This time last year, I finally felt like an official card-carrying member of the Philly tech community. After many nights of teaching myself the basics of coding, building a portfolio, and making my way through the job search, I was starting my first agency position as a front end developer. Gone were the days of apologetically explaining my current career at networking events and tech meetups. I was in.

Looking back, however, I can see that my claim to membership in the tech community started much earlier than the first day on the job. In fact, my pre-career involvement in…