- Why are you interested in programming?
- I love problem-solving. I know it sounds like a bit of a cliche, but I've solved almost 800 puzzles on CodeWars just for fun, and I see code as the medium for doing this. I've done a bit of that, Project Euler and Hackerrank, because having a puzzle to solve is like an itch I constantly need to scratch. Code is the perfect medium for doing this! I also like the fact that you can have a $20 laptop (I own two!) and write code, even if the person next to you has a $2000 laptop! In many other fields, not having the financial means to afford the best tools puts you at a substantial disadvantage.
- If you are accepted into our program, where do you see your career in 5 years?
- I would love to be either a data scientist or back-end engineer. I am not certain which one would be a better fit (maybe both?) right now. I would see myself coding every day (as I am right now), enjoying it, but also making a living from it. I'd be in the company of some really bright and passionate people who love code and can help me be the best programmer I can be. I would still be attending Meetups or attending Conferences (maybe I can present projects that I've built at conferences, with more experience under my belt!). I'd be helping to inspire the next generation of programmers.
- After reading Ada's Vision, Mission and Inclusivity Statement, how will you contribute to Ada's vision for an inclusive and diverse community?
- Coming from a diverse country and background, being diverse is a part of who I am. I would particularly love to encourage more females to try functional programming (I'm currently a member of Lambda Ladies, as well as a member of my local Haskell and Rust groups). The functional programming community is unfortunately quite a sausage-fest. But I'm very passionate about functional programming! I'd like to encourage more women to join that community, and I'd also encourage more ladies to speak up about their experiences and things they've built. Right now, I'm very hesitant about my skill-set. An opportunity like joining Ada would give me the boost I need to give my first tech talk, and show off a really cool project, and encourage others to do the same (maybe I'd even start my own Conference!)
- Tell us about a time you made a mistake that you learned a lot from. If you encountered the situation again, what would you do differently?
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Unfortunately, I am not from a traditionally computer science background. I studied a path that would have easily put me in an engineering college, but I was burnt out by the time I applied for college. I studied film instead. However, even then, I was constantly on the technical end of the film industry, troubleshooting cameras, electronics, and thinking up novel ways to rig things. I realized in my workplace that they would never teach me to solder or weld, so I took a few welding, machining and PCB (printed circuit board) and soldering classes. That led to my first robotics class, in which no one would program the robot in C besides me. So I ended up programming for that semester, and loved it. I've stuck with programming ever since.
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If I were to do anything differently, it would probably be going to engineering school after all. However, In some ways, going to film school has made me a more diverse and resourceful engineer, and has made me think about things differently. I may have never learned tools like AutoCad, Matlab, or Rhino (which I used to render a mock-up of my idea for a Mars 2020 Rover), or tried to teach myself Mathematica (which I'm doing right now!) if I had just gone to computer science school. The truth is that I had a brother who was always into programming, so it intimdated me to even try. That being said, I've had a huge chip on my shoulder since then, which has encouraged me to have an incredible work ethic and grit that I may not have had if opportunities had come easily for me.