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.

Daniel Welsh

Lead Coding Teacher

Daniel has been coding games from a very young age, starting in High school using drag and drop platform Game Maker, where he learned the logic of programming.
After High school he moved on to learning C++ and Game development at Hornsby TAFE, and later C# and Game programming at St Leonards TAFE. Daniel frequently attends Sydney Game Jams and mostly enjoys making multiplayer games and game servers using Unity3D.

Jonathan Serebro

Lead Coding Teacher

Jonathan has been a computer hobbyist since he was a child. He grew up surrounded by gaming and building computers with his older brother. He started programming in high school and since then it has become a passion of his. Outside of the class room Jonathan volunteers with a youth organisation, running weekly programs and camps during the holidays. He has been involved with education/leadership programs for 4 years. Teaching at CODE4FUN has allowed him to combine both his passions – education and computers.

Sean Simon

Lead Coding Teacher

Sean is a passionate game developer with a shared love for programming and art. He studies at University of Technology Sydney and works as a contractor at a studio where he creates commercial virtual reality experiences. During his final high school year, he launched his first title called Greebroll. He has recently launched his second major game on the App and Play Store, Snake Time. Sean has worked with many game development studios including Flat Earth Games, Bandai Namco, AIE and Well Placed Cactus. His hobbies include 3D printing, 3D scanning, and competitively making games in 48 hours. He believes that experimentation is the key to solving any big problem.

Gleb Punanov

Lead Coding Teacher

Gleb has been fascinated by programming since high school. Teaching himself the basics of Python, his passion for mathematics and computer science has lead him to study a Data Science degree at UNSW, where he is acquiring skills in programming languages such as C, Python and R. Gleb’s interest in new technology and statistics means that he spends a lot of his free time learning about new methods or regression and classification analysis. Gleb is also responsible for writing and designing our Artificial Intelligence (AI) course, which teaches students Python, the basics of TensorFlow, and the key concepts behind machine learning and neural networks.

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.

Cameron Gan

Lead Coding Teacher

Cameron has been interested in science and technology all his life. During high school he facilited many science camps for school students where he developed a taste for teaching. Cameron picked up programming in his first year of university and quickly fell in love with it. He added Computer Science to his Renewable Energy Engineering degree and enjoyed adding these new skills to his repertoire. He spends his free time applying his programming skill making tools and analysing Australia’s energy market.

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.

Ben Barnes

Lead Coding Teacher

Ben has a background in fiction, studying writing and cultural studies at UTS, before doing an exchange in Mexico, and completing an honours degree in Mexican literature. Coding through game design began as an excercise in producing visual narratives. having completed multiple TAFE qualifications in these subjects, Ben now works part time as a software developer, and maintains a keen interest in AI, machine learning and natural language processing.

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.

Tiryon Williams

Lead coding teacher

Tiryon is a game design graduate from SAE institute Sydney, graduating with a Bachelors of software development – design. During university he learned Unity and C#, worked as an intern and QA tester for SMG studios and The project Factory, and acted as lead designer for multiple projects Tiryon has always had a keen interest in programming and software development, competing in Python and Lego Mindstorm competitions during school, and attending an invite only workshop for software development run by Deloitte & Westpac. He believes learning to program is an invaluable skill for learning problem solving and critical thinking skills.