It is very overwhelming to think that at the end of this article I will have officially completed the Florida Entrepreneur Club’s 10 x 10 writing challenge. What started as a little exercise in accountability turned into a major thought experiment that has become a defining moment in my life. Being that it’s the last day, I am Coding with Gratitude -- and there has been a lot to be thankful for. I feel like I’ve lived out a year in the last ten days between how much my perspectives have shifted, the gravity of the conversations I’ve been a part of, and the wonderful people I’ve met and grown closer to along the way.
While I could write novels of thankfulness, I wanted to focus my gratitude in today’s program and article towards a few incredibly special people leading an incredibly special organization. Joe Russo, Nikki Cabus, Monica Rojas, and the entire team at Tech Hub South Florida, I am so deeply grateful for you and all the work you do. You make this community better every day you open your computers, jump on phone calls, and take coffee meetups. There are literally thousands of people in South Florida whose lives you’ve affected either directly or indirectly from the work you’ve dedicated yourself to.
About five years ago I decided to go back to school to study Computer Science and become a software developer. I thought this would be something that I could succeed at if I just studied hard and focused, but I realized quickly that wasn’t true. Learning to code didn’t come easily at all for me and I was no more than a day or two away from deciding to quit unless something dramatically changed -- and it did. Through a couple of phone calls my husband made to try and help me find a tutor, Joe Russo, founder and CEO of Tech Hub South Florida, somehow ended up at the end of the line. Having never met before, Joe reached out to connect me with Chris Cabrera to help me with my coursework which evolved into Chris becoming a tutor and mentor for years to come.
I can say with complete confidence that the support over the years from Tech Hub completely changed my life and pushed me to succeed in ways I could’ve never imagined. Bringing on Nikki Cabus and Monica Rojas cemented this organization as a foundational element in the South Florida Tech community. I am inspired daily by the energy, compassion, dedication, and strategic insight of the Tech Hub team and feel overwhelmed with gratitude seeing and experiencing all of the programming, events, and opportunities they create in the interest of helping all of us succeed.
The reach of your efforts extend far beyond your knowledge, but for me they hit very close to home. I became a software developer because of your support. Todd Albert started Boca Code because of your support. Through seeing me change careers, my sister made the decision to go to Boca Code and change careers, too. The ripple effects of your actions from years ago are making waves today.
I know there are so many people in our local tech community who are grateful for Tech Hub South Florida with their own stories of how the organization impacted their lives. Because of this, for Coding with Gratitude I built a virtual thank you card box for members of our community to submit messages and then display them all together. I think this is legitimately the first time I fully cried tears of happiness while thinking of what I was ultimately putting together. I reached out to a few of the usual suspects around the org and within Boca Code to have some cards pre-populated, and with each reply I got I felt a stronger sense of validation and thankfulness.
Joe, my mentor, supporter, friend, and editor-in-chief, I know I keep switching between speaking about Tech Hub in the second person and third person and it’s probably driving you crazy but I don’t really care. Just let me be grateful for you in my own way, even if that includes poor writing practices. Thank you for taking on the challenge of building South Florida into a Tech Hub and bringing so many incredible technologists together in our area. More importantly :), thank you for always guiding me, supporting me, and putting up with me even when I’m being difficult. I know you really don’t like that smiley face before the comma, but again, this is my article so I’m going to do whatever I want. You can shred the next one.
AMEN!!