
CodeNewbie
The CodeNewbie podcast was born from CodeNewbie, an organization which fosters a supportive, international community of people learning to code. Each season, host Saron Yitbarek delivers stories and interviews from people of diverse backgrounds and expertise about their coding journeys, as well as beginner friendly discussions about the tech you should know about.
Latest episodes

May 27, 2019 • 43min
S8:E8 - What it's like to be in a computer science class (David Malan)
CS50 is the largest class at Harvard, with 800 students, but you can also find these engaging lectures online. We chat with the professor of this popular and unconventional class, David Malan, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) CO.LAB Lisp AJAX CSS Ruby C++ Python Code.org Scratch Big O Notation CS50 for MBAs HTTP SQL HTML PHP JavaScript Java Blockly Snap C CS50 David MalanDavid J. Malan is Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a Member of the Faculty of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

May 20, 2019 • 46min
S8:E7 - How do you transform your career? (Kanika Tolver)
Deciding to start over again and begin a new career path can be overwhelming and stressful. We chat with Kanika Tolver, founder of Career Rehab and senior project manager for the US Department of the Treasury, about some of the most important things to consider and some of the best resources to use to help you along with your career shift. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) PayScale glassdoor LinkedIn Blacks in Technology Career Rehab Kanika TolverKanika Tolver is a highly decorated information technology Federal Government professional, rebel entrepreneur and Certified Professional Coach.

May 13, 2019 • 50min
S8:E6 - How to make the workplace more inclusive (Nicole Sanchez)
We chat with Nicole Sanchez, founder and managing partner at Vaya Consulting, a D&I consulting firm, about living by your company's values and making diversity and inclusion a founding priority. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Vaya Consulting GitHub Codeland 2019 Nicole SanchezFor more than 20 years, Nicole has served as a leading expert on workplace culture with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Previously, Nicole served as VP of Social Impact at GitHub and Managing Partner for the Kapor Center for Social Impact. Nicole earned a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business where she is a lecturer on workplace diversity. Nicole serves on the Board of CODE2040, and has received numerous awards for her work.

May 6, 2019 • 47min
S8:E5 - UX in healthcare (Danielle Smith)
Danielle Smith, director of user experience research and accessibility at Express Scripts, gives us a look inside the world of UX in healthcare. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) R (programming language) SQL Codeland 2019 Danielle SmithDanielle Smith is a User Experience professional based out of Austin, TX. She is a trained social scientist with over 15 years of experience in technology research and design across a variety of industries spanning from spaceflight at NASA/Lockheed Martin, to enterprise systems at Dell, the payments and credit industry at PayPal, and most recently, healthcare.

Apr 29, 2019 • 53min
S8:E4 - How to get hired (Kevin Lozandier)
In this week’s episode, Saron chats with Google user experience engineer, Kevin Lozandier about how he spent years building his resume and after failing the first time, finally got in to Google. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) YouTube TV Netscape Composer Denver’s Gifted & Talented Program Microsoft Frontpage USC Digital Entrepreneurship Program Treehouse Scholarship Kahn Academy Code School (Pluralsight) Codeland 2019 Kevin LozandierKevin Lozandier is a UX engineer who loves solving engineering problems requiring the appreciation of design, accessibility, and engineering. He also loves to make sure designers and engineers are on the same page and constantly learn new things.

Apr 22, 2019 • 47min
S8:E3 - Coding without code (Joanna Smith)
How do you code without actually coding? What tools can you use to build apps and automate workflows without using any code? Joanna shares the power for these non-coding tools and how you can build amazing solutions with tools like GSuite. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Codeland 2019 Joanna SmithJoanna Smith works for Google in Austin, Texas. As a Developer Advocate, her job is to help get G Suite to work for you. She’s trying to bring an end to tedium at work through clever workflow automation.

Apr 15, 2019 • 57min
S8:E2 - How to build a community (Michael Berhane)
What does it take to build a community? And once you've built one, how do you sustain it? Michael shares his story of how he built the People of Color in Tech community and how he balances community and entrepreneurship. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) People of Color in Tech Codeland 2019 Michael BerhaneA JavaScript developer by training, Michael is now the co-founder and CEO of peopleofcolorintech.com, a media and recruitment platform for people of color in the tech industry. He is also the co-host of Techish, a tech and pop culture podcast!

Apr 8, 2019 • 55min
S8:E1 - From police recruit to developer (Tim Heuer)
Tim Heuer really wanted to be a police officer, so he started down that track and became a police recruit. But after facing the reality that police recruits don't get paid much and wanting to settle down with a lady he was seeing, he decided to look for other ways to make money. He got a temp job doing basic data entry, and that kicked off his long winding path to the world of coding. He tells us how he eventually became a principal at Microsoft, and what helped him navigate his career. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Codeland 2019 Tim HeuerTim works as an advocate for developer experiences using Microsoft technologies. Prior to working in cloud development, Tim spent years developing UI framework technologies for desktop and mobile applications. He is always a champion for simplicity and ease for the developer and loves developer tooling more than anything!

Mar 4, 2019 • 52min
S7:E8 - How do you build a great product? (Ryan Hoover)
Ryan took his love of products and created Product Hunt, a place to share and discover new products, which sold to Angel List for a rumored $20M. Ryan shares what makes a great product, what he looks for in products as an investor, and how you can get started in product management. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Dreamweaver Product Hunt Codeland 2019 Ryan HooverRyan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt, the place to discover the latest in tech. He is also an investor in early stage startups, investing out of a fund he started in 2013 called Weekend Fund.

Feb 25, 2019 • 51min
S7:E7 - When things go wrong at work (Jaime-Alexis Fowler)
You've got a new job at a new company in a new industry. It's been a few weeks, and things feel a bit off. Maybe you were excluded from a meeting, or your boss isn't being supportive, or maybe you're worried about keeping that new job. What do you do? Who do you call for help? Jaime-Alexis started a non-profit to solve this problem. She created a hotline where you can reach professionals to help you strategize how to tackle workplace challenges. She digs into some of common issues that folks run into, how the hotline works, and what the unique challenges are for those going into the tech industry. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Susan Fowler's post on Uber Empower Work Codeland 2019 Jaime-Alexis FowlerJaime-Alexis Fowler is the founder of Empower Work, a nonprofit that provides confidential support for tough work issues via text or webchat. She's passionate about making work work for everyone.
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