How did I get here?
I was born in the late 80’s in Pittsburgh, PA. I started with Object Oriented Programming in C++ and Java during high school. That led me to pursue a Computer Science degree after high school then Mathematics; followed by a short career in Material Science after an Asc. Degree in Chemistry. The education was with Bidwell Training center, which is where I learned to love nontraditional forms of education. I finished my BS Degree in Science from the University of Pittsburgh with night classes while working in a cutting edge Neuroscience Department (PIND). This allowed me to learn more about Geology, Physics, and Neuroscience. I did get some exposure to SQL in a GIS course.
After the end of 2016 with my degree being completed; I found Javascript, functional programming and the wonderful deep field of web development. I quickly became aware of my passion was in software. With my background in CS I quickly learned JS (React and Vanilla) , Webpack , Babel , HTML5/CSS3, Node and Ruby (Rails). This was just a starting point. I started pursuing jobs very early on, this was very challenging and valuable looking back. Having been given coding assignments in tools I had no experience with such as Python ( Flask ), Websockets, C#( .NET ) and Java (spring). During this time I used tools like Hackerrank and Codeingames to hone in my coding flow and problem solving. Consistently reading Stackoverflow, Medium articles and started to follow the tech community on Twitter. Also taking a consistent stream of Udemy course to build projects, learn concepts and learn technologies outside my wheelhouse, that is where I really honed in my React, Redux, Docker, SQL and vanilla JS, HTML, CSS. Some great teachers I found were Bret Fisher, Stephen Grider, Andrew Mead, and Jonas Schmedtmann
Most importantly, I started to participate in the coding community in Pittsburgh. Having gone to many meetups from Code&Supply, Pittsburgh Functional, Pittsburgh QA, Python Users and more. I had gained insight into many of the deep corners of this field. It cannot be overstated how important these meetups where. Getting exposure to Kotlin, Scala, Go, Rust, and Elixir. Not just technologies where experienced, soft skills talks and discussion as well.
Forward to 2018 spring, still unemployed in tech and after a major loss in my family. I took sometime off from the job hunt. I pursued some time in looking into Game Development and did not love it. I did also teach myself some Data Science with Python, Jupyter Notebooks, Numpy and Plotly. I gained insight that I enjoy Data alot. I continued to keep my web development sharp along this path. This is the period I learned Docker, which I really enjoy.
In the spring of 2019, I found myself inspired by the landscape and opportunities here in San Diego. I signed up for Learn Academy Echo Class of 2019. I quit my job, packed my bags and moved across the country . I wanted to grow as an individual by moving to a completely new region in the USA. Continuing to attend meetups here, I have happily found extremely talented and friendly engineers. My favorite meetups here are SD Tech Hub, Ruby, Data Engineering, Javascript, and Tech Events. I am also excited to learn more about F# (functional/domain design), Airflow, Sagemaker, Redshift and SQL. Thank you for reading my story, I cannot wait to continue adding more paragraphs.
