Around this time last year I started learning the basics of code in my spare time, and sure enough found myself working as a professional developer just 7 months later – with no CS degree, no bootcamp, and no clue.

So if you’re reading this you’re probably thinking: how on earth did that happen?

Well, my thoughts exactly.

In this article I’ll share what I did in those initial 7 months leading up to my first ever dev job. I’ll also include lots of resources I found helpful along the way, and bits of advice that I wish I had taken on sooner.

If you’re a fellow coding beginner aiming to make a similar career change into web development, my hope is that this article offers you some guidance…

(If you haven’t started coding yet but want to find ways to begin, you might find my previous article a little more helpful, which includes lots of insights on how to take that first step towards learning to code.)

So, lesson number 1:

? Share your interest early.

When I seriously started thinking about programming, the first thing I did was talk about it.

I asked my friends and family if anyone knew any developers who’d be willing to chat about their jobs, and ended up meeting so many smart and creative people who gave genuine, practical and (most importantly) varying insights.

The key here is to try and meet as many different kinds of developers as possible. If you can, speak to people with all sorts of interests and specialties at various stages in their careers. This kind of access can unveil the variety involved in programming, and you can use it to demystify the idea of coding as this big, scary thing.

Another good habit to pick up early is to constantly:

? Ask.

I asked developers some of the most basic things like:

• What the hell is GitHub?
• Do you really not need a computer science degree?
• Why is everyone always talking about React?
• What kind of tech jobs do you think there’ll be in 10 years time?

? And go to meetups.

If you’re lucky enough to live in a place like London where there are plenty of meetups happening – go!

This is great practice early on not only because you might get to have human beings guide you through coding problems, but because it lets you meet with organisers, coaches, bootcamp students, etc. etc.

By going to meetups you can also build up your network in the industry and hear about potential job opportunities suited to your skill level.

Some of my favourite beginner-friendly and inclusive meetups include:

• Codebar. This is an amazing weekly meetup with over 20 chapters worldwide, where you can work with coaches and really get stuck into your code (they also run virtual meetups for those who can’t make it to events).
• Ada’s List. This organisation runs friendly monthly meetups in London alongside a virtual community online, offering women a great way to meet other women in tech (and not just coders).
• 24 Pull Requests. This annual event (also in London) is a lovely place to contribute to open source projects, and includes an introduction to Github – very handy for beginners.
• Node Girls. This group organises meetups a couple of times a year in multiple locations, and is a great place for newbies to learn Javascript and Node.js.

?‍♀️ Next: Play the field.

For ages, I thought the first thing I had to know about code was what language I wanted to learn. But not only is it ok not to know where to start, I actually think it’s a huge advantage.

There are so many languages and topics out there, and while this can definitely be overwhelming as a beginner, you can also make the most of your naivete and just try it all out without getting too preoccupied with all the surrounding jargon (for instance, you don’t need to know the entire history of CSS to just play around with it) – which leads me to my favourite bit of advice from those initial 7 months...

? Be bad.

When I first started I was so scared of how bad I was going to be. And one of my biggest revelations since then was: nobody cares.

Of course you’re going to be bad at it! You’ll be terrible. But, having a beginner status gives you license to suck at everything, so use it while the stakes are low. Enjoy being terrible – it’s fun, and freeing.

?‍? Do the tutorials.

When you’re trying to level up from total beginner, tutorials are great because their format eliminates the problem of having to figure out what you want to learn and how you want to learn it (while you’re actually just trying to learn it).

Some of my favourites include:

• Any of the Codebar tutorials (great for learning different languages from scratch)
• Rachel Andrew’s video tutorials (awesome for learning CSS grid)
• NodeGirls workshop tutorials (nicely paced walkthroughs that introduce you to Javascript & Node.js)

When it comes to tutorials though, try and understand how you learn best and don’t get bogged down in one method or approach just because it’s the most popular or it was suggested to you.

You might not know much about coding at this stage, but what you do know is how you learn best. So trust your own judgement here.

Here are some different learning methods that have worked well for me:

• freeCodeCamp curriculum. Byte sized exercises for different languages, great for when you need a break from heavy tutorials and want to play around with something a little lighter.
• CSS Diner & Flexbox Froggy. Two fun games that are great for helping you get to grips with CSS selectors and practicing flexbox layouts.
• Codepen. A coding playground where you can look at people’s projects alongside their code, letting you to connect the dots between the two.
• Grasshopper. A sweet, beginner-friendly mobile app that introduces you to Javascript fundamentals.
• Eloquent Javascript. This digital book pairs really well with freeCodeCamp exercises, giving a thorough and foundational understanding of Javascript.

? Be a copycat.

Soon enough, you’ll feel like it’s time to build something a bit more substantial. And a really fun way to do this without feeling overwhelmed is by trying to replicate cool stuff you’ve already seen (you can browse some cool looking website here). And as you do this:

? Know why.

If you’re building your first ever website, before you even get to writing any code remember to ask yourself why. Are you doing it to:

• Just fill up your portfolio?
• Learn a particular language?
• Try out different hacks you’ve heard about?

As a beginner, your main reason for building something is probably to learn by doing so your website or app is just a means to an end. It’s the byproduct, not the goal. Remember that.

Knowing this distinction is crucial to learning effectively, especially if you’re teaching yourself because as you’ll quickly learn: everyone’s got their own way of doing things. For instance if you’re building a website as a way to learn flexbox, then don’t let someone talk you into using Bootstrap.

If someone tells you there’s a quicker way to achieve a goal they may be right, but they might not have clarity on what the real aim is.

? So articulate it.

First to yourself, then to others, and then make your own decision about how you want to go about it. This part might seem super obvious, but in the midst of soaking up all that information, it’s all too easy to forget.

? Then chill.

The great thing about self-directed learning is that you decide the whats and the hows right? Well, another great thing is that your deadlines are made up by you, and if you don’t meet them, nobody cares. So give yourself a break!

⚡️ Stay inspired.

This learning process is twofold: on one hand you need to spend time figuring out the technical minutiae in your code, and on the other you need to look around every now and again and see what other people are doing.

Blending these two approaches gives a great holistic perspective on your learning, and helps mitigate the stress of getting caught up in all the details. Here are some tips I found useful in my first 7 months:

? Go to conferences.

• You Got This. This is a UK-based event specifically for developers in the early stages of their careers. I went to it without ever having worked as a developer, felt totally comfortable there and left ready to get stuck into some code.
• New Adventures. This Nottingham-based conference provides a less technical, more meta approach to tech and where it fits into the world these days. With varied speakers and far-reaching topics, it’s super inspiring.

? Read up.

• freeCodeCamp (of course)
• Codebar (they run a great series of interviews with self-taught developers)
• A List Apart (publishes a huge range of topics from design to coding to career progression)
• Smashing Magazine (features articles, books, events, jobs – you name it)

? Follow people.

• Mandy Michael – has a lot of seriously cool stuff on Copeden.
• Rachel Andrew – gives loads of inspiring and practical talks, many of which you can find online.
• Jen Simmons – has a rich Youtube channel full of insights on design and developing.
• Saron Yitbarek – founder & CEO of CodeNewbie – total boss.

And that’s essentially it. Looking back over the last year, I’ve come to realise that these core lessons were what sustained me as I went from being a copywriter who had never looked at a single line of code, to working as a full time developer.

So if you’re thinking about switching careers but are worried about committing to such a big change, try breaking it down into these smaller goals and challenges.

If it can work for a woman who had absolutely no clue what she was doing at the time, it can surely work for you. So please: use these lessons learned, tailor them to your own learning style, and get after it.

If you want to get in touch or keep up to date on future articles, talks and events, you can follow me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/niamhmccoo

Princiya grew up in India and studied computer science in school - like many of her family members and friends. She even taught some computer science and web development classes at the university level, but missed coding. So she decided to get back into it.

After working at a startup and starting to speak at conferences, Princiya took a trip to Berlin that changed her life. The community was welcoming, she made some great connections, and ended up applying to and getting a job there soon after.

Princiya now works at a startup in Berlin where she's also in charge of the recruitment process. She's a maintainer at Firefox Dev Tools, a Mozilla Tech Speaker, and an active and enthusiastic mentor. She attends many local meetups in her community and strongly believes in giving back to the groups that helped her get her start in her new city.

In this episode, Princiya shares how she worked her way up to a lead role, why she believes the hiring process needs to change - and how she wants to change it - and how she's building healthy and productive relationships within her team and organization. She also discusses why she loves being a mentor, how communities can help young developers, and why she believes in the therapeutic power of doing the dishes - among many other things.

When she's not helping her team work better together or working on her latest conference talk, she loves to cook and explore Berlin's food scene.

This interview is about a 1 hour listen in your favorite podcast player app - just search for "freecodecamp" and you should find it.

If you have an Amazon Echo, you can just say "Alexa - play the freeCodeCamp podcast."

Or you can listen to it right here in your browser.

Connect with Princiya on Twitter here.

My first year of medical school was in 2003, a time when caring for HIV/AIDS patients was difficult due to lack of antiretrovirals (ARVs). Now as every medical student knows, the excitement of getting to the clinical rotations is unparalleled… walking down the inpatient halls with a stethoscope around your neck , taking care of you ‘own’ patients are among the joys of a young medical student.

However, my dreams were crashed pretty fast — I spent more time chasing after lab results that were lost. But in typical Judy style of being at the right place at the right time, I connected with Ben Wolfe (the first developer for OpenMRS — the largest open source medical records system in the world used in over 40 countries) and the rest is history.

I could tell that Ben was wondering when the only girl in his class would drop off, but those 4 pm hands on meetings proved to be one of the most valuable investments of my time……

Fast forward — and now I have worked in health open source software for many years as a developer, implementer, and evaluator — traveling around the world and making friends whose purpose is to improve patient care in places with limited resources. Nonetheless , I am not one to command a room when I walk in — I am soft spoken, and as most Americans will be quick to remind me “Where is your accent from ?” and a woman of color.

However I am still able to connect to people doing amazing work, most of whom have let me sit on their shoulders and opened innumerable opportunities for this village girl. In summarizing how I network, I realized my strategy is the open source way — I volunteer to maintain an open source radiology imaging system at librehealth.io , and share my experience below. I hope this article helps both mentors and mentees looking to make a difference for diversity in STEM and medicine.

1. Welcome to the community

At LibreHealth, the first post we encourage our new members to write is a short blob about themselves. I check this every other day and give a thumbs up to new members or a like for a new post to send a message that someone saw their message.

Librehealth meet the community post

How can you introduce STEM to minorities? By sharing your social capital — even with simple things like retweets and tags of people who are doing amazing work if you have a big social media presence. Remember most minorities will be shy to propose themselves for award nominations — so give them a shout out for things like the RedHat open source award or the Anita Borg awards… Don’t forget to introduce yourself to someone new and break out of your social circle — especially at conferences.

2. Building a community — How I do it

The challenge of building a radiology information system (RIS) which is is not directly used by patients but by doctors is that your consumer/customer pool is small. With a personal motto of “ people before code” , I work to build a community before focusing on the developer stuff.

For you as a mentee …
Build your network before you need it

In my open source journey this means stalking people using Google — I will start by searching “radiology” + “ Congo” and keep reading on people and organizations working in these countries — connecting with them on Linkedln and Twitter and finally introducing them to our project. I have volunteered as a mentor every year for high school students working on Google Code In and for university students working on Google Summer of Code on projects within our community.

3 months ago, I noticed a tweet introducing the black in AI workshop to be held at NIPS 2017 (which turned out to be amazing). I joined the group and here is my introduction:

self introduction to black in AI group

I did not know who would respond — but this email resulted in making wonderful connections to ML scientists in the Bay area — and as a bonus, I obtained feedback for a future project that would have taken years to learn about. Remember, some connections will work and others will not — don’t sweat it.

3. Help!

There are many channels for getting help on an open source project including Slack channels or IRC:

Help options for developers

How/ Where do you start networking? Online networking is easy and lower in cost, but face to face communication is king. For example, at the open source summit organized by the Linux foundation, there is a women’s lunch event that is informal, allowing people introduce themselves and the work they do. The Linux foundation is pretty generous in providing comprehensive scholarships for attendees.

Overall for all conferences, the highest value is the
Hallway track
In other words, people you meet in the corridors and stairs and exchange and inspire each other.

4. Git commit

The idea of committing code to the world to see can be pretty terrifying, so is mentorship. Recognize and embrace the vulnerability of people around you

Git commit

5. Dev 1 -> Dev 2 -> Dev 3

Akin to the evolving developer stages for open source development , let your mentorship relationship grow. For example, while the first talk from a minority speaker maybe on diversity, the next natural step should be to give technical talks. Remember this evolution also means that your mentorship relationship will at one point come to an end and its okay.

6. Code of conduct

Codes of conduct define acceptable behaviors within a community. Seek an environment of safety in your mentorship journey, where you can get honest feedback about your work and where there is room to grow. Also recognize when its time to move on.

7. Social capital

I talk about this again since we geeks love to get free swag or be the volunteer of the month. Use the same principal for your mentors — give a shout out to them when you do something amazing. Reward the mentors in your daily work.

8. Version 1.0 release -> Version 2.0 release

Remember the relationship with your mentors is always changing. Seek to provide updates to both mentors and mentees — What conference have you recently attended? Did you read a new academic paper or book ? Or is there something new in your personal life? …

Have a roadmap, and be agile in tackling your milestones, evaluating what works and what doesn't work. Use version control to manage chaos (and conflict) and be inspired to be amazing !

I recently read an article from Babson talking on how to build your village as a mentee.

I love this idea of a personal board with the following membership (copied from Babson article):

• Chairperson: The person you turn to first; perhaps a spouse or family member
• Zen Master: Someone you can count on to keep you sane and calm
• Business Guru: A professional peer who knows your craft inside and out
• Sounding Board: Someone who is wired similarly to you, with a sensibility like your own
• Devil’s Advocate: A person with a keen ability to reveal opposing perspectives
• Lifelong Friend: Someone who knows your history and helps you stay true to your values

What are your tricks that have worked for you in mentorship (as a mentor or mentee) … ?

Last summer, my spouse’s coworker was featured in an engineer recruitment ad campaign in San Francisco’s BART stations. Many people responded that she didn’t “look like” an engineer.

Unfortunately, this is something that people who are underrepresented in their fields of work hear all the time.

So on August 3rd, I reached out to her in solidarity and shared an idea—what if we raised money to put up billboards showing a lot of underrepresented engineers? She replied, “That would probably break the internet, but I like where your mind is at.”

Later, she responded with an idea for a hashtag: #ILookLikeAnEngineer. It didn’t take long for us to spread the word. We marveled as the hashtag went viral.

With the help of the LadyNerds group that I help lead, we launched a crowdfunding campaign and raised more than $47,000 for #ILookLikeAnEngineer ads. One month after the start of the hashtag, these ads showing underrepresented engineers went up around the San Francisco Bay Area.

The #ILookLikeAnEngineer ad campaign officially ended a year ago this month. Here are some interesting facts about the campaign. I’ve also included a free, downloadable #ILookLikeAnEngineer poster, and a bit about what’s next.

1. What validated the idea of the ad campaign?

The success of the hashtag made it clear that the idea for the ad campaign could become a reality.

Because we spread the word to many women-in-tech groups (LadyNerds, Women Who Code, PyLadies, DevChix, Systers, and Global Tech Women, to name a few), it only took 3 hours for the hashtag to trend in San Francisco.

At the peak time, there were 65 tweets using the hashtag per minute, and in the first five days, there were 140,000 tweets with the hashtag. It was the overwhelming response on the first day of the hashtag that made us realize the ads could get enough support. It took another two days to launch the crowdfunding ad campaign.

_[Stats](http://reverb.guru/view/710372476321586216" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=") from @Bindi & @trebor of Twitter. Shown: @isisAnchalee, @MIT, @triketora, @ChelseaClinton, and @melindagates.

2. Where were supporters of the ad campaign from?

274 out of 381 contributors chose perks that needed to be shipped (otherwise we do not have their locations). These supporters had their perks mailed to 26 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C.

Ranked by number of contributors wanting perks, the top 10 cities were:

• San Francisco (67)
• Seattle (15)
• Mountain View (8)
• Oakland (8)
• Brooklyn (7)
• Berkeley (6)
• Redwood City (5)
• Alameda (4)
• Cambridge (4)
• Sunnyvale (4)

The campaign also had contributors who wanted perks from the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, India, Australia, France, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Costa Rica, Pakistan, and Kenya.

Interestingly, not all the top cities for viewers of the ad campaign page were the same top cities for contributors. Here are some stats showing locations of viewers during the first month:

3. Who appeared in the ads?

The #ILookLikeAnEngineer community gathering where most of the photos were taken had 237 people — 56 of whom counted themselves as allies (indicated by which ticket they selected).

Not all of the remaining people were engineers, had their photos taken, or gave us consent to use their photos in these ads. We also received photos provided from the Kapor Center and Billups, an ad management company that donated their services to the campaign, thanks to encouragement from two women in their engineering department. In the end, we had 94 individuals split up among different versions of the ads.

The photographer at the event had the subjects write down their engineering specialties, just in case we wanted to put those details on the ads. Here’s a list that summarizes their responses:

• Aerospace
• Android
• Angular
• Audio
• Automation
• Back End
• Biomedical
• Chemical
• Cloud Software
• Computer Science
• CSS
• Data Science
• Data Visualization
• Databases
• Distributed Systems
• Firmware
• Front End
• Full Stack
• Growth
• Haptics
• Hardware
• iOS
• Java
• JavaScript
• Manufacturing
• Mechanical
• Mobile
• Product
• Quality
• Radio-Frequency
• Robotics
• Sales
• Security
• Supply Chain
• UI/UX
• Wearables
• Web

They also wrote down their employing companies at the time (not all of which still exist):

• Alphastreet
• Apple
• Beezwax
• Booshaka
• Brightroll
• Clever
• Clover Network
• Codepath
• Contract Work
• Credit Karma
• DoubleDutch
• Futuris
• GAP tech
• Glassbreakers
• Google
• Insightly
• Interworks
• Intuit
• Kink.com
• Lanetix
• Literator
• Lithium Tech
• Mainframe
• Mapbox
• Neighborly
• Neustar
• Pivotal
• Propelx
• Punch Through Design
• Radical Designs
• Rohde & Schwarz
• Salesforce
• Siemens
• Sosh
• Symantec
• Tesla
• ThoughtWorks
• U.S. Digital Service
• VSCO
• We Heart It
• WIRED
• Yelp

4. How many people saw the ads?

It’s difficult to estimate just how many eyes saw (and registered) our ads.

This is even tougher to guess since Billups secured “remnant” ad space, which meant that as long as there weren’t replacement ads, our ads could stay up. We never received a final date on all of the ads, so there’s no way to estimate exactly how many additional “impressions” (views, which can occur multiple times per person) there were.

The last estimated number of impressions on October 26, 2015 was 29,953,266. Depending on how long those ads stayed up, the number of impressions could be an additional 340,000 or more.

I was under the impression the ads wouldn’t be up much longer, so I was happily surprised to run into an ad that was still up on November 29th:

I’d heard that someone had placed stickers over faces on this ad, so it was good to see that the stickers had been moved. I also heard some ads had snarky writing on them but never witnessed that myself.

5. How much would an ad campaign this size normally cost?

As best as I can calculate based on the documentation Billups gave us throughout the process, the total cost would have been over $107,351—more than twice the amount we raised.

Here are some factors that saved us significant costs and allowed the ads to spread further:

• Opting for remnant space, which is 60-66% of the full price
• Billups waiving their usual 10% planning fee
• $30,550 in override (to keep the ads up longer if there were no replacement ads) provided free of charge

We are so grateful to Billups for donating their campaign management services, which included research, contracting, design, and many other necessities.

Did I hear there’s a free poster?

I started giving away free #ILookLikeAnEngineer poster PDFs to teachers in November last year:

Now that it’s been a year since the campaign, I’d love to share a poster with everyone.

Download a high-resolution PDF of this #ILookLikeAnEngineer poster here.

Note that you may need to use Adobe Acrobat Pro or other software to view the PDF.

What’s next?

Spearheading the ad campaign was an amazing experience. It inspired me to make another dream of mine a reality: I’m launching a nonprofit called Techtonica that empowers low-income women and non-binary adults with free tech training and job placement.

Learn how you can support this initiative here.