Jo Franchetti — Front-end Engineer

Jo Franchetti is a front-end Engineer and organiser of Achieving Diversity in Tech. She is also one of the regular coaches at codebar London and all round great person. Find Jo online at:

@ThisIsJoFrank / www.joannafranchetti.co.uk /

What did you want to be growing up?

When I was little I was constantly telling people that I was going to be an inventor when I grew up. I didn’t know what I wanted to invent, but I did love making things, I still do.

When did your interest in tech start?

I was a slow starter as far as tech was concerned. Apart from far too many hours sunk into gaming, I barely used computers until the year I left school. After some particularly lacklustre careers advice, I’d chosen to study mechanical engineering at uni. I was told that this would offer me the mix of science and creativity that I wanted from a career but think I always knew that it wasn’t quite the right fit for me. When it came time to accept a uni, I chickened out, turned down my offers, and looked for a gap year job instead.

I applied for an internship with BBC Research and Development. In the interview they showed me some C++ code and asked me what it was doing. I’d never even heard of C++, let alone worked with it! The interviewer was very kind and talked me through what each function was doing, and with prompting, I worked it out, and fortunately they offered me the job! I was there for a year working with a group of incredibly talented and intelligent programmers on some very cool projects and it was here that I really got my first taste of programming and computer science, it was love at first type.

How did you make the transition to being a developer?

Even though I loved my time with BBC R&D I still lacked confidence in my programming ability. I imagined that everyone who took computer science at uni would have been programming since they could sit up, I thought I’d never keep up! So, instead of changing course, I swapped mechanical for electronic engineering and ended up graduating in a subject that I still didn’t really have any passion for.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It took me a long time to learn this lesson… The flip side of that is always help out where you can, you’ll learn new things and meet interesting people along the way!

I spent about a year after graduation trying to find an engineering job, it was mid recession and engineers were being let go across the country, a bad time to be job hunting. I eventually found employment teaching IT to jobseekers and those wanting to change careers, oh the irony!

The job was pretty awful, the one good thing being that it required so little brainpower that I found I had ample time to consider what I wanted to do with my career.

It occurred to me that becoming a ‘web designer’ would likely offer me that link between design and tech that I’d been looking for, so I used my free time to teach myself HTML and CSS.

These were the days when people were being impressed by the CSS Zen garden, and HTML5 was still in draft. I taught myself mostly by copying the work of other developers and editing it. I had no idea about best practices or any kind of testing, but I absolutely loved that the code I was writing actually made things appear in the browser. That being said, I found learning on my own tough. I never had confidence in what I was doing and when I got stuck it could be hours or days before I found an answer. I have so much empathy for people starting their journey into tech now. There is so much more for beginners to grasp, conflicting views on which technologies to use and the best way to use them. I’d have been so glad to have had a mentor or a coach, but I never thought to ask!

What was your first development job?

I built (some truly terrible) websites for anyone I could convince to take one, I made portfolio sites for my family who are all artists, for my friends’ wedding and for small local businesses.

I built up enough of a portfolio that I started applying for web dev jobs. I suffered from a crippling lack of confidence in my own ability, and was terrified that the companies I was applying to were going to laugh at my self-taught attempts. I applied for many junior dev and designer roles. I heard nothing back from most of them, until one day I got an acceptance for a one month contract based in Woking, which was miles away from where I lived, but I was super excited about it.

The job was rewriting the CSS of a travel website that had just had a design update. I was so happy to be working in tech that I raced through the task, so much so that they kept me on for an extra two months to update all of their other websites. This was the first time that I’d had any real accountability to users and was where I learnt that browser testing was a must. Those painful days of debugging for IE7 taught me much of what I know about the box model and document flow.

What is your favourite thing about being a developer?

The variety of work available! I’ve worked on tiny projects and on large ones, in house, for agencies, for charities and in a large range of fields. The other great thing, especially being based in London, is the amount of tech events, meetups and support available. We’re really lucky to have such a great community of speakers, teachers and organisers.

The other great thing, especially being based in London, is the amount of tech events, meetups and support available. We’re really lucky to have such a great community of speakers, teachers and organisers.

What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

I’m not sure if it counts as cool, but my absolute favourite project so far was working on an online counselling and mentoring system for children who have suffered from bullying. There is little more rewarding than using your skills to make other people’s lives better, I went home every night with the feeling that I was making a positive change to the world.

I also can’t skip this opportunity to mention a project that I’m currently involved in which is called Achieving Diversity in the Technology Industry. We run monthly meetups with speakers and discussions on how and why the tech industry must become a diverse and inclusive environment to work in. Check us out at www.achievingdiversityin.tech

How did you get involved with codebar?

I met a few of the coaches through other events, they told me about codebar and convinced me to come along. Getting under-represented groups into tech is something that is very close to my heart and I absolutely love teaching, getting involved was a no brainer for me!

Providing the mentorship that I wish that I’d had when I was starting out is what drives my desire to coach.

Why do you keep coming back to codebar?

As I mentioned before, I was self taught in web dev and I found it a real struggle. Providing the mentorship that I wish that I’d had when I was starting out is what drives my desire to coach. The people who run and attend codebar are the reason I keep coming back. They’ve created a community of knowledge and support that is welcoming and inclusive, exactly what the entire industry should be trying to emulate.

I have so much empathy for people starting their journey into tech now. There is so much more for beginners to grasp, conflicting views on which technologies to use and the best way to use them.

What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It took me a long time to learn this lesson. Most other developers are willing to help where they can, and if they can’t will pass you on to others who can. The flip side of that is always help out where you can, you’ll learn new things and meet interesting people along the way!