Ale Thomas, Developer Advocate and Web Developer at Kubeshop | Mixed Change, talks about her journey into tech without a CS degree, the importance of mentors and community, and her work for inclusivity in the tech industry.

Former lab scientist turned frontend engineer, Vanessa Vun, shares her journey of self-taught coding after a 10-year career in clinical laboratory science. She discusses motivation, career transitions, job hunting experiences, impacts of layoffs on job security, and the benefits of having a niche as a developer.

Alex Lee, a Frontend Engineer at Amazon, shares his journey from mechanical engineering to coding through a bootcamp. He talks about his passion for career coaching and empowering others. The podcast covers topics like transitioning to Amazon, imposter syndrome, starting a YouTube channel, and the role of a career coach for software developers.

Marley Anthony, a former biomedical science student turned software engineer at Bench Accounting, shares strategies for securing internships, transitioning into tech, dealing with imposter syndrome, and using the Pomodoro technique to manage frustrations in coding.

Saron talks to Madison Kanna, Senior Software Engineer, Health and Wellness at Walmart. Saron talks to Madison about finding the inspiration to transition from being a model to becoming a skilled developer. Madison talks about the experiences, challenges, and moments that sparked her interest in development. Listeners will gain insights into the tools and resources she utilized to hone her coding skills when first embarking on this new path. Madison also highlights the importance of seeking mentorship and how mentorship can open doors to exciting opportunities. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Madison's Blog Web Development Systems Programming Data Science Python CodeBookClub Deep Work Madison KannaMadison Kanna started her coding journey back in 2017 after deciding to shift away from her modeling career. In just one year, she made the transition fully and she is now a Senior Software Engineer in Health and Wellness at Walmart! Outside of her role, you can find her blogging about what she's learning, or leading the CodeBookClub, a virtual community she started back in 2020.

Today, Saron sits down with Natalie Davis, who shares her experience pursuing software engineering after climbing the ladder in the retail industry for 15 years. In their conversation, Natalie talks about what she has learned navigating the tech industry, how she's navigated layoffs, and why she has grown to be more selective and intentional with prospective new opportunities. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Mark Thompson Cassidy Williams Developer Advocate 2FA Natalie Davis (GitHub) Natalie Davis (Twitter) README Angie Jones ISA (Income-Share Agreement) Natalie DavisNatalie Davis is a software engineer by trade and a curious person by nature. After deciding to step away from her extensive retail career, Natalie took the first steps in her tech journey by graduating from an 18-month long bootcamp. Natalie landed her first engineering role with Foxtrot while still in school, but has since held roles with Netlify and Post.

Saron sits down with Stacey Graham, Software Engineer at a fintech company. Stacey grew up curious about computers since being introduced to them in the 7th grade. Although she didn't take the full plunge into code immediately, she constantly provided technical support in her previous roles. Hear Stacey talk more about her experience navigating her career transition while battling health troubles, how you can level up and network in the tech community, and where to look for communities while you are just starting out. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) YNA OpenSource Project Github Join & Contribute to YNA YNA Twitter YNA LinkedIn YNA Instagram Stacey's Instagram Stacey's Twitter Meetup.com WorkSource Atlanta Career Karma Team Treehouse Codecademy freeCodeCamp JavaScript CSS HTML Network Administrator Stacey GrahamStacey fell in love with technology in the 7th grade in her first computer class and from there, her curiosity for technology began. She is passionate about coding and loves learning and problem-solving collaboratively in teams. She enjoys building high-quality applications in JavaScript, React, and Angular and she enjoys working with RESTful APIs, Node.js, and Express.js. She likes being challenged and believes there is always an opportunity to learn something new in web development, and that is what gets her excited about this industry.

Today, Saron talks with Phoebe Voong-Fadel, a self-taught Frontend Developer at the National Foundation for Educational Research. After having transitioned from a successful 14-year career in Higher Education in 2017, Phoebe made the courageous decision to pursue coding full-time while balancing the responsibilities of being a mother to her two children. Along with learning about her experience balancing learning to code and being a mom we talk to Phoebe about her passions that extend beyond her professional role. She actively contributes to the coding community by writing articles for freeCodeCamp and mentors early-career developers. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Udemy React The Collab Lab Paired programming OpenLayers Front-end Development Python CS50 JavaScript #100DaysOfCode freeCodeCamp HTML Phoebe Voong-FadelPhoebe was born and educated in the U.K. Before entering the world of web development, she worked for over a decade at various universities in London. Throughout her career in Higher Education, she was a strong advocate of using technology and software to automate repetitive administrative tasks. So she decided to pursue a more technical career. She is currently working full-time as a front-end developer at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).

Saron talks with Africa, a former Occupational Therapist specializing in virtual therapy and assistive technology. Saron and Africa talk about transitioning from Occupational Therapy to working as an Accessibility Engineer testing government software and teaching developers how to build more inclusive web applications. Africa also talks about her journey teaching herself how to code, what stretches are useful for Software Engineers, and how important coffee chats and networking are. Be sure to listen for the mini-guided stretch break during the episode as well! Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Pomodoro Timer Your Stretch Break #100devs CS50: Introduction to Computer Science The Odin Project freeCodeCamp Occupational Therapy Africa MinceyAfrica Mincey is a Software Engineer and accessibility specialist specializing in: - human centered full-stack web development - assistive technology and web accessibility - technical writing, content creation, and community building. She uses web development tools to create dynamic and responsive web applications using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, express, mongoDB and NodeJS.

Saron talks to Senior Accessibility iOS Engineer at Spotify, Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats. Daniel talks all about accessibility and specifically delves in on how he got interested in the field, examples of how to make code more accessible, and how others listening can add accessibility to their tool kit of coding skills. Author of the “Developing Accessible iOS Apps” book, he keeps himself busy by writing a daily tweet about accessibility and iOS with the hashtag #365DaysIOSAccessibility. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) VoiceOver #365DaysIOSAccessibility Mobile A11y WWDC23 Developing Accessible iOS Apps Screen Readers Accessibility Daniel Devesa Derksen-StaatsDani has his dream job as an iOS Engineer on Spotify’s Accessibility team. He has previously loved working at Skyscanner or the BBC, where he learned a ton about how to make iOS apps more accessible. Sometimes he lets Xcode have a break and spreads the love for accessibility at conferences. Author of the “Developing Accessible iOS Apps” book, he keeps himself busy by writing a daily tweet about accessibility and iOS with the hashtag #365DaysIOSAccessibility.