Character Decoding: An Interview with Jaime Gunther of Envato
We interview Junior Developers to show the world their awesomeness. In our second interview we chat with Jaime Gunther, a Software Apprentice at Envato.
Tell us about your journey into technology?
My journey into tech began as a result of my not enjoying my job at the time and a need for a bit of a challenge. Coding seemed a bit trendy to me at the time and I thought I’d give it a go. I speak a few languages and figured it would be like learning a new one. There are plenty of really great free online courses out there perfect for beginners and so I started with HTML, CSS and after gaining a bit of confidence, dove into JavaScript. It was amazing. I found myself looking for any spare time I had to code and it eventually dawned on me that this was something I should take more seriously. Having discovered this passion a bit later in life, at a point where I had a mortgage and 2 kids, it wasn’t likely that I was going to go back to university, so that’s when I started looking into the bootcamps on offer and eventually why I joined General Assembly for their Web Immersive Program.
What happened between graduating GA and landing the role at Envato?
The developer community has been very welcoming from the get go. Everyone I have met on my journey has been wonderfully supportive and encouraging. During my course at GA, I met a variety of incredible people in the industry who helped guide me. Prior to graduating I was offered a position at an awesome startup and I was super excited. I ended up turning that down because I felt like at that stage of my development, I was still very green and needed more mentorship, that perhaps a more established company would be able to offer. I realised it was a bit of a risk but I felt strongly about what I needed to make sure I stayed on course.
I made it quite far in the interview process with another great company but in the end didn’t make the cut, as I was still a bit too junior. I ended up getting a great job at an consultancy and really enjoyed my time there, which included learning a bit of Java! But in the end, the opportunity to apply for the new apprenticeship role at Envato came up and it was something I absolutely couldn’t pass up. It really was serendipitous because it fit perfectly for where I was in my budding career as a dev and was exactly what I had been looking for. In the end I was fortunate enough to get the position!
What’s Envato like and what does your day to day look like?
Envato is a marketplace of digital assets focused on helping the creative community succeed and make a living doing something they love! They are values driven and focused on community, entrepreneurship, diversity, and integrity. And I can quite genuinely confirm this. In line with these views, the Apprenticeship program was created to pull more women into the industry and foster diversity from the ground up. Encouraging and helping women at a junior level helps grow the community.
My team consists of 2 apprentices and we have a senior developer mentor that stays with us during our whole experience. We join different teams for 6 weeks at a time and fully integrate into their day to day. This involves attending meetings, getting involved in discussions, pairing with other developers, and helping tackle some of their problems. It’s a holistic look at what it is to be a developer. Which involves a lot more than just writing code!
What are the benefits of being in the Apprenticeship program?
I love that I can continue to learn but in a real world setting. The problems we look at, are relevant to the team and company and being a part of that and helping is a great feeling. Plus it’s a rare opportunity to be able to move amongst teams so frequently, so we’re getting a really good perspective on the company as a whole and seeing many different team dynamics and processes. Having a mentor guide you through the process and explain things along the way is a real advantage. If there is an area that really has us stumped, we can take the time off to really dig into it and gain a better understanding.
What’s a hurdle you’ve had to overcome?
I suppose one of the hurdles I’ve had to overcome is the reality of meetings. As previously mentioned, there is more to being a dev than just writing code, and meetings are a big part of that. But I’ve come to terms with them, as they are important for communicating within a team, consisting of a variety of different roles. Especially from a juniors/apprentice perspective they give you different angles to the problems being solved and a better understanding of why you’re writing the code.
What inspires you about the tech industry at large?
Of course my journey is my own and not indicative of the industry as a whole but thus far in my experience, as a woman — the community has been overwhelmingly supportive and encouraging. I’ve met many other women developers at all proficiency levels and others that I follow on social media. It’s encouraging to see myself in others and know what’s possible and how much they have achieved. It’s also great to see the growing junior developer community and the increasing number of outlets for learning, sharing and connecting with each other. I haven’t seen this kind of support of one and other in other industries — particularly at a junior level.
What change would you like to see in the industry?
I think juniors are an undervalued resource for some companies. Granted they are a bit of an investment from the start but they add a fresh perspective, question more and are often (hopefully) really keen to learn and help out. From a diversity perspective I think it’s important to encourage and promote junior women within the industry as a means of eventually increasing the pool of skilled senior women developers.
What areas are you focusing on learning?
My focus for next year is to further solidify my understanding of the basics — JS and Ruby. But as an addendum, I’m keen to learn more about Event Sourcing/CQRS (which I delved into recently) and I’ve an interest in Deep Learning and Hacking/Security. Lol — to be honest, being so new to everything, it all looks amazing so I’d say I’m more at the stage of checking things out and learning a bit here and there until something really just pulls me in.
What’s an epic win you’ve had?
My epic win in all honesty is having got this job at Envato. It’s been an amazing opportunity and everyday is a challenge to further my skills as a developer. I had been searching so long for a career and a job that I genuinely love and am happy to get up and go to every day. Sounds a bit cheesy sure, but I feel that work consumes so much of your time that if you are lucky enough to find fulfilment doing it than you are on the right path.
After a day of coding, how do you unwind?
I really enjoy cooking but now having two kids — I don’t get to experiment as much as I’d like! And so if I’m not falling asleep at 7pm after the craziness that is family life, than a glass of wine and some terrible tv suits me just fine.
Jaime’s Twitter: @lupeman
Thank you for chatting Jaime! An awesome journey so far and so much more to come. Please show your appreciation for Jaime with claps below and look out for our next interview in the Character Decoding series! Thanks for reading, cheers, from the JuniorDev crew.
