Niamh McCooey — Front End Developer
Niamh is a Front-end Developer at Octophin Digital who has been attending codebar since July 2018. She is also getting into the world of talking, very recently giving her first talk at a codebar monthly, which covered tips and tricks for learning to code so that you don’t overwhelm yourself.
You can find Niamh on the internet at:
- What did you want to be growing up?
To be honest I never really had one dream job growing up. Over the years I changed my mind a lot and wanted to be many things like a baker, a chef, an artist, clothes designer, professional recorder player and a writer. I never once thought of being a developer because honestly, it just wasn’t a known thing back then.
2) When did your interest in tech start?
I think I always had a kind of latent interest in tech, but I didn’t become actively interested in it until I began writing for some tech companies a couple of years ago. I was first drawn to it from a critical point of view, thinking about what tech means culturally, and that was kind of the gateway to coding for me. From then on I just had to know more and more.
3) How did you get involved with codebar?
After I made a throwaway comment to a woman at work about one day wanting to learn code, she suggested that I go to a codebar meet up, so I decided to go. That was around 7 months ago and I’ve been going regularly since then.
4) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?
I was always kind of intimidated by the idea of coding, but going to codebar humanised the whole thing for me. Everyone involved is always so friendly and welcoming, it completely broke down my idea of what the tech industry was like and I loved it. Plus, there’s nothing quite like that high feeling you get after solving a problem, so why wouldn’t you keep going back for more?!
5) What was your first development job?
I was super lucky because while I was going to codebar, I also got to know a couple of really talented programmers at my co-working space, who often asked to see my projects and gave great advice. Before I knew it, one of them had some freelance work that they wanted me to do which I was delighted to accept. The job was building the front end of the Crouch End Open Studios website — it still feels weird to see it live!
6) What is your favourite thing about being a developer?
It’s a lot more creative than I thought it’d be, which is awesome. There are just so many different ways to achieve one goal and I really enjoy the fact that you can create your own tailored solution to any problem, every time. It feels a bit like writing in that way, I can see how people say there’s an art to it.
7) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?
One of my personal side-projects, where I built a web app to help me remember when I last watered each of my plants. I decided to do this as a way to learn Javascript and just got so much out of it. Until I started that project, I was only learning Javascript with tutorials and didn’t really feel like I could sink my teeth into it properly. With this, I definitely did and learned so so much along the way.
8) What are your plans for the future?
I plan on specialising in front end development so will focus on levelling up in that area. My next big goal is to eventually become a codebar coach which, as it turns out, is a lot scarier than becoming a professional developer!
9) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?
Humanise your idea of tech as much as possible. This made a huge difference for me and I did it by talking to developers, going to meet ups, and attending conferences. I think it can help you to feel inspired as a beginner and avoid feeling so overwhelmed all the time.
