Daisy was our first feature on Codebar Stories back in March 2019. So we decided it was time to catch up with her again!

What’s changed since your original story post?

Since the last post I have completed a UX Design apprenticeship at 8th Light (yes I am still there, and just celebrated my 8 year anniversary!), and have progressed to becoming a Lead Designer at the company. I still do some occasional Front End development, but most of my time is spent researching and solving design problems for a variety of users across multiple client projects.

What have you learnt in the last 5 years?

I have learnt so much about the Design Process and how to apply it differently to different client projects due to their needs. User Experience is not just about serving the end users of your software product, but also considering the needs of your business stakeholders and developer colleagues. Finding the right solution is highly collaborative (fun!), requires a lot of communication, and oftentimes compromises. I love being able to interact with people from all different walks of life (from patients awaiting genetic diagnoses, to sports tournament operators trying to build the perfect schedule, to agriculture merchandisers buying and selling futures contracts for corn and soybeans), understanding their aspirations and concerns and exploring ways to serve them.

What advice would you give yourself 4 years ago?

When I get into something, I get really excited about all the details. I have learnt that clients often don’t care about all these details. It’s often important to bring your clients along on why you’re doing what you’re doing, and why it is important, but give them the “tldr” version, and consider what they find compelling. If they’re a business person speak to the business case, if they’re a product owner speak to efficiency, and if they’re a developer speak to feasibility. Learning how to translate your work to different clients can save a lot of time and effort.

What do you wish you knew 4 years ago?

It is important to take breaks so that you can have the mental capacity for creativity! There is a lot to learn with any new project, and often a lot of ambiguity in the research phase — this can be sometimes overwhelming. However ultimately your first idea is not your best idea, so you need room to consider and explore many possible solutions. In order to not get “stuck”, and to enjoy your work more, its important to take breaks. Taking a break might be literal, like going to make a cuppa or taking an actual holiday. Sometimes it might mean focussing on another activity for a while so that your brain can unconsciously catch up, and revisiting ideation later. Sometimes you take a “break” by sharing the work with others — more eyes on the problem and more brain power on the solution leads to a better result — both for your design and for your own enjoyment.

Where are they now? Daisy Mølving was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Amber is a long-standing codebar member who first became involved in July 2016! She started as a student, then started organising the Brighton chapter before moving to Berlin and getting involved in that chapter. We originally featured her story in 2018! We caught up with her again recently to find out what has changed in the last 6 years!

1. What’s changed since your original story post?

I don’t do so much community stuff anymore. It really began to wind down for me over the covid period, and then I began working from home and had a lot less contact with people in the office, and then I became a mum. I was still involved in codebar remotely for a while, but not too much. I officially resigned as a codebar organiser at the end of 2023. I would like to get back into community stuff and blogging, but currently my family life is a bit too demanding — with a small toddler to take care of!

2. What have you learnt in the last 4 years?

I have learned a lot! The thing that accelerated my learning the most is having the opportunity to work in different sorts of teams and companies. This allows me to compare what worked best and what didn’t work so well. I think it’s given me a good intuition on how to work well in different sorts of teams.

3. What advice would you give yourself 4 years ago?

Keep learning, keep your web development knowledge up. If you feel like doing a side project — try to find time to do it. Doing your own side projects from scratch where you are responsible for all parts of a website really helps you to keep your web dev skills sharp. For example, at work I don’t touch the CSS code too often. On side projects, I’m responsible for 100% of the CSS! My latest side project taught me a bunch of new CSS things, and I’m grateful for that.

4. What do you wish you knew 4 years ago?

That even though my life was about to change quite a lot (covid, having a baby, and economic pressure meaning less jobs), that the one thing that would remain constant and reliable was the support from my colleagues and the tech community!

You can find Amber on the internet at:

@ambrwlsn90 | Website

Where are they now? Amber Wilson was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Kim is a longstanding member of codebar, joining in 2017, and originally told her story all the way back in September 2019! A lot has changed since then so we caught up with her again to find out what she is doing now.

You can find Kim on the Internet here: LinkedIn and Flourish in Tech

1. What’s changed since your original story post?
Since September 2019, I have taken a squiggly path through tech. I started off at M&G Plc as an Associate Software Engineer on the Front Office team and then I hopped over to Trainline as a C# / Backend Software Engineer for the Payments API team. Shortly after that role, I became a Tech Coach at Tech Returners. I was drawn to Tech Returners’ mission to address underrepresentation of women in tech, as well as individuals who had taken a career break due to caring responsibilities and other reasons to return back into tech through support and programmes to refresh their skills, rebuild their confidence and reignite their careers in technology. While I was there, I designed, developed and delivered a Software Engineering training curriculum for mid-level Software Engineers to upskill in Software Engineering and Backend fundamentals for Java and C#.

I was a Tech Coach for about a year and a half and I joined Butternut Box, a fresh dog food subscription in June 2022 where I have been a Software Engineer in the Platform Operations team ever since! It’s been awesome to be able to work on a product that dogs absolutely adore and be part of the technology team that enables this to happen. I also happen to change tech stacks (again)! I now work with Ruby-on-Rails most of the time, but I still do have a soft spot for C#.

Over the years, I have also been improving my public speaking skills, by doing panels and talks at conferences and delivering workshops. My favourite was working with The National Museum of Computing on their Young Women in STEM day on a 30 minute in-person interactive machine learning workshop and tech career Q&A session for 11–16 year old students. I now co-run Curiously Code which is a technical skills community for social mobility in tech for curious people who want to code, learn, grow and empower based in Exeter and we hope to do online events soon!

Alongside being a Software Engineer, I am also a Career Change & Personal Development Coach and am working on my Accredited Level 5 Positive Psychology Practitioner & Coaching certification. I write blogs and share curious moments in the world of Career Changing & Personal Development. I help career adventurers to take control, grow and achieve their career transformation through personal development and mindset coaching energised by Positive Psychology.

2. What have you learnt in the last 4 years?
The above is a quick career snapshot, so I couldn’t include everything, but one thing is for sure, I love to learn and try new things. In my tech career, I have fortunately been able to move around different programming languages and technology stacks and this has given me a great foundation for building software in different industries.

For me, a career is more than a job title or seniority-level, it’s about building an impact, whilst recognising that there are things beyond a career that can be a source of joy and fulfilment. I have learnt a lot about myself, my values and built confidence in being my authentic self. I have let go of the need to strive for the ‘next step of the linear career ladder’, or the ‘next job title or accolade’ and instead, I’m now focused on growing outwards and laterally in both my career and lifestyle beyond technology. Whilst at the beginning, I felt some pressures around comparing myself to others and feeling like I had to ‘smash it’ as a woman in technology role model; I realised that the go-go-go career mentality was not sustainable for me and didn’t give me the lifestyle I wanted. This made me take a step back on what I wanted in life. I may never be a Forbes 30 under 30, or a multi-exit entrepreneur, but I have a good work-life blend and I can go to sleep feeling refreshed and not stressed everyday with a massive to-do list.

I have come to the conclusion that I no longer want to build a startup that I had desired 10 years ago; as I am content with working towards building a portfolio career where I get to spend some of my week being a Software Engineer and technologist and other parts of my week being a career change and personal development coach, living my life in a simple way, spending quality time with family and friends, cooking and doing my arts & crafts.

3. What advice would you give yourself 4 years ago?
One advice I would give to myself is it’s ok to try different roles in technology. For example, the time I spent taking a break from being a full-time Software Engineer and being a tech coach helped me develop skills in coaching, technical writing, curriculum design and public speaking. Also, there are so many roles in technology that haven’t had as much coverage and awareness as Software Engineering, such as DevOps, security, AI ethics and policy, law, product management, solutions engineering and architecture to name a few, but are just as impactful. This is especially in light of the impact of AI where it’s now more important than ever for people from non-traditional backgrounds to be involved in decision-making and policy-making around technology and its impact on society and the environment.

4. What do you wish you knew 4 years ago?
Recently, I became a Dream Maker as part of The Humble Penny’s Financial Joy Academy and community. Their concept of Financial Joy really resonated with me as it combines wellbeing, purpose and money. Upon reflection, I think it is absolutely ok to acknowledge that one of the factors of a tech career being an attractive option for me and many other people is the money and this of course ebbs and flows through time. I always hear people say ‘money isn’t everything’; but I disagree here as I think it depends on the context of someone’s life journey. As a person who came from an underprivileged background, I still get anxious whenever the topic of money comes up, because it opens a lot of feelings about self-worth and shame. I am getting better at improving my money mindset nowadays. Being able to stress less about my finances has enabled me the headspace to explore my creativity and new opportunities. I think money is also subjective according to someone’s goals and lifestyle. For me personally, if I can earn money by utilising my best skills in some way, whilst being able to do good with it, and have a healthy and simple lifestyle in body and in mind, that is enough for me. Also, my advice to other people is you don’t have to be a child prodigy or computer whizz to have a successful tech career; you may have skills from other roles and industries that can be invaluable for building products and organisations of the future. I also think it is sensible to grow skills outside of technology, keep an open-mind; and adapt to changes in the industry and don’t rely on one opportunity or career decision to fill your happiness.

Where are they now? Kim Diep was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Zaira is a junior engineer at World Remit, she joined the codebar community in October 2018 before completing Makers Bootcamp. She then started her career at Farmdrop.

You can find Zaira on the internet at:

Instagram | LinkedIn

1. What did you want to be growing up?

A lawyer………I’m not sure that was my own aspiration, ha! My dad worked in technology so I was really resistant to it as a teenager but I finally saw the light in adult life.

2) When did your interest in tech start?

About 3 years ago. I had been working for 7 years running community grassroots projects especially around sustainability and reconnecting marginalised communities to nature. In essence, a lot of people in this sector were very resistant to technology, and so was I for a while. Then I realised how powerful it is as a tool of transformation — both to help solve social problems but also as one of the quickest ways around for someone to change their life path.

3) How did you make the transition to being a developer?

I was lucky enough to get on to a scholarship programme at Makers Academy.

4) What was your first development job?

Junior Backend Engineer at Farmdrop

5) What is your favourite thing about being a developer?

Solving problems!! I spent years thinking I love to find solutions to social problems (which I do…) but actually what I’ve realised is just that I love problem solving full stop.

6) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

Probably my Makers final project, a smart travel packing app — because everyone in the team got to use their skills to make it super cool, and because we built it from scratch in 2 weeks with a stack that none of us had any knowledge of.

7) How did you get involved with codebar?

When I first started being interested in coding, I had tried coding at home but was just started to feel a little lonely and dejected about it all. Then I found out about codebar and went along, super nervous, had a great time and was like ‘yup, I’m gonna be a coder’.

Then I found out about codebar and went along, super nervous, had a great time and was like ‘yup, I’m gonna be a coder’.

8) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?

It was friendly, the coaches are super helpful, you get to meet a really diverse group of budding developers, and there was free pizza!

9) What are your plans for the future?

Keep coding, I’m working with Typescript and GraphQL at my job at the moment and would love to keep developing my front end Javascript skills too. And also, run my non-profit coderoots!

10) coderoots, is the non -profit you run, could you tell us more about that, please?

Yes I’ve founded a non-profit called coderoots which is all about providing digital access and growing tech talent in Africa. We are currently developing our first project in Abuko, The Gambia.

The Gambia is a place where 57% of the country is under 25, only 3% of the GDP is spent on education and 4.5% have access to broadband. Our own community-based research has shown that only half of these young people have even used a computer or the internet before.

Our project has 3 phases — access by providing space and computers/internet that can be accessed by 60 young people, education through access to offline resources and online courses, and skills by linking young people to online mentors and trainers from around the world in professional skills like coding, accountancy, health, law and more.

We’re currently running a fundraiser — only £800 away from paying two Gambian staff to run the first phase of the project for a year. Please donate and/or share if you can!

11) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

Stay focussed on your goal, keep calm when you encounter problems, and learn to enjoy the ride. These are lessons I learnt through coding (and still learning!) and they help me in pretty much all aspects of my life. Oh, and seriously you definitely need more breaks than you realise — coding longer does not mean better. Oh if you can do a headstand, do it often…and if not, just bend forward and let your head hang out for a bit … blood flow to the head will help you solve your problems better and faster!

To join a codebar workshop sign up here, or give us a follow on one of our socials -> Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Zaira Rasool — Junior Engineer was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Anushka is a Senior Data Scientist at Valtech, a global digital agency focused on business transformation. She started attending codebar as a student in March 2018 before attending a recruitment event which led to her job at Valtech.

You can find Anushka on the internet at:

LinkedIn

1. What did you want to be growing up?

Many things: a doctor, an astronaut (after watching Apollo 13), a nurse, a professional violinist, and finally a scientist.

2) When did your interest in tech start?

Tech has always been of interest to me. My father is an electrical engineer by trade. Growing up there were often second-hand computers and electronics parts in the house. Then later as a scientist, I was often building or adapting tech solutions for my experiments.

3) You’re a data scientist, what does that involve?

Finding insights from data that can answer specific questions. Ideally, this analysis would be predictive in nature. However, the reality of the role is often to provide an understanding of current and historical trends of different areas of the business.

4) What was your first development job?

I have worked as a data scientist for two years at Valtech progressing to a senior role in that time.

5) How did you get your first job?

A tutor at codebar recommended I attend Silicon Milkroundabout when I was thinking of leaving academia to join the industry. At this event, I stumbled upon Valtech’s stand and was interested in the many public sector clients they work with. I then interviewed and was offered the role.

6) What is your favourite thing about being a data scientist?

Firstly, that I get to spend my days visualising and exploring data to solve a problem. I loved this in academia and am glad I still get to do this in my current role. I have also really enjoyed improving my coding. There is a real difference when coding for personal projects versus as part of a pipeline to be productionised. I have also enjoyed working in a larger team with roles such as technical architect, DevOps, and data engineer to understand and learn about their important contributions in building a data product.

7) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

For the majority of my time as a data scientist, I have worked with Ofgem, the government regulator for gas and electricity markets in Great Britain. I worked with a number of teams at Ofgem that oversee different stages of the energy market from generation to consumption. I optimised their working practices with data and enabled them to gain insights from their data that they had previously not been privy to.

8) How did you get involved with codebar?

When working as a senior postdoc I wanted to improve my coding and found codebar online. I started to attend their evening sessions and since then have been indebted to the volunteer coaches for their mentorship. They have helped build my confidence, especially when shifting from academia to industry. I am now transitioning to coaching myself to try contribute to such an impactful organisation.

9) What are your plans for the future?

To continue to develop and learn both in my role but also in my ability to code. I recently welcomed my daughter so it is a new chapter balancing her needs and that of my career.

10) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

Keep practicing and learning! There are so many free online resources. Mini-projects are also great for practical implementations of machine learning concepts. Finally, keep in touch with your tech contacts and build your network, they can help when transitioning to new roles.

Anushka Fernando — Senior Data Scientist was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Alex is a Software Engineer at Ravelin, she started attending codebar in May 2018 as a student before completing the Makers Bootcamp. She then started organising the Oxford codebar chapter before moving to London and becoming an organiser for that chapter.

You can find Alex on the internet at:

GitHub | LinkedIn

1) What did you want to be growing up?

I didn’t really know. I’ve struggled to find a career that felt like the right fit and remained interesting.

2) When did your interest in tech start?

I worked in Finance and then in recruitment where everyone always talked about “how computers will take over and we won’t have jobs”. I thought working on the other side would be more future proof. I gave it a go and I really enjoyed it!

3) How did you make the transition to being a developer?

Learned online with freeCodeCamp first and some other online resources. I found so many free resources online for beginners but struggled to go further than the basics. I then went to codebar’s workshop every week I could get a spot. That’s where I learned about Makers from one of the coaches who completed the bootcamp a few years before. I applied and got my first job through their Apprenticeship scheme with Elsevier.

4) What was your first development job?

Software Engineer at Elsevier via Makers.

5) What is your favourite thing about being a developer?

Solving problems all day long! Working in a methodical and logical way.

6) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

Probably my current job! We’re a fraud prevention company and use ML to prevent crime. It’s pretty cool to use my job to fight “the bad guys”.

7) How did you get involved with codebar?

First as a student for months, then I always said I wanted to give back as I literally wouldn’t be in this career. I coached and then became an organiser!

8) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?

The students having really good sessions and being really grateful. The feeling I get when I coach!

9) What are your plans for the future?

Ideally, I’d love to have my own company, I find that the barrier to entry into a tech career is still too high and scary. How many times people have said it’s super hard and that’s why they won’t try it. I’d love to have some kind of platform that’d help solve that issue. But for now, more learning, more coding!

10) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

Don’t give up, it’s so normal to struggle. The best advice I got was “don’t copy paste code you don’t understand”. It works!

Alex Dresco — Software Engineer was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Chipo is a Technology Graduate at The NET-A-PORTER Group. She started attending codebar in 2018 as a student, and after securing her first developer job came back to codebar as a coach in August.

You can find Chipo on the internet at:

GitHub | Website

1. What did you want to be growing up?

I was really into media as a child. I pored over magazines, made tons of scrapbooks, recorded my favourite music videos or tv shows, and watched them over and over. I even loved adverts, the Charlie girls were a favourite, haha. I was very drawn to popular culture and how it was experienced.

2) When did your interest in tech start?

I had a random phase of being obsessed with hacker culture and watching loads of documentaries about the early days of the big tech companies. In an old interview, Steve Jobs mentioned that everyone should learn to code because it teaches how to think in a particular way, so out of curiosity on this “way of thinking” I decided to give Codecademy a go.

3) How did you make the transition to being a developer?

In my Codecademy days, I was working in marketing at CHANEL. My colleagues found it quite amusing that I had taken up coding as a hobby because everything was focused on in-store or print communications. Cut to 2 years later and I was managing the digital marketing and eCommerce at Ally Capellino. Suddenly my whole job was digital, and the little HTML and CSS knowledge that I had learnt came in handy to breathe life into the content on the site. From there I started regularly attending codebar, organised weekly workshops at the SOAS Coding Club and spent all my free time coding, which led to a developer job. So it happened pretty organically.

4) What was your first development job?

My current job as a Tech Grad at NET-A-PORTER.

5) What is your favourite thing about being a developer?

This is the most challenging job I have had, and I really enjoy that about it. Doing a graduate programme, I have been exposed to a lot of different technologies, including React, Java and Swift. I find it so cool that I am building up this technical toolbox that allows me to create interesting digital media.

6) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

I built a full stack React and Java project as part of my second rotation at NET-A-PORTER. I enjoyed it because it combined the React knowledge I gained in my first rotation with the new technologies I was learning, which included Java and mySQL. Through this project, I surprised myself as I hadn’t realised how much I had learnt and could apply. That was cool.

7) How did you get involved with codebar?

codebar has been invaluable to me. It’s an amazing place! I started attending as a student in November 2018, and I have recently started coaching in the West London chapter. We also use the codebar tutorials at the SOAS Coding Club workshops.

8) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?

It’s a great place to get involved in the London tech scene, no matter your level. Also, everyone is so nice there, both students and coaches. I’ve met some great people.

9) What are your plans for the future?

Soon I will need to make the decision whether to pursue React or Swift- it’s proving quite difficult! Outside work, I will continue organising weekly workshops at SOAS Coding Club, and I hope to present at a conference in 2021.

I’m also involved in a startup called The Floor. It’s an awesome platform for creatives, so keep an eye out for what they are doing!

10) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

The best way to learn is to start building something! It seems daunting but you will figure it out. Trust yourself, and Google!

Chipo Mapondera — Technology Graduate was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Rianna is a software engineer at Gousto; the food box delivery service. She started attending codebar as a student in August 2019, before deciding to do the Makers 14 week Bootcamp.

You can find Rianne on the internet at:

Twitter | GitHub | Medium

1. What did you want to be growing up?

A fashion designer! Unfortunately, when I asked to do that for work experience in year 10, I was gently told that fashion designers don’t really operate out of Eastbourne (the small seaside town that I grew up in), so instead, I went to a law firm and ended up becoming a lawyer.

2) When did your interest in tech start?

My partner started working as a developer a few years before me so I was aware of the stuff he was working on and how much he enjoyed his job. it piqued my interest although it took a while until I seriously started looking into it as a career.

3) How did you make the transition to being a developer?

I started using free online resources such as codecademy and then quit my job to do the Makers bootcamp for 4 months.

4) What was your first development job?

I started as a front end developer at Gousto (food box delivery company) and have been there for the last 10 months.

I like how forward-thinking the tech world is.

5) What is your favourite thing about being a developer?

Being able to go to work in dungarees and trainers! I don’t miss the suits and smart shoes of a solicitor. The whole vibe and culture are very different from the legal arena and I like how forward-thinking the tech world is.

6) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

I’m part of the Menu tribe at Gousto and my squad is predominately responsible for any changes to the main menu and all the recipes on the web. Some of the projects we have lined up for the next year are pretty cool and involve revamping the whole menu along with a lot of new ideas. It’s exciting to be at a company that’s growing so quickly.

7) How did you get involved with codebar?

When I started at Makers one of the girls in my cohort helped organise the sessions and invited me to come along.

8) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?

I found it super helpful to get one-on-one help with projects I was working on and to learn new things, and to meet people already working in the industry. Also — pizza!

9) What are your plans for the future?

I’m happy at Gousto and looking forward to seeing what we can achieve over the next few months/years.

10) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

Take all the opportunities you’re given and put yourself out there. Go to meet-ups, get a mentor, work on projects, and go to codebar! The more people you meet and the more you have to talk about in an interview, the better chance you’re giving yourself.

Rianne McCartney — Software Engineer was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Alexandra is a Software Development Engineer at Findmypast, she attended her first codebar back in April 2019. Since then she has completed a course with Code First Girls and is a recent graduate of the 16-week Founder and Coders Bootcamp.

You can find Alexandra on the internet at:

Twitter | Website

1)What did you want to be growing up?

I don’t think I ever settled on one thing! I wanted to be a singer, a professional synchronised swimmer, a civil rights lawyer, an aid worker… I never imagined I’d become a software developer.

2) When did your interest in tech start?

In September 2018 I was moving back to the UK to work in a sales role at Personably, an early-stage tech start-up. The company was small and so it was all-hands-on-deck and I joined in on product meetings. The more meetings we had the more I realised I wanted to be on the other side of the table, with the people building the product.

3) How did you make the transition to being a developer?

Before working at Personably coding had been something so foreign and inaccessible to me, but to help me in my role, I decided to start the CodeFirst: Girls intro evening course to coding. I then started going to codebar, attending workshops with Node Girls and Django Girls and in August 2019 applied to be on Founders and Coders (FAC): a free, four month long coding bootcamp.

4) What was your first development job?

I’ve been fortunate enough to start working (remotely!) at Findmypast as a Junior Software Development Engineer, just this month. I’m learning loads and have a great team who’s been really supportive in my first few weeks.

5) Whilst learning to code what was a fun project or thing that you built?

A Harry Potter sorting hat game with trivia — what Harry Potter theme project isn’t fun!?

6) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

I worked on a ‘tech for better’ project as part of the FAC bootcamp for the Musician’s Union (MU). In a team, we built a website where someone who has been a victim of sexual harassment or abuse within the music industry can log their experience securely with the MU. It was an interesting project technically, but knowing that it might have a big impact was a really motivating factor too.

7) How did you get involved with codebar?

codebar was first recommended to me about a year ago when I was starting to lose momentum in my learning.

8) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?

Easy: It’s such a great place to learn! When I was losing motivation, going to codebar really helped make me excited to learn again. More recently, I’ve been able to do the same for other people when coming back and coaching and that’s the most exciting part about it!

9) What are your plans for the future?

I’m now just concentrating on learning and becoming the best developer I can be. I really enjoy the communities I’ve become a part of since learning to code and I hope to be able to contribute to those again in the coming months.

10) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

Work hard, try and find coding communities to help motivate you, I’ve mentioned just a few above! And ask questions, A LOT of questions!

Alexandra O’Mahony —Software Development Engineer was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Szilvi is a Junior Software Engineer at Capgemini, she started attending codebar in the summer of 2018 as a student and is also a Makers Alumni.

You can find Szilvi on the internet at:

Twitter | GitHub

1. What did you want to be growing up?
2. First, I wanted to be a Jedi, and when I realised that that wasn’t going to happen, I wanted to be a vet, but then in high school, I realised that I didn’t like Biology that much, so I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. After a brief adventure of studying to be a geography and English teacher, I ended up graduating from university with a degree in English and American studies, thinking, I’d just figure things out as I go along.

2) When did your interest in tech start?

I’ve always liked gizmos and gadgets, and I really enjoyed playing video
games, but when I was growing up tech seemed like a boys’ world and it
never occurred to me that I could be a part of it. I didn’t even have my own
computer until I was about 18!

A couple of years ago, I read a blog post about a woman who’d done the
same university course as me and successfully retrained as a developer. That
was the first time I thought that I should see what coding was about and that
maybe *even I*, who’s far from a math genius could give it a go. After a quick
Google search, and a few hours of doing coding exercises on Codecademy, I
was hooked.

3) How did you make the transition to being a developer?

After working in different customer service and admin jobs, I ended up
working in accounts as a bookkeeper, but I wasn’t very happy. I knew I had to
find a way to get into coding professionally, so I tried a few online courses but
with a full-time job it was too much for me and I just didn’t progress as much
as I would have liked. A coding bootcamp seemed like the best option for me,
but there was no way I could afford to pay for it, and the uncertainty of trying
to find a job once I finished the bootcamp would have been impossible for me.
I spent a long time researching different options when I came across the
Makers Academy apprenticeship scheme. After several interviews, I was hired
by Capgemini as part of this program, and they sponsored me to complete the
12 weeks full-time Makers bootcamp. I am currently working towards my Level 4 Diploma in Software Development with support from Makers, but mostly, my wonderful colleagues at Capgemini.

4) What was your first development job?
I work for Capgemini, an international tech consultancy, so it’s very interesting and there are opportunities to get involved in different kinds of projects. I am currently on my first project, where I started in May. The client is a multinational energy supplier, so the codebase is massive, and I had to learn about technologies I hadn’t even heard before. It’s definitely been a huge learning curve for me, but I’ve loved my time there so far. The team I’m in owns a few different products, which gives variety even being on one project and within one team.

5) Whilst learning to code what was a fun project or thing that you built?

I built a website for a friend’s business, which was the first thing I built from
scratch, beginning to end. It was sort of like a portfolio for a tattoo shop,
showcasing the artists’ works and providing information on the available
services, so nothing too fancy, but for me, it was magic. Unfortunately, it’s
never got released into production, but a newer, better version is in the
pipework sometime in the near future.

6) What is the coolest project you have worked on and why?

At the end of the 3-month bootcamp at Makers we had to do a final
presentation of an app that we built. My team built a group holiday organiser
web app, that automates the hassle of organising dates, reminders and even
allow the people invited to a certain event to vote on dates, accommodation or
type of activity. While building this, I realised that I was definitely thriving most when working on the front-end. But at the moment, I’m actually working on my first official project at work and it’s pretty cool too. I was preparing to work with React but ended up working with Ember.js, which is a JavaScript framework and, as I understand, isn’t that widely known but it actually is really cool and I’m loving the process of learning more and more about it.

7) How did you get involved with codebar?

I first found out about codebar when I was looking for options to get into
coding, but I was too scared to attend because for some reason I thought I’d
make a fool out of myself, being older than most people starting to learn
programming, not knowing enough about coding or just tech in general, etc.
I gathered the courage once I made the decision to actively work on changing
careers and found out about the Makers apprenticeship. I knew I had to learn
Ruby, so I signed up to codebar to get help with that and attended my first
session.

8) Why do you keep coming back to codebar?

For me, codebar was and still is an inspirational place. It was at codebar
when I realised for the first time that I too can be part of the tech community,
even if I’m a woman and even if I joined the fun a bit later than most. I’m coming back to give back and help others feel the same way, that not
everyone is a gatekeeper in tech and that there is support for if they need it.

9) What are your plans for the future?

I have a few things on my list. Firstly, I’d like to get my Level 4 developer
certificate, and progress within my current role. I’m also very interested in
accessibility, so I’d like to get into that deeper and see where it takes me, and
once I’m more confident in what I’m doing, I’d love to be involved in
mentoring, especially for career changers like me.

10) What advice would you give to aspiring developers?

Ask questions. I know it sounds like a cliché and can be daunting because
there’s so many — at least I always have loads –, but if you have someone
more experienced who can help you and you don’t understand something,
just ask them. My experience is, that more often than not, my colleagues and
my peers are very happy to take the time to go over something with me and it
helps me so much more than just reading up about stuff on the internet, trying to find the right explanation. It can also save you a lot of time!

Szilvi Horvath — Junior Software Engineer was originally published in codebar stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.