We Belong Here: Lessons from Unconventional Paths to Tech

Latest Episodes:

36. Jerome Hardaway: Founder of Vets Who Code Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

Jerome Hardaway is a writer at Stack Overflow, an Instructor for Front End Masters, a Developer Advocate at QuickenLoans, and the founder and Executive Director of Vets Who Code.

As a writer and instructor, he focuses on those learning how to code and who are looking to get their first job as a Web Developer. As a Developer Advocate, he focuses on externally championing the company's tools while internally focusing on improving the culture. As an Executive Director of #VetsWhoCode, he focuses on training and gathering the resources so that veterans can become employed javascript developers, with a focus on Javascript and APIs.

After an injury, Jerome medically retired from the military. Throughout his time in the service, he was told that his skills would be highly valued. But the government happened to be on a hiring freeze when he got out and thus those skills felt worthless. The transition process felt broken and not designed to support him afterward.

He was determined to figure out his next steps but didn’t know where to begin or look. One day, he was on Facebook and noticed a commercial about coding. He happened to be at a bookstore and opened up a book on databases. A few months later, he landed his first role doing database analysis!

He says that it was the tech skills that he had taught himself that had landed him that first job as opposed to his years in the service. He then went on to work as a Digital Marketing Assistant and was asked to maintain the company’s website and to learn Ruby and some PHP to do just that.

After diving into the code and learning how to build within that tech stack, he realized the opportunity to teach veterans to code. He attended a coding program in New York and went on to found Vets Who Code, a 501(c)(3) Veteran Operated Non-Profit dedicated to training military veterans & giving them the skills they need to transition into tech careers.

Resources:

Vets Who Code: a 501(c)(3) #Veteran Operated Non-Profit dedicated to training military veterans & giving them the skills they need transition into #tech careers

Follow Jerome on Twitter: @JeromeHardaway

Follow VetsWhoCode on Twitter: @VetsWhoCode
Practical Dev @ dev.to
CSS Tricks - Serverless
Humane By Design
Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski
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Jennifer Brazer’s book From Cubicle to Cloud: How to Start and Scale a Virtual Professional Service Business

Shape and Foster lifestyle development app

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35. Caitlyn Greffly: Brewing Up a Career Change Jan 12, 2021

Show notes

On today’s episode, Lauren chats with Caitlyn Greffly, who made a bold career move in 2019 from selling beer to being a software engineer. She loves the work and is passionate about writing about it, talking about it, and encouraging others to make their own bold career changes.

Caitlyn studied Psychology in college, but after graduating, she found a job working at a beer bar, which led her to spend 7 years within the beer industry doing mostly sales. She became pretty fascinated by beer itself but wasn’t passionate about selling it.

She jokes that ‘All of her big decisions in life were accidents’ - but in a good way! She became curious about data analytics and began to explore new opportunities and coding bootcamps. She is a person who takes big leaps and decided to go all-in on learning to code and the rest is history.

She landed her first role out of her bootcamp pretty quickly and now is a software engineer at Zapproved. She quickly discovered how important it is to find a company with a safe learning environment and a good work-life balance. She now spends a lot of her time dedicated to helping career transitioners and supporting junior developers by sharing her experience. She encourages companies to look outside their traditional hiring pools to search for diverse candidates and is passionate about providing tools and resources for teams about how to support those new teammates.

Caitlyn shares advice and wisdom for those curious to do as she did and take the leap of faith into the tech industry! Give a listen.

Resources:

Find Caitlyn on Twitter @thecaitcode

Caitlyn’s website

Jennifer Brazer’s book From Cubicle to Cloud: How to Start and Scale a Virtual Professional Service Business (11:05)

Dan Moore’s book Letters To A New Developer: What I Wish I Had Known When Starting My Development Career(28:10)

Coupon code: WeBelongHere for 20% off on Apress.com

We Belong Here Podcast:

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34. Jonan Scheffler: On the Value of Authentic Relationships in Tech Jan 04, 2021

Show notes

Today Lauren chats with Jonan Scheffler, who had over 40 jobs before entering the tech industry. He loved tech growing up but wasn't wildly intrigued or inspired by his CS classes and thus wasn’t interested in pursuing it as a career. He dabbled in various roles such as factory work, car sales, but eventually became a poker dealer on the Oregon coast.

When he began searching for roles in tech, he googled who was being paid the most and decided he wanted to become a Ruby developer. He then took the massive leap of faith, moved his family across the country, and attended a coding program called Hungry Academy. He fell in love with Ruby as a language then and has stayed passionate about the community to this day.

Jonan had faced some burn out in the realm of DevRel but has since returned and today is the Director of Developer Relations at New Relic. Lauren and Jonan chat about the world of Developer Relations and the disingenuine sales-pitches that can sometimes occur when someone doesn’t prioritize their developer communities. Throughout the conversation, it is evident how passionate Jonan is about creating authentic relationships and how excited he is to launch a new Dev Rel team at New Relic.

They discuss how the other roles Jonan has had helps him today in his role in tech. Being a career changer informs his perspective. He shares advice, wisdom, and calls out to those looking to transition into tech directly, and encourages them to do it and take the leap into the unknown and pursue tech as a career. This episode is packed with resources, recommendations, and tips; it is not one to miss!
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"Humans are different in complementary and beautiful ways. And to the extent that we are able to get more people with more interesting backgrounds in technology, we make technology better for everyone.

We need you here.

We want to support you.

It's hard to remember that when you're out there sending resume after resume into the void.

But hang in there; the world needs you.

We need you in Tech.

I'm really glad you're here.

Please, keep it up."

-- Jonan Scheffler

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Resources:

Follow Jonan on Twitter @thejonanshow

Jonan’s GitHub

Learn to Program by Chris Pine

Free Code Camp

Bit Project

Sandi Metz’s Practical Object-Oriented Design
We Belong Here Podcast:

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WeBelongPodcast.com website

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LoLoCoding.com

33. Reyhaneh Blackman: From Finance to Founder Dec 29, 2020

Show notes

Today Lauren chats with Reyhaneh Blackman, who emigrated from Iran to the US when she was 12 years old. She didn’t know English and had to teach herself the language and culture at an incredibly formative time in her life. She studied English in college and her first career was in journalism. After that, she went on to get a Master's in international finance and economics and became an investment banker. And today, she’s gone on to found a tech company, Media Scout, a video analytics platform, and has since taught herself to code!

She attributes the ability to be flexible, code switch, and wear many hats to learning to adapt to new situations and environments as a kid.

We talk about her journey and Reyhaneh shares how all of the lessons she learned along the way have helped to get her where she is today.

Resources:

Find Reyhaneh online @rey_blackman

ProductPair.co

We Belong Here Podcast:

Follow Lauren on Twitter @LoLoCoding

WeBelongPodcast.com website

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32. PeterJohn Hunt: How to Convince Employers to Take the “Risk” on You Dec 14, 2020

Show notes

On today’s episode of We Belong Here, Lauren interviews PeterJohn Hunt. Who tells the story of how he went from convincing his first job to take a risk on someone who had literally zero formal education to becoming the Chief Technology Officer at Useful Group in Chicago.

About PeterJohn Hunt:

PeterJohn Lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife and children. He’s a self-proclaimed web developer and problem solver. He likes to bring the nitty-gritty of the technical world to people in an intuitive, analytical, and efficient way. Using his IT, networking, and programming background, he builds beautiful websites for people and businesses – from startups and local restaurants to large corporations and Fortune 500 companies. He believes every problem has a solution and loves the thrill of learning or building something new!

PeterJohn Hunt is 1 of 9 children and was homeschooled throughout his educational career. He was interested in tech but didn’t have access to the traditional educational tools to learn it. He didn’t love the traditional parts of academia and thus was not ever curious about pursuing a college degree.
After high school, coding wasn’t of interest to him as the stereotype of being a coder looked unappealing and tedious. So instead, he found a glorified internship skimming log files. Ultimately he became curious about automating that process, which ultimately was his introduction to coding in that he experimented with writing Python scripts to make his job go faster. Once he was able to see the value and application of learning technical skills, he became passionate about teaching himself and helping others solve real-world problems with code.

It was then that he started knocking on doors, trying to convince employers to hire him as a software developer. He was looking for someone to take a risk on him and believe in his problem-solving abilities, even though he did not have a formal education in the subject, nor did he have much experience in coding. He promised a small agency that it would only take 4 weeks of online learning, and he would perform for them. And it worked! They took the leap of faith and hired him.

Today, as someone in charge of hiring for Useful Group, he looks for those who have that same fire inside of them. He searches for candidates who can demonstrate self-owned learning and are curious to approach problems in an out-of-the-box manner.

Resources:

Useful Group in Chicago

Follow PeterJohn on Twitter @PeterJohnHunt

PeterJohn’s website

We Belong Here Podcast:

Follow Lauren on Twitter @LoLoCoding

WeBelongPodcast.com website

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LoLoCoding.com

31. Gant Laborde: Making it All Add Up - My Journey to Chief Innovation Officer Nov 22, 2020

Show notes

In this episode of We Belong Here, Lauren interviews Gant Laborde. They talk about how Gant was, in fact, “really bad” at computers when he was a kid. His light bulb moment was when his neighbor showed him how to make his computer *talk back* to him and say, “Hey Gant,” instead of “Hello World.” Books and learning resources were not available to him. So instead, he had to learn by breaking things. Gant had many limitations working against him: he always had the oldest computer and was pretty bad at math. But he refused to give up on his goals and dreams.

Eventually, he did enroll in a Computer Science program but found it damaging in that it was painfully uninteresting or inspiring. However, he stuck with it and discovered the value in pursuing roles that challenged him to think beyond the basic execution of a problem and actively welcomed his unique perspective to the job.

Lauren and Gant chat about burnout and how the industry can sometimes beat the passion out of you in the industry. Open Source was the thing to reignite his love for the community and the tech industry itself.

Today, as the Chief Innovation Officer at Infinite Red, he gets to go out into the wild and research cool things and bring that learning back to the company and essentially functions as a mad scientist for them! He shares loads of wisdom and advice for the listener who might be curious to break into tech. This is not an episode to miss!

Resources:

Follow Gant’s adventures at GantLaborde.com

Gant on Twitter: @GantLaborde

Two Minute Papers

Infinite Red
We Belong Here Podcast:

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30. Kelly Mahoney: How Hackathons Can Unlock a Path to Tech Sep 27, 2020

Show notes

Kelly Mahoney is both a Digital Artist and Product Manager who got into design through hackathons - of which, she’s attended over 60 so far!

She has her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religious Studies, in which she focused on cultural appropriation and East Asian religions. And she’s currently a graduate student at Florida International University pursuing an MBA in International Business.

In today’s conversation, Kelly and I dive into her background in nursing and how it has helped her in her role in Product today. We discuss gatekeepers, the power of community, and Kelly shares advice on taking risks and pursuing your dreams.

She’s the creator of SoSplush, a kawaii-themed tech brand, that sells stickers and other swag. She believes that tech is for everyone and that it can be cute and pink. She’s currently accepting commissions and is available for design consulting work. Be sure to check out her Etsy shop today!

Resources:

SoSpulsh Etsy Store

Follow Kelly on Twitter @SoSplush

We Belong Here Podcast:

Follow Lauren on Twitter @LoLoCoding

WeBelongPodcast.com website

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LoLoCoding.com

29. Jayson J. Phillips, Degree of Self Learning, “University of Barnes and Noble” Sep 04, 2020

Show notes

Today’s guest on We Belong Here, Jayson J. Phillips, got his start in tech only after he dropped majoring in Computer Science and Math. In school, Jayson found the coursework boring, uninteresting, and truly hated Cal 3! But when he was working at Scratch DJ Academy, he began managing their website only to discover that the real-world applications of tech can in fact be super creative and compelling.

He went on to do agency work and continued to learn on the job. He candidly likes to say that he went to the “University of Barnes and Noble” in that he would always dedicate some of his paychecks to new books on the technical topics he was most curious about learning.

Today, he is the Director of Engineering for Bootcamp Academic Platforms at 2U Inc. Our conversation today explores the importance of teaching, giving back, and encouraging others as they embark on their journey of learning to code.

We acknowledge how many coding boot camps there are out there. And so Jayson's advice for those considering a boot camp is to know both:

what you want to do
what environment you learn best in

And then after knowing those two things, to dive into the research and to ask all of the possible questions to hopefully find the best fit.

When researching boot camps, Jayson suggests that you evaluate:

their instructors
how they treat their alumni and teacher assistants
the structure of their payment plans
the prework plan that is provided to prepare for their application

And to use LinkedIn as a resource to connect with alumni and instructors.

Jayson goes on to give loads of advice for those curious about entering the tech industry. This episode is packed with thoughtful and encouraging words of motivation - it is NOT one to miss!

Resources:

Jayson’s website

Twitter: @_jjphillips

Twitch channel: its_jay_phillz #pullupandcode

Instagram: jay.phillz

2U Inc

Media Developer Experts @ Cloudinary

Code2040
We Belong Here Podcast:

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WeBelongPodcast.com website

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28. Tim Benniks: From Music & Nursing to Director of Web Development Jun 28, 2020

Show notes

Today Lauren chats with Tim Benniks, who is the Director of Web Development at a global digital agency, Valtech.

Growing up, Tim’s passion was music. And he pursued it until deciding to train to become a nurse. Tim is personable and empathetic and felt that nursing was the right fit but eventually dropped out of his nursing program when the healthcare system in The Netherlands dramatically changed. He discovered then that he wanted to be able to do creative things and began tinkering and building websites on the side. Eventually, he decided to join an ad agency, which led him to Paris, where he worked with L’Oreal and helped guide their e-commerce and online brand presence.

In today’s episode, Tim shares his philosophy on the importance of having patience in the workplace and encourages listeners to know what motivates them before seeking their next promotion.

Resources:

Join us LIVE on Twitch for the next #WeBelongHere interview twitch.tv/LoLoCoding

Valtech’s Tech Girl Event

Tim’s Website

Tim’s YouTube Channel

The Culture Map by Erin Myer
We Belong Here Podcast:

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LoLoCoding.com

27. Bryan Robinson: From Philosophy to Designer, Developer & Teacher May 16, 2020

Show notes

Today, Bryan shares with Lauren his journey from studying philosophy and working in journalism to becoming a designer, developer, educator, and community advocate.

In college, he fell in love with philosophy, deep thinking, aesthetics, and the nature of beauty and art. He’s passionate about discourse and dialogue and contemplates their intersectionality within tech today.

After college, Bryan worked for a local newspaper as a copy editor. He was deeply ahead of his time with visions of taking the news and engaging with readers online.

He began to teach himself some basic CSS, HTML, and Javascript while working with the Newspaper’s online content. He soon became proficient as a developer and went on to run and manage the development team at a web agency in Memphis, TN.

Today, Bryan runs his startup, Code Contemporary, where he advocates for the technologies he’s most passionate about. He loves education and learning and loves to help people who are new to tech and are curious to learn more.

In this episode, Bryan shares advice for those curious to break into the tech industry. He encourages beginners to build what you’re curious about or need in your life. To deepen your understanding of those new concepts, Bryan suggests you teach others how to do so! When it comes to the web, he believes that we should be producers as well as consumers. We spend time discussing Linguistic Relativism and how we must stop associating tech only with business as there is a great benefit to perceiving tech as a hobby and curious DIY pursuit. And thus, he encourages every listener to tinker and play with HTML and CSS and to explore web development as hobbyists without the pressure of becoming professional software engineers. Bryan believes that through teaching we learn and so he encourages everyone who is learning to code to teach their friends how to do so as well!

Resources:

Bryan’s Practical CSS Course with 50% discount code “WEBELONGHERE”

Find Bryan:

Twitter: @brob

Youtube: Bryan Robinson

Twitch: @bryanlrobinson

Blog: bryanlrobinson.com

Russian Blues:

First study: https://www.pnas.org/content/104/19/7780

Second study: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797618782181

Article about both studies: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-language-affects-what-we-see/
We Belong Here Podcast: