Humans That Code : Carlos Aviles
An Interview for Bitscademy
“I had originally studied sociology with the idea of getting into advertising. After I graduated I worked as a marketing specialist for an app company. It was a small company so they had a few employees doing many things and graphic design was one of the things I ended up doing for them. So right then, early on in my career, I shifted in my thinking. I said to myself, ‘Marketing and advertising are fine, but I really like the idea of building apps’. I then decided to go back to school and do graphic design. However, one of the counselors at the school I was applying to, suggested that I do Web Design & New Media. She said that it would be a good fit for me because I wanted to do design but it would also give me a great foundation in coding. I applied for that program and got in.
Since then, I’ve learned how to code mainly as a tool to help me understand better design techniques. Designers often design without realizing there are limitations to their design in development. It’s good for designers to understand that language from the get-go; it’s good for them to take coding into account.
I have an interesting relationship with coding. It doesn’t come easy to me. It’s one of those things that I really have to work at. Sometimes it’ll take me hours to figure something out that I’ll see somebody else understand within minutes. For example, I was working on a website for my portfolio and I was trying to create a side navigation. Total frustration! It took me a couple of days to realize that there was a simple fix, that all I had to was to change the nav tag into a div tag, and that then everything would work. Once I got that, I was thrilled!
So the thing about coding is the great satisfaction that comes once I’ve figured it out. There are very few things in my life where I’ve been able to feel that kind of gratification upon understanding For that reason, there’s always going to be a curiosity and desire for me to get better at it. It’s similar to how certain individuals are with languages, or people who practice sports for a hobby, and then they master that skill, whatever it is. It may not be their career choice but it’s something that they will constantly work on, because it’s so gratifying once they achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves. Coding definitely is that way for me, it will never be my career choice — you’ll never see on my resume “front end developer” — but it’s something that I will always do.
It’s always a fascinating thing discovering what people are doing to push the boundaries. And that’s the marvelous thing, because now that I’m seeing what people are doing, my mind just goes wild with design! It really helps me understand what I’m capable of doing, what the world is capable of creating.
My parents are from El Salvador and I was born and raised in Redwood City, a couple of miles south of San Francisco. I’m maybe one of three or four people of my extended family that has gone on to get a Masters degree. And of them, probably the only one to do something in development, coding or design. My mother always envisioned that if I ever went back to school it would be to become a doctor, or to get a business or law degree. So when I told her that I was going to go back to school and accrue more debt for something in design and development, her response was, ‘What are you thinking?’.
But as she learns about the little things that I do, and notices any type of interface that she uses, she realizes, ‘This has amazing potential! My son at some point will design what I look at on my phone”. So she is starting to understand it, little by little. My mother is a nanny and my stepfather is in construction. They have no idea what a UX designer is or a lead front end developer is, so it’s eye opening for my mother to realize that her son is doing something in this field. Right now she sees the potential in it, but once I’m working and making money in my field, that’s when she’ll understand that my career change was worth it.
Now that I’ve figured out how to learn coding, it’s going to be a skill that I’m constantly going to get better at. As I said, it won’t be my actual career but I’ll use it as a designer when conversing with developers. It’s going to be a part of my life, although the aspect of becoming a better coder myself, that will be more internal, and mostly for my own gratification.”
— Carlos Aviles, Coder
