Code Like Her Fellowship II — Weekly #1
by Pooja Shrestha
As someone who had closely witnessed the journey of fellows from the first Code Like Her fellowship, I had eagerly been eagerly waiting for the next cohort of fellowship. As soon as I knew that fellowship was starting, I jumped with excitement and I went to understand the whole procedure for applying. I looked for the roadmap of the journey and timings first, to confirm if I could invest enough time for the fellowship. I found that a few weeks of fellowship would clash with my board exam. I decided to compromise on it as I had been waiting for the fellowship for more than a year.
After I made a decision to apply, I went through the document requirements for the application process. I wrote a cover letter mentioning why I want to be a part of the fellowship and what my plans after, were. In the application, I explained what I expected out of Code Like Her -II, and what I was willing to dedicate. The application was the easiest part out of all the selection processes that went on.
I was eagerly waiting for the response to my application and to make it to the other selection round. I came to know that there were more than 80+ applicants for the same. Luckily, I was selected for the written test. The test was time bound and we had to appear in the virtual setup with our videos on. I was nervous during the entire test due to which I gave wrong answers even though I knew the right answers. Thankfully, it didn’t go as bad as I thought as I got called for an interview also. I was determined to make this work as I had my months ahead planned with the fellowship in mind. I didn’t let my college hours or my academics come in between the journey which made the interviewer convinced as well. As a part of which I am writing this blog, explaining my first week into the fellowship.
I had been waiting for the first day since I was selected as one of the fellows. However, the fellowship started exactly the opposite way than I had anticipated.
But just the day before, me being me, I forgot to set my alarm for the next morning as ours starts at 7 AM in the morning. Thanks to the management team, I got a call 15 minutes after the class started. I was embarrassed one the first day of our class. I really hoped the statement “The first impression is the last impression” would stand false in this case. Fingers crossed.
In the first week, we mostly learned about the concept of Design. Along with the learning, I realized how I overlooked the design pattern around me. The concept and learning I gathered helped me appreciate the small designs such as buttons of my heater, the design of my antiperspirant, the strap in my thermos. Definitely, I got the designer eye which has made my eyes notice the design in everything.
If I had to describe, I had known people with their designation as UI/ UX or sometimes there had been a vacancy for UI/ UX lying there in some of the groups that I follow. For some reason, I never researched it and assumed these were interchangeable terms, but turns out it was not. Before, If I had to describe the concept of UI/ UX, I would have said they both are the same thing. I was shocked when I realized UI is what users see and UX is how users feel and how different its approaches are. UX always comes before UI but then the combination of these two creatively solves users’ problems.
The first week was basically an important step for me and other fellows to understand the Principles of Design. I was well aware of the importance of colors, their combination, but the concepts such as proximity, space, alignment, contrast, hierarchy, and even repetition were unknown.
One of the most interesting sessions of the week was Design Thinking. Even though I have attended sessions on Design Thinking before, it’s always interesting and there’s always something new to learn. We learned about the steps to Design Thinking and also completed an assignment to implement the learnings on a problem we see around us. The presentation of the problems from our fellows was very interesting and some of them actually made me wonder “Wow! Why didn’t I think of that?”.
The week actually flew by. For me, the week was extremely productive and I enjoyed every day of it. I am also thankful for my other fellows who are extremely friendly and ready to help in need.
I still have a lot to learn. Honestly, I can’t wait to meet the better version of myself by the end of the journey.
About the Author:
Pooja Shrestha is currently a final-year B.Sc. CSIT student at Samriddhi College. By profession, she is a Radio Jockey at Times FM and is also voluntarily involved at Girls in Tech — Nepal as an Outreach Coordinator. She has been working as a Freelance emcee for four years now and has hosted a few international events as well.
Pooja describes herself as a happy-go-lucky person. She believes with determination to learn, one can be anything they dream of.
