My name is Mary Katherine – and I am making the jump. Well, making the jump soon.
The goal is to become a software engineer, or a web developer, or a programmer. Okay, I don’t have the job title down yet but the point is that I want to code. I want to make things that do something. I want to feel good about the work that I do, and I want to work with others who are passionate about their work. That’s the goal. So, how do I get there?
I’ve always dabbled in HTML – coded my first webpage when I was 10. It was not pretty and I did not go up on the internet. Thankfully. I spent my teens on the family computer, pushing pixels around on my MySpace page until my theme was just right. That’s where I discovered inline CSS, although I didn’t know it at the time. My Environmental Science degree required that I take a scientific programming class – hello, Matlab. I cobbled together a very clunky interactive dorm room panorama using vanilla JavaScript during a college internship. Post-college, I built a free website on Weebly and landed my first job – which is where I am now.
At my current job, I do graphic design and “lite” front end web development. I code emails from PSD comps that I create. I design landing pages in the browser using a combination of Dreamweaver and Chrome’s developer tools. I rarely use JavaScript, but when I do, I use jQuery. On a daily basis I’m updating content on the site via the CMS, sending off issues to our back-end dev team, putting together branding and graphics for events, or tweaking existing branding to send off to various media partners and publications.
Despite having some basics down, I consider myself a newbie. I’m in the process of learning Ruby / Ruby on Rails and hoping to also pick up some JavaScript frameworks along the way. In this blog I’ll outline the struggles of the learning curve as a newbie, both the technical and existential obstacles. Rest assured, there will be plenty. I’m aiming to post a few times a week, although it may be more or less frequent depending on workload.
Follow along if you’re also a newbie, and we can work through issues together. If you have programming experience, I’d love feedback!
Looking forward to making the jump with you.
Welcome aboard, along the neverending journey!
LikeLike
Thanks! Very excited!
LikeLike
Pingback: The Path I’m On | emkaydeum
Hi Mary Katherine – I just attended your Ruby on Rails class last night. I really appreciate you taking the time teach others what you have learned. Best of luck and I hope to see you around the upcoming meetup events.
LikeLike