Don’t Be Shy, Develop It!
My coding journey began in 2014 when I lived in Medellin, Colombia. I was working as an English teacher, and my roommates were other extranjeros making money doing freelance digital marketing and programming. I began meeting more and more “digital nomads” and became fascinated by the idea. Programming seemed like the most lucrative and in-demand skill, but could I ever do that? I had degrees in Communications and Spanish, and have never written a line of code in my life. After lots of self reflection, I decided to return to the States to figure out my master life plan and skill-up.
Once back home in Albuquerque in 2015, I began taking various free online classes and trolling YouTube videos like a mad woman. But I struggled to hold myself accountable to my arbitrary deadlines to finish projects, and often felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of new information. I didn’t know where to turn for help when I got stuck, and forums on Stack Overflow just looked like gibberish to me. I needed a bit more handholding and support, so I opted to pay for some courses from a program geared towards teaching women to code called Skillcrush. I really appreciated the “you’re not stupid, you can figure this out” encouragement and the non-judgemental space to ask questions. I was very intellectually engaged in the tutorials and started researching coding bootcamps, but didn’t feel that I was quite ready to take the plunge.
I also had begun to research in-person meetups in the Albuquerque tech community, and in late 2015, I found Girl Develop It. The best thing about the courses, besides also being geared towards women and being affordable, was the fact that they were in person. I needed the accountability of (1) a financial commitment and (2) people that would notice if I don’t show up. Thus, I thrived in my GDI classes. I started out by taking Intro to HTML and CSS, and quickly moved on to Intermediate HTML & CSS, as well as various courses in JavaScript, Git, Wordpress, and the command line. Courses were offered in the evenings and on the weekends, which made it feasible to attend while also balancing a full-time marketing job. The instructors were super supportive and emphasized that no question was stupid. The class sizes allowed for a fair amount of individualized attention, and my classmates ranged from uber-beginners like me to working developers looking to expand their skill sets. Many of the teachers and TAs were graduates of the Deep Dive Coding Bootcamp and encouraged me to explore the program. Girl Develop It also was my first foray into meeting some badass lady developers: women that I admired and became friends with (there were some great male students and teachers as well). The Albuquerque chapter is hosted in a wonderful coworking space called Fat Pipe ABQ, and using their facility was an extra perk, because it also provided networking opportunities with their various tenants.
By 2017, after two years of dabbling and taking Girl Develop It courses, I knew coding was the direction I wanted to go. I explored the possibility of attending a bootcamp outside of New Mexico, but the program cost and the cost of living (while not being able to work) was just not feasible. I researched funding options for the Deep Dive program, and after meeting with one of their advisors, decided to pursue TechHire funding. TechHire is a national program geared towards getting more people educated with in-demand IT skills. Depending on your age and where you’re located, you may qualify for funding as well! The stars were aligning for me to do the bootcamp. I decided to go all-in: I quit my job and enrolled in the Fullstack Web program from January-March, 2018.
Day-to-day life in the bootcamp was like drinking from a firehose of knowledge. At moments it was entirely overwhelming, but I also loved being challenged. A world of opportunity was opening up to me. Deep Dive also provided a fabulous support system of advisors and career coaches, facilitated by the fact that they are part of Central New Mexico Community College. In 2.5 months, I significantly expanded my knowledge base and built both a portfolio website (solo) and a functioning web app back-to-front, from scratch (with a team). One month after graduation from the program, I accepted a developer position at a local startup called RS21, and applied to be one of the organizers of Albuquerque’s Girl Develop It chapter.
Girl Develop It really paved the path for me to get into coding. The courses enabled me to explore my interests without too much risk, and that gave me the confidence to realize that I AM smart and I CAN figure things out. Especially if you come from a non-traditional background and maybe haven’t studied computer science, know that you bring value and a unique perspective to program solving and programming. You just have to be brave and get out of your own way. As Girl Develop It’s slogan states: don’t be shy, develop it!
