How Carla began her coding journey with SheCodes and became a front-end developer!
๐โโ๏ธ Before SheCodes
Carla is from Lisbon, Portugal. She spent some time living in Budapest and London and then returned back to live in Lisbon. Sheโs one of our very first SheCodes students! ๐
In her free time, she plays the guitar, sings, does cross-fit, cooks, and reads. Sheโs a woman of many interests! ๐ Sheโs also very studious and has received a Bachelorโs degree in finance and accounting, followed by a Masterโs degree of Science in Business Administration. After her studies, she gained some experience in accounting and operations. She also worked for an app development company and thatโs when her interest in coding was born! ๐ฉโ๐ปย
โI was working in an app development company and started hanging out with the developers. They were pretty nice and friendly and they got me thinking that maybe it wasn't such a crazy thing for me to try programming. I had to learn a little bit just to join the conversations. They made it seem super interesting. I started looking for everything I could online, where I could learn web development. That's how I found SheCodes.โ
Carla came across SheCodes and decided to take the leap into coding! ๐ย
๐ฉโ๐ป Her SheCodes Experience
Carla was motivated to begin her SheCodes journey to discover if development was something she was truly interested in. Plus, she liked the fact that SheCodes was only for women and supported the mission of getting more women in tech.ย
โI wanted to check if this Web Development was something I could learn, or if I'd be terrible at it, or hate it. Also, my flatmate (he was a Java Developer) told me that a girl had been hired that same week, "probably will be given the easy tickets" and then looked at me and said "sorry, it's nothing against women in general, it's just that usually they're not very good". I signed up that very week. Courses like SheCodes are helping change this. Happy to have found SheCodes when I did.โ
SheCodes was Carlaโs first coding course and it provided her with a solid coding foundation in a way that was easy to understand! ๐
โSheCodes was my first web development course ever. SheCodes was very down to earth and basic, in a good way. Matt explained everything without making it too complicated.โ
She loved the creative side of coding and learning in a community filled with women. She believes that programs like SheCodes are necessary in this day and age because we need more women in coding and coders that have more diverse backgrounds, skills, and knowledge - weโd have to agree! ๐ ๐ฉโ๐ป
โI loved being able to create things. And it was also great being surrounded by other women going through the same process.โ
โSheCodes is absolutely needed nowadays. We need more women in coding - not just women, we need different backgrounds, different mindsets, so that we can start fighting the bias that is everywhere. It is imperative that we break through that nonsense that coding is "for guys" or for eg., for more introverted, socially awkward people. Movements like SheCodes are growing more and more and I love that I get to be involved in them. It's great to be able to change the narrative.โ
๐ How SheCodes has Helped to Change Her Life
With SheCodes, Carla gained a solid coding foundation and coding confidence. ๐ช ๐ป Following her SheCodes workshop, she continued her coding journey. She says that SheCodes was the impetus that helped her enter the tech world and eventually become a frontend developer. ๐คฉย
โThe knowledge from SheCodes gave me the confidence to search for more. I took a lot of courses and then a bootcamp to continue to learn. But SheCodes was my first big stepping stone. I had the course certificate on my wall for almost a year, as an inspiration.โ
โThank you, SheCodes, for officially getting me started on this crazy tech journey, I am now a Frontend Developer and part time lead teacher in a web dev bootcamp.โ
Carla is currently working as a full-time Frontend Developer at Waeg, an IBM company, along with some part-time work as a Lead Teacher in a Web Development bootcamp. In a typical day, she has a daily stand-up meeting, spends a lot of time coding and fixing bugs, and codes new features for her companyโs products. She often works on a few different projects at a time and is in close contact with many other team members to solve issues.ย
She says that her job now is different from before in that she has higher pay, is excited about her work, and has more freedom in that she gets to work remotely. ๐ In Carlaโs coding future, sheโd like to be involved in game development, work for a non-profit, and continue teaching. Weโre sure sheโll achieve all of her coding goals! โค๏ธย
โI am now working remotely, have a higher pay than what I had before, even after 5-6 years of working experience in my previous job, and the best part for me is that I keep excited about all the new things that I'm learning, solving new challenges every day. It's demanding but it's great. I don't think I will ever get bored.โ
โI would definitely like to be involved in game development at some point. It's so much fun to see the direct outcome of your work. I would also like to make a difference somehow, work for a non profit, be involved in a social project, and truly help people. I also want to keep on teaching, I believe that I can make a difference also like this - we need more female Web Dev instructors or teachers!โ
๐ฉโ๐ผ Advice to Future SheCodes Student
Carlaโs advice to future students is to just jump in and do it, because you wonโt know if you love coding until you try. ๐ She also thinks that we need more women in tech and more female coders! We definitely agree. ๐
โJust do it, you owe it to yourself to see if you have the skills, if you love it. Go against the norm, be a part of the change, start changing the world and the ancient idea that "women don't know how to code". And learn as much as you possibly can, all the time.โ
โSheCodes was life-changing for me. It gave me the foundation and confidence I needed in order to continue my coding journey by myself. Not only when it comes to CSS HTML and JS, but also design concepts and even tools to use. The classes, homework and amazing network opportunities made it 100% worthwhile. I'm glad I took the leap out of my comfort zone, because it absolutely paid off. Thanks a lot to everyone involved for a great project.โ
