sydney graduating with a Bachelor of Games Development. Since starting University he has learnt C#, Blueprint for the Unity and Unreal engine software, developing 3D assets, as well as learning to assemble and disassemble computers. Since finishing Uni he has worked for companies such as Saber Astronautics working on the development of a program called P.I.G.I., Liminal VR on the development of a virtual reality simulation aimed at helping people with anxiety and worked with small indie studios developing user-interface assets.

Toshi Tabata

Lead coding teacher

Toshi is a UNSW student currently studying a Bachelor of Computer Science who has a penchant for teaching and learning about programming. He believes that a strong foundation with programming develops great habits in all aspects of life, especially with problem solving. Toshi started his journey with programming using R while completing a Bachelor of Medical Science. Since graduating and starting his current degree, Toshi has learned a plethora of languages such as C, C#, C++, Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, Haskell and MIPS. He has also used technologies such as Unity for developing augmented reality applications for the HoloLens and React for front-end development.

Samara Trenaman

Lead coding teacher

Samara began coding in Year 5, programming fight sequences for Lego Mindstorm robots. Since then she has gained skills in multiple languages and specialises in Python and JavaScript. She has experience in many areas of the software world, including virtual reality, robotics, 3D animation and website design. Samara loves watching her students experiment with new concepts and come up with wacky and unique ideas for what the code can do.

Dan Larke

Lead coding teacher

Dan is an avid game developer with a knack for mathematics, programming and problem solving, and a passion for helping others. He believes that anything can be understood when communicated clearly by a passionate and dedicated educator. Dan’s love of maths and teaching almost led him to study to become a high school mathematics teacher, before he instead studied a Diploma of Information Technology. He is currently in his final year of a Bachelor of Arts: Games & Interactivity at Macquarie University. In his spare time he develops both computer and tabletop games with a focus on modifying existing systems with homebrew and modified content.

Rafael (Raf) Deubler

Lead Coding Teacher

Raf has always been interested in coding and he joined the Code4Fun program as a primary school student in 2016. By 2018 he had developed and released an Android App using Unity3D. Since then he has continued to learn other programming languages such as Python, Java and Javascript. He is enthusiastic about sharing his love of technology and can often be found helping friends and family set up and build new computers, create 3D prints and develop games.

Kieran Clarke

Lead Coding Teacher

Kieran has been interested in games design and programming since primary school creating games and other projects in any software available. Since then he has formally increased his knowledge of programming and games design with a Bachelor in Information Technology from UTS and a Diploma in Games Programming at TAFE NSW. He believes kids who have a passion for programming and games development should be helped and encouraged in any way possible. He likes when students find their passion for programming through creating new and innovative games at CODE4FUN.

Faiyam Islam

Lead Coding Teacher

Faiyam is a UNSW student currently studying a Bachelor of Data Science and Decisions. Being a very inquisitive person himself, Faiyam has gained a deep knowledge in various programming languages including C, Python, SQL and R. Learning Data Science at UNSW has allowed Faiyam to transfer a lot of his coding skills to his students and help them with developing their initial programming skills. Faiyam believes the student’s enthusiasm and the excitement of problem solving are the key components of student’s successful progression at CODE4FUN.

Zami Lee

Lead Coding Teacher

As a student currently studying software engineering, Zami has witnessed both large and small scale applications of programming and its limitless potential for the future. This has sparked a deep passion for the subject, and a desire to help foster similar interest in young students. She has gained experience in different languages like Python and C both during and outside her studies, as well as other areas in the software design world. She loves seeing kids’ excitement as they overcome challenges while coding and put their own spin on their projects.

Kushagra Javeri

Lead Coding Teacher

Kushagra is a student at UNSW studying mechatronics engineering and computer science. He has been fascinated by coding since high school, where he began coding and competed in competitions held by the National Computer Science School (NCSS). He has also been tutoring maths, engineering, physics and programming to school students since 2019. He actively participates in competitive programming and loves to brainstorm out-of-the-box algorithms for difficult problems. He is well-versed in Python, Java, C, MIPS, C++ and scratch. Kush believes that problem solving is best learned through programming and is an essential skill for a student’s overall development.

Jake Lewitton

Lead Coding Teacher

Jake has been passionate about programming since High School. He studies Software Development and Marketing at the University of Sydney. He enjoys creating fun and useful projects which help young students to better understand the beauty of technology. Jake is also a founder of his own Sydney based tech startup Boids.com.au which he launched a few months ago.

Jack Zines

Lead Coding Teacher

Jack is a current student studying a Bachelor of Engineering majoring in software at UTS. He has been coding since he was in year 11 and has gained experience in many languages such as Java, Python, C, C++ and SQL. Through his experience in leading group projects at university, Jack is able to transfer his leadership and communication skills to the CODE4FUN classroom. He also loves a challenge and problem solving and being able to pass this passion on to his students through coding challenges whilst making sure no student is left behind.