CodeNewbie

Bekah is a mother of four who’s learning to code. But what’s incredible about her story isn’t just that she’s raising young children while finding 2-4 hours every day to code, it’s that she used coding as a form of therapy to get through a very tough time in her life. We’re also introducing a new segment called Tales from the Command Line, and in our first episode, we dig into coding and mental he...

Kyla's really passionate about cybersecurity. She's so passionate that she started a company that produces events and content to help people better understand security and how to protect themselves. She's worked with IBM and Facebook, created open source curriculum that's being used in other countries, and she's also sixteen. She shares why she's so passionate about security, what we as consumers...

It was late at night when Sudie ran to her bus stop after a long day at work, just in time to see the bus pull away. And then it started raining. She took this moment to reflect on her life, and ask herself questions about her goals and her dreams, questions that led to her moving to Utah, getting a computer science degree, and working as a developer for the Air Force. She tells us how she made th...

You have an idea for an app. You manage to get the basic features working, but it doesn't look great. After all, you're a coder, not a designer, so what do you do? Laura Elizabeth spent years learning design, and, now, she's helping developers up their design game. She shares some helpful design tips, explains what it really takes to get better at design, and tells us why coders can make the best...

Devon didn't mean to be a freelancer. But when he applied to developer jobs and didn't hear back, he started freelancing to bring in some money temporarily. Five years later, he's still freelancing and loving it. He shares how he got his first client, how he sets his rate, and why he thinks freelancing is a great first job for a new coder. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) De...

If you're new to testing, the idea of writing tests for code that you wrote might sound strange. You just wrote it, so, theoretically, you should know what it does, right? But with a growing codebase and lots of people touching the code, implementing your piece of software might come with some unexpected side effects! Jonas explains why testing is so important, how to get started, and what it was...

Jesslyn worked with NASA to build an app for astronauts. She and a small team used augmented reality to create a navigation tool, much like Google Maps for space. Building it meant learning new tools, even traveling to a volcano to test it out. But most of what she built, she learned on the job. She tells us how she did it, what she's learned about leveling up in a short amount of time, and how sh...

Hayley works with storage software. But before that job, she had no idea what storage software even was. In fact, at the time, she was a librarian working towards becoming a web developer. Then one day, she visited a booth at OSCON, a huge conference on open source, where she met the company that would end up hiring her for her first technical role in storage software. She talks about what it was...

Jeff is an executive at two very different tech companies, but data is at the heart of both. He describes how he uses data to make apps better and smarter, how he got started in the world of data, and how he built a database of his own. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Cinchapi Blavity Palantir MVP Concourse DB Apache Thrift TensorFlow Codeland Conf Codeland 2019

Chad Fowler is an author, developer, speaker, and investor. He's been a CTO, he founded Ruby Central, the non-profit behind RubyConf and RailsConf, and is a recognizable tech figure, particularly in the Ruby community. But before he knew what code was, he was a professional musician. He shares how he switched careers without a computer science degree and how he's ended up with such an incredible t...

Courtland Allen has built up a community of Indie Hackers, people who want to make money by selling products they build themselves. But how do you become an Indie Hacker? And how good of a coder do you need to be to become an Indie Hacker full time? Courtland shares lessons he's gathered over the years on what it takes to live off of your own product and how you can do it too. He also gives us his...

Rachel spends her free time building robots, creating hardware art, and making silicone molds of her friends' faces. She got her start with NodeBots, a beginner-friendly way of creating hardware projects using JavaScript. Rachel shares how she was first introduced to the hardware world, breaks down what a simple hardware project looks like, and tells us what it was like to be one of the first beta...

Jarvis recently went from engineer to engineering manager, taking his career down a whole new path. He talks about how he thinks about his career, what different tech career paths look like, and why, although being a developer can be wonderful, it may not be everything you think it'll be. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) CodeNewbie Patreon Jarvis's YouTube Channel "Why I don...

With so many different ways to learn to code, how do you pick? And where do technical books fit into your learning curriculum? Katel LeDû is the CEO of A Book Apart, a company that produces short technical books. She shares how to get the most out of a coding book, the benefits of reading technical books, and how she went from a career in photography to running a technical publishing house. Show L...

Dan decided he wanted to get into tech, so he looked for a new job. And he found one! But it wasn't exactly the coding job he was hoping for. In fact, it would be about five years before Dan landed that dream coding job. He shares how he navigated the many ups and downs of becoming a developer, and what helped him persevere. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Codeland Conf Cod...

You may have heard of quality assurance and testing, but what's quality engineering? Intuit engineer, Rocio Montes, guides us through the world of quality, and shares why she's so passionate about this piece of the product development process. She also shares her own journey of being a quality engineer and how you can get started on the same career path. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbi...

Suz Hinton introduces us to the world of open source hardware. She shares interesting projects, both artistic and functional, and breaks down the steps it takes to create a hardware product. She also tells us what it's like to livestream her coding projects on her Twitch channel, and why she keeps doing it even though it can be scary and uncomfortable. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie!...

Kevin Scott is the first CTO of Microsoft in almost twenty years. But what does the chief technology officer at such a large tech company do? He tells us all about his day-to-day, how he ended up at Microsoft, and shares his thoughts on the value of computer science degrees. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) LEAP Apprenticeship at Microsoft Behind The Tech with Kevin Scott (p...

Angela Andrews hosted her first coding workshop at her dining room table. Since then, she's hosted a number of coding workshops, sharing her technical skills and introducing other codenewbies to new tech topics. She shares how she puts on these workshops and how being a newbie herself has helped her be a better teacher. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Vim Amazon Web Service...

Michael started his career as a glass blower, creating lighting for movies and tv shows. But after cutbacks at work, he decided it was time to look into other careers, and revisited his childhood love of computers. He shares how he taught himself to code, and the one-year job search that landed him the developer job he has today. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) freeCodeCamp...

Kathryn's participated in dozens of hackathons as a student, and even when things didn't go well, she kept going back. Kathryn shares all the ways hackathons have helped her in her professional coding career, what the real benefits are (spoiler alert: it's not the thing you're hacking on), and how you can get the benefits of a hackathon even if you're not a student. Show Links Partner with Dev &am...

Whether you're a new developer or an experienced developer, you probably don't enjoy the technical interview process. It's long, hard, and, often times, not even related to the actual job you're interviewing for. So how do you make the most of this notoriously difficult process? We talk to Parker Phinney, creator of Interview Cake, on what to expect in an interview and what to do when you feel lik...

Launch Code is a non-profit that helps you launch your tech career through apprenticeships. But what's it like to be a coding apprentice? Kasey, one of their graduates, shares her experiences as an apprentice and how she successfully navigated the tech industry and landed her first job. Chris, their VP of Education, talks about what companies are looking for when hiring a code newbie and how you c...

A big part of the developer culture is sharing knowledge, writing blog posts, and posting code. You show your passion for coding by putting your work out there, but how do you show that passion if you can't publish your work? What if your job requires you to keep your work private? What if being quiet is part of being safe online? We talk to Seán Hanson about what it means to be a quiet developer...

Amir Rajan is CEO of RubyMotion, a tool that helps you turn your ruby code base into an iOS app. He shares his own app building experience, and what developers should know when turning their project into a mobile app. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Metaprogramming A Dark Room RubyMotion Codeland Conf Codeland 2019