CodeNewbie

Latest Episodes:

S26:E6 - Embracing Rest for Productivity (Ronesha Dennis) Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

Saron chats with Ronesha Dennis, Founder and Lead Engineer at Bergeron-Woodley. Ronesha talks about growing up and how tech played a role in her childhood (her first website was a fan site for Lil Bow Wow). She talks about how she ended up in another career for 5 years until she sat down and thought about things she liked doing as a child without being paid for doing those things. This led her to want to get into tech. She decided to leave her job, move back with her parents, and do an 8-week program on Ruby on Rails. She then did a fellowship with Code for Progress. After graduating, she landed a job as a consultant then advanced to an Engineer, a Senior Engineer, and finally to managing other Engineers. She has authored coding books and she has her company building applications for nonprofits and other small businesses. Ronesha speaks on the mental health break she took after making the switch to tech and how important it is to give yourself space and time to take breaks after a career transition.

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Ronesha Dennis

Ronesha D. Dennis is a software engineer and coding instructor. She is the author of a coding book series for children titled Coding with Cornell, and a coding book for young adult and adult beginners titled Python, the Relatable Way.

S26:E5 - Exploring the Path from Medicine to a Tech Career (Shona Chan) Nov 29, 2023

Show notes

Saron speaks with Shona Chan this week about her experience navigating the world of software following a successful career as a doctor in the field of Anaesthesia. Shona shares her experience working in the medical field for 10 years until she decided she wanted to pivot into tech. Shona talks about how she made the decision to go to a bootcamp to learn to code and how she got her first job in tech. Finally, she talks about transferable skills from her medical career to her newfound tech career and reiterates how there are so many skills career transitioners can take from one career to another.

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Shona Chan

Shona Chan is a doctor and software engineer, focused on enhancing healthcare through technology. Before Shona discovered coding, she worked in the field of Anaesthesia in the UK. She started learning to code so that she could build an app for her workplace. She couldn't ignore this newfound interest and so enrolled herself in Le Wagon's Web Dev Bootcamp to develop her skills.

S26:E4 - The Ins and Outs of LinkedIn (Laura Thorson) Nov 22, 2023

Show notes

Saron chats with Laura Thorson, Program Manager at GitHub. Laura talks about how she was always interested in singing, dancing and music growing up which led her to UCLA on a scholarship to play the oboe. She tells us about her experience at UCLA and her decision to go to a coding bootcamp after graduation as opposed to searching for a job with her English Lit degree. Laura then describes the jobs she landed after bootcamp at Salesforce, Twitter, Meta and now GitHub and how LinkedIn played a huge role in helping her land these opportunities.

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Laura Thorson

Laura Thorson is a program manager, former engineer and design enthusiast who loves developing technical programs and scaling them for optimal impact. Currently, she manages GitHub's third-party, community global sponsorship presence and the Speaker Bureau program. In her spare time, she can be found watercoloring at the beach with her husband and son in sunny Southern California.

S26:E3 - Learning to Code with a Full-Time Job (Beau Carnes) Nov 15, 2023

Show notes

In this week’s episode, Saron chats with Beau Carnes, Director of Technology Education at freeCodeCamp. Beau shares insights into his career trajectory, which began in television and digital media production. After gaining initial experience in this industry, he transitioned to work in education as a teacher. Beau speaks on his experiences within both these professions and speaks on his decision to venture into technology, establishing himself as a proficient software developer. During this conversation, Beau shares his reasoning for getting three degrees, finding the motivation to learn to code while balancing the demands of a full-time job, and sending out cold emails for his first job in tech.

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Beau Carnes

Beau is a software developer and teacher. He manages the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel and creates many resources to help people learn software development.

S26:E2 - Freelancing While Homeschooling (Sarah Greer) Nov 08, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Saron chats with Lead Web Developer, Sarah Greer. Sarah talks about her coding journey and how she juggled her passion for coding through freelancing while homeschooling her children. Sarah talks about why it was so important to her to learn to code and to have a career outside of having the title of “mom”. She also shares her experience going from freelancing to working full-time and the reasoning behind the switch.

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Sarah Greer

Sarah was a freelance developer for 9 years, working mostly at night while homeschooling her kids. She’s now working in her dream job as the lead web developer for a growing marketing company.

S26:E1 - Make Your Accomplishments Visible (Camille Eddy) Nov 01, 2023

Show notes

This week, Saron talks with Camille Eddy, Technical Product Manager. Camille talks about her life growing up as a Pastor’s child, how she started and grew her business, and when she first found her passion for tech. Camille also shares her experience overcoming a fear of public speaking, and why it enabled her not only to travel the world but also land internships at companies like Google X, NVIDIA, and HP Labs all before graduating. Saron also talks to Camille about when she was asked to introduce President Obama. Camille concludes with principles she would lead with if she was a career transitioner looking to start her career in tech today.

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Camille Eddy

Camille is a Technical Project/Product Manager with experience working in robotics and with SaaS products. She previously interned at Google X, NVIDIA, and HP Labs before graduating with a Mechanical Engineering degree in 2020.

S25:E8 - Empowering Developers of All Abilities (Judith Lung) Oct 04, 2023

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Saron chats with Judith Lung, Software Engineer at LinkedIn. Judith shares how she found herself in tech after initially getting her masters in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling. Judith talks about her experience learning to code as someone who is blind and the changes she aims to make in the tech space to aid in the progression of tech accessibility.

Judith Lung

Judith is an accessibility engineer with a background in English, rehabilitation counseling, and assistive technology. She is passionate about using technology to create inclusive experiences and opportunities for people of all abilities.

S25:E7 - Overcoming Fears and Pursuing Passions (Stefi Rosca) Sep 27, 2023

Show notes

Saron chats with Stefi Rosca, Frontend Engineer at Typeform. Stefi talks about their path to breaking into tech in their later twenties after having a fulfilling career in marketing. They also talk about the communities they joined to help motivate and encourage them along the way and how they leveled up in the tech space.

Stefi Rosca

👩‍💻 Frontend Developer, 🌍 Traveler and ⛷️ Skier Stefi Rosca is from Romania and currently lives in Barcelona. They are a specialty coffee lover, skier, traveler, wannabe triathlete, and someone who might spend too much time watching YouTube videos.

S25:E6 - Big Tech: What They Say vs. What They Mean (Rachel Lee Nabors) Sep 20, 2023

Show notes

Saron sits down with Rachel Nabors again. They talk about what Rachel has been up to since they were last on the show in 2017, the inside scoop of Big Tech, and Rachel’s experience working for organizations such as Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft. You’ll also hear why Rachel has decided their next chapter will be at a startup and what they are hoping for in their future.

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Rachel Lee Nabors

Rachel Nabors lives to teach the world to code so others may create a future we can all believe in. They spearheaded the new React and React Native docs at react.dev and reactnative.dev and are consulting in this space after leading developer education at AWS Amplify.

S25:E5 - Mastering Leadership (Brian Jenney) Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Saron sits down with Brian Jenney, Senior Software Engineering Manager at Clorox. Saron talks to Brian about his struggles with addiction, how he changed his life and turned a new leaf with coding and sobriety, and how his go-getter personality has served him well and continues to play a role in his current success. They also talk about what being a leader looks like and the ways in which you can become a leader regardless of the challenges life throws at you.

Brian Jenney

Brian is a software engineering manager who transitioned into tech at 30. He is a JavaScript enthusiast who enjoys teaching and mentoring others and runs a business teaching others how to code and accelerate their developer careers.