Jessica Wilkins joins the show to talk about her origin story coming from being a musician to building a passion project to promote diversity in classical music and how she got pulled into the tech industry by warm, friendly communities. We discuss a fun, approachable way to learn technology as we discuss Exercism, an online platform built to teach the joy of programming to everyone. (00:00) - Top 8 of Season 1: #7: "A fun, approachable way" (08:17) - Exercism (15:24) - FreeCodeCamp 🔗...

Carolina Lunardi Correa joins the show to talk about her origin story, from working as a supply chain professional to starting her first apprenticeship with Amazon! We discuss how she learned to code using leet code, and how life brings her joy. We also talk about what caused her to make the switch, how she used her current experience to slowly shift into product development from the business side and then finally getting a role as a software engineering apprentice. (00:00) - Top 8 of...

Kelly Vaughn joins the show to talk about her origin story, from learning html in neopets to doing freelancing, and eventually founding her own agency. More recently, Kelly has shifted to work as an Engineering Manager and now Engineering Director at Spot AI. We discuss how you have different levels of scope and responsibility depending on the size of the company you're working at and how changing the size of company you work at can be beneficial to your career and mental health. We dive into...

Mike Chen joins the show to talk about his origin story, from Medical School and Biotech Research to being a self-taught developer, Mike worked at bigger and bigger start-ups before landing jobs at Yahoo, Google, and AirBnB, before finding a home as the CTO of a start-up. We discuss the pros and cons of start-ups vs. larger tech companies and why people may work for one or the other. We also talk about the delight of developer tooling, particularly in the React space with Next.js and Remix...

Ale Thomas joins the show to talk about her origin story, from growing up in Mexico and getting a degree in industrial engineering to switching into a career she is passionate about in software engineering. We discuss some of the hardships that Ale went through in her career recently, and yet some of the insight and hope it has brought her for the future. We also chat about her amazing CSS art and how it brings her (and the rest of us!) joy. 🔗 Discussed Links Ale's Video about 2022Ale's CSS...

Curtis Einsmann joins the show to talk about his origin story, how he got into Amazon's internship, earned an SDE I position and after years at Amazon has broken out to start working freelance. We discuss what it was like to work at Amazon, how he dealt with imposter syndrome and the lessons he learned from Amazon that helps him now work asynchronously at Gumroad, where he's only had 4 meetings this year! 🔗 Discussed Links The Medium article that started it all: "Amazon shouldn't have hired...

Jennie Yip joins the show to talk about her origin story, from building Sailor Moon fan sites to helping lead the Design System at Atlassian as a Design Architect. We discuss how she got into design, her integrated passions for design and software engineering, and we dive deep into Design Systems and how they support the companies they are built for, and it's inevitable need for a rebuild. 🔗 Discussed Links Atlassian's Current Design System 🙋 Guest Links Jennie's WebsiteJennie's...

Ar'Niqua Colman joins the show to talk about her origin story, from working in higher education to diving into the world of programming, bootcamps, and #100Devs. We discuss how hard it can be while trying to learn how to program, and how important it is to take care of yourself throughout the journey. 🔗 Discussed Links 100 Devs with Leon 🙋 Guest Links Ar'Niqua's WebsiteAr'Niqua's TwitterAr'Niqua's LinkedInAr'Niqua's GitHub ❓Listener Survey If you have 3 minutes, take our short listener...

Carolina Lunardi Correa joins the show to talk about her origin story, from working as a supply chain professional to starting her first apprenticeship with Amazon! We discuss how she learned to code using leet code, and how life brings her joy. We also talk about what caused her to make the switch, how she used her current experience to slowly shift into product development from the business side and then finally getting a role as a software engineering apprentice. Discussed...

Sonia Moaiery joins the show to talk about her origin story, from working in product marketing in the the packaged goods food industry to working as a product marketing manager at companies like Glassdoor and Intercom. We discuss the differences between product marketing in and out of the tech industry, as well as what it is that keeps her interested this whole time. We talk about how she said she's never get a peloton, but she gave in as a mom during the pandemic, and now loves it! Discussed...

Clifford Fajardo joins the show to talk about his origin story, from studying social sciences and planning on a career like a lawyer, to going through a coding bootcamp. After leaving the coding bootcamp and being convinced to come back and finish it, he now works at LinkedIn! We discuss him failing the LinkedIn interview the first time before passing it when he returned a year later, and being open to how things come up and just seeing what happens as you build social connections. We also...

Melody joins the show to talk about her origin story, from working in the medical field on both humans and pets to jumping into learning development, in public, live, on Twitch! We discuss what pushed her to make the switch, the difficult and enjoyable parts of her journey. We also discuss her anxiety for public speaking and how going live on Twitch has helped her overcome it. 🔗 Discussed Links FreeCodeCampCodeAcademy100 Devs with Leon 🙋 Guest Links Melody's TwitterMelody's LinktreeMelody's...

Nicole Franq joins the show to talk about her origin story, from getting a business degree and doing hedge fund accounting to embracing creativity and becoming a designer. We discuss atomic principles and how the little choices, habits and experiences form into a larger part of who we are and where we want to go. We talk about how she mentors people and tries to provide the advice that she didn't have when starting out. Discussed Links Nicole's WebsiteNicole's TwitterNicole's YouTubeNicole's...

DJ Taylor joins the show to talk about his origin story, from being a music teacher to getting his first job as a programmer, and all about his learning journey along the way. We discuss how the learning never actually stops, no matter how long you've been in the career. We also talk about the power of community and connections and some of the personal connections that helped DJ find and make his way. Discussed Links The Collab LabDJ's WebsiteDJ's LinkedIn ❤️ Reviews If you could leave us a...

Rashel Hariri joins the show to talk about her origin story, from being attracted to the creativity of marketing at a young age to working in Marketing at McDonald's and Shopify, and now as a fractional CMO for tech start-ups as well as an entrepreneur making Chelle Body. We discuss how the journey of your career isn't always as clear, looking forward as it is at the end, looking back. We talk about the role of marketing in the tech industry and the similarities and differences from inside...

Rizel Scarlett joins the show to talk about her origin story, from pursuing a degree in Psychology to becoming a Developer Advocate at GitHub. We discuss the challenges getting into tech, particularly for people of color, and how non-inclusive environments can sometimes create the illusion of imposter syndrome, when it's really a lack of healthy workplace culture. We talk about how Rizel started G{Code} House to help carve a path for young women and non-binary people of color because of her...

Ollie joins the show to talk about his origin story, from working a lot of odd jobs like being a waiter, doing radio shows, and stand-up comedy to working as a go-to-marketer at Google Chrome and now at Replay. We discuss collaborative debugging, something that is becoming more popular and that Replay is working to make easy and enjoyable! We also chat about the biggest secret about Replay ... they employ wizards! Discussed Links ReplayOllie's Twitter: @OllieDeAlb

Amber joins the show to talk about her origin story, from studying economics and accounting to learning how to program, becoming a software engineer and now co-hosting the Glowing in Tech podcast. We discuss the challenges of getting into tech as a career switcher, and the 4 types of imposter syndrome. She shares about how she started interviewing for technical degrees and jobs too early, but what she learned from that journey. Discussed Links Coding Black FemalesGlowing in Tech's...

Bonnie Kate Wolf joins the show to talk about her origin story: how her love for making little drawings turned into eventually making icons for some of the biggest companies in tech, like Netflix! We discuss how she took the challenges of the job market in the COVID-19 pandemic and turned it into a benefit as she set out on her freelance journey. We talk about her adventures expanding to "large scale work" (80x80 pixels) and the joy she's found lately in oil painting and abstract art....

Anh-Tho joins the show to talk about her origin story, from working in fin-tech in Africa to starting her own start-up and having to pivot to find the right market fit for the company. We discuss the how to minimize regrets to enjoy life to it's fullest and how even embracing the things that are the scariest can help you live life the way it's meant to be. Discussed Links Lago (Anh-Tho's company)Anh-Tho's Twitter: @byAnhTho

April Bowler joins the show to talk about her origin story, from her first career and taking a break to raise her kids, to discovering that she was actually really interested in software development while helping her daughter plan for college. We discuss her journey learning to code and the encouragement and help she received along the way from the tech community around her. The challenges of debugging and the love/joy relationship developers have with their code. Finally, we talked about the...

Jay Miller joins the show to talk about their origin story, from dropping out of college and joining the military, to discovering military life wasn't for them, but the traveling was fun! How did they end up as a Cloud Advocate at Microsoft? We talk about that journey! We discuss productivity frameworks a bit, before chatting about making career moves based on what brings you joy. We also talk about bonding through more inclusive methods, like eating ice cream instead of going out to a bar....

Hussien Khayoon joins the show to talk about his origin story, from accidentally becoming a software engineer, to getting an internship at IBM before working in the start-up world for awhile before joining Shopify last year. We discuss getting into tech, and mentorship programs he’s been involved with. Discussed Links Hussien’s Twitter: @hussien_coding

Zack Jackson joins the show to talk about his origin story, from not doing well in high school, to teaching himself programming and becoming a core contributor to one of the most essential front-end development tools available: Webpack, as well as being a co-creator of Webpack Module Federation. We discuss the benefits of being involved in really technical work in open source, and the benefits it has on your day job. His passion for working on distributed architectures and how he accidentally...