#130 From Fashion to Software Engineer with Alison Yoon
Jun 28, 2024
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Software Engineer Alison Yoon discusses transitioning from fashion to coding with freeCodeCamp. She shares insights on learning coding through challenges, working in the UK, and leading Korean translations. The episode covers her journey from fashion to software engineering, working at Octopus Energy, and the importance of language learning and localization.
Transitioning from fashion to software engineering is possible through dedication and self-learning.
Understanding user perspectives and conducting usability testing are essential in tech product development.
Prioritizing functionality, accessibility, and simplicity over creativity leads to successful web design.
Deep dives
Transition from Fashion to Tech
The speaker transitions from studying fashion to pursuing a career in tech, starting as a UI/UX designer. Dissatisfaction with the repetitive nature of design work leads to a decision to learn programming and enroll in a coding boot camp, gaining a full-stack role afterward.
User Experience Design at Airbus
The speaker discusses working with Airbus in France for user testing, emphasizing the importance of understanding users' perspectives. Interaction with tech-savvy clients reveals the necessity of usability testing even for proficient users, aiding in product improvement.
Current Role at Octopus Energy
The speaker describes her current role at Octopus Energy's tech division, Kraken Technologies, developing a modular product for clients to swiftly build user-facing websites using the Kraken API. The project enables clients to customize interfaces efficiently, resembling a 'cookie cutter' approach for rapid deployment.
Importance of Functionality in Web Design
Creating a user-friendly and accessible web or mobile application plays a crucial role in successful design. Despite suggestions to enhance landing pages with more elements like carousels, focusing on functionality instead of overly creative design is prioritized. The significance of emphasizing accessibility, performance, and simplicity in web design, to provide users with a seamless experience, is highlighted.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Advice for Aspiring Developers
Discussions around imposter syndrome, especially during initial stages of a tech career, resonate with the importance of self-confidence and perseverance. Anecdotes shared about transitioning from a design to a development role reinforce the value of constant learning and pursuing interests to overcome self-doubt. Embracing practice, seeking mentorship, and immersing oneself in the learning process are emphasized as key strategies for aspiring developers to thrive in the tech industry.
On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Alison Yoon. She's a Software Engineer who started off in fashion design and taught herself to code using freeCodeCamp.
We talk about:
- What it's like to work in fashion. "You're surrounded by exhausted, unhappy people."
- How she used freeCodeCamp and the 100DaysOfCode challenge to learn to code and start her software development career
- How she learned English and how to work on engineering teams in the UK.
- How she's leading the Korean translation effort for the freeCodeCamp community, with 10,000s of people now reading Korean articles each month
Can you guess what song I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's from a 1985 song.
Also, I want to thank the 9,779 kind people who support our charity each month, and who make this podcast possible. You can join them and support our mission at: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate
Links we talk about during our conversation:
- freeCodeCamp's Korean edition, including Quincy's "Learn to code and get a developer job" book translated into Korean: https://www.freecodecamp.org/korean/news/learn-to-code-book/
- Alison on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aliyooncreative