Should I quit my 9–5 and become a female in tech?

In short, YES. In long, YES YES YES.

I had been working in office based roles since I was 18 years old, the rejection letter to study a Double Degree in Law and Environmental Science came one fateful day in Summer of 2010 and the gut wrenching feeling I felt, that my life was over before it had even began. Without a plan b degree, I collected myself after a week or two and began applying for any role I could get my hands on. After months of applying for jobs and attending interviews, I finally secured an on-the-job Business Administration Traineeship role. After a sigh of relief, my immediate thoughts were “This is great, this is a fantastic stepping stone to get back to University, gain a qualification plus work experience whilst I’m at it”.

Fast forward five years… After various roles as a Legal Secretary, Personal Assistant and Administration Officer, the roles I had were no longer stepping stones, they were anchors. A self inflicted victim of complacency and comfortability, I had only myself to hold accountable for the lack of commitment to chasing the reality of a more fulfilling career.

In August of last year my ‘defining moment’ brutally slapped me in the face and screamed at me to make a change (so dramatic, I know). But by this point I actually had no idea what it was I wanted to pursue. I had hobbies sure, I am great at a variety of different things — cooking, graphic design, fashion and drawing, but none of these things sparked that much of an interest where I would constantly obsess over becoming legit in these fields.

If you watched the ‘defining moment’ video you would have heard me talk about Passion Exploration. Say it again.. PASSION Exploration. It sounds so fun right… and it is. When I received my metaphorical ‘slap in the face’ my wonderful boyfriend told me to come over and we can do some PASSION Exploration.

It lead us down the proverbial rabbit hole and much like Alice in Wonderland, I had discovered a world that was so fascinating and different. I had discovered the tech space and in particular web development.

My first experience with code came about when I was 14 years old, with our favourite guy named Tom Anderson and Myspace. From a young age I was always into computers and, inquisitive by nature, I had a tendency to pull things apart — from Barbie’s heads, to one time trying to crack open a hair spray can with a hammer (thanks mum for catching me when you did). I always wanted to know what was going on in the inside. So naturally as I explored the framework of Myspace I found the html code editor and made the connection. I started to delete divs here and add flashing glitter banners there. I would Google what a hexadecimal code was and choose all of my favourite fluorescent colours to ‘wow’ and amaze my friends.

I had also participated in IT throughout high school, however, it was so easy to me and we certainly weren’t learning how to code. We were learning how to use Excel and touch type. I was constantly walking away to hang out in the wood work class next door and still managed to get the top grades in IT. At that point in time I had NEVER considered that as a young female that I could have a career in tech.. until now.

When the words “What about web development” came out of Tomer’s mouth, my response was “What is web development?”. He recalled our conversations about my Myspace profile hacking days and connected the dots. We had an in-depth conversation about it and I was automatically intrigued. I was having my lightbulb moment. He had heard of General Assembly previously and mentioned that this is a good place to go. I browsed the website and requested a syllabus, had a phone call the next day, was asked to complete their online tutorial and the next thing I knew I was having my interview, ready and waiting to be accepted into their next intake. I had four months before the course started. I had to quit my full time job. Save every bit of money I had. I sold my car and cancelled my Netflix subscription — Priorities right? And it was worth every moment.

The rest is history and you can check out my other blog KIAHHICKSON.COM where I blogged (mostly) every day about my GA journey studying the Web Development Immersive course. You can get an insight into the highs and lows of my life over the space of four months, what I learnt, interesting people I met and some cool art that I enjoy looking at.

So.. Why this post? Why have I gone on about my journey to just direct you to my previous blog site? Since I became involved in this space I feel like it is my responsibility to share with others what positive experiences and opportunities happen when you get involved in a community such as this.

1. You bridge the gap between humans and technology. I love the saying “Humanising Technology”. We rely so heavily on technology for our lives to function and having an understanding of what is going on in the background is incredibly empowering;
2. You enter a community who are incredibly supportive and always there to help you when you have a question or stuck on something you just can’t seem to get your head around;
3. You acquire skills that are incredibly valuable and quite bluntly an absolute necessity (I feel) to your success — not just in the tech space. I encourage ALL people to give coding a try.
4. You open the doorway to explore areas you might not have thought possible in the past. As a result of learning to code I combined my love of fashion with my love of technology and created an LED wearables dress.

If you’re thinking the above is great info, but how do I get started? Here is my advice to you.

1. Jump online and get familiar with code. There are an abundance of free resources to get you started. Codecademy, Udemy, GA Dash, Coursera to name a few. I recommend learning Javascript and Ruby on Rails, HTML + CSS for the basics. Here is an article with a great resource listing.
   Click opt + cmd + i (on a mac & in Chrome) and see the Chrome Developer tools pop up. This will be your friend. Start exploring the console and look at the way websites are built by checking out their source code by pressing opt + cmd + u.
   Take the time to explore the structure of the code, you can even alter the page appearance by messing with the ‘styles’ tab on the right hand side!!
   Don’t worry you’re not going to break anything! It’s not permanent.
2. If you’re ready to dip your toes into something a little more human to human check out General Assembly’s events page. They constantly provide free introduction classes to code and a whole bunch of other amazing topics with impressive speakers!
3. When you’re ready to really take the plunge, consider taking one (or more) of their part-time courses, workshops or their immersive course. Just like me :D
4. Get Involved in the community! Github and Stack overflow will also be your best friends. Reach out on Twitter and get the conversation flowing. Search for relevant Meet up groups in your area and know that you will always be welcome even if you are a total newbie!
5. If you are a female and want to be involved in female specific meet ups, we’ve got your back girlfriend! I attend Girl Geeks Dinner Sydney, Women Who Code and I will be a Mentor at the upcoming Rails Girls workshop being held on April 1 & 2. YAY. Plus there are plenty more — check out meetup.com!
   Also, to listen to inspiring women in tech there are some great podcasts out there. My favourite is Tech Women Australia by Lisa Harrison who is doing amazing things for women in STEM related industries.

All of the above is advice based on my own personal experiences and opinions. I’m not being asked to mention all of the above but they have all influenced me on my journey thus far and if it can get anyone started in the right direction then my job here is done!

You can reach out to me on:
Twitter @kiahhickson
LinkedIn Kiah Hickson
Kiahhickson.com

What are you waiting for? Go kick some ass and start doing something you love ASAP!