Sharon

Sharon comes originally from Zimbabwe but is currently based in Germany. In her free time, she likes to stay active and fit by engaging in various fitness activities, such as running and weightlifting. 🏋️‍♀️

“I find that staying physically active not only keeps me healthy but also helps me stay focused and energized at work.”

Another hobby of hers is web development. She deeply enjoys creating websites and experimenting with different design elements and programming languages.

“It's a creative outlet that allows me to express myself and keep up with the latest trends in technology.”

In her previous job, she worked as a remote sensing intern at the FAO. Her tasks included analyzing and interpreting satellite imagery and aerial photographs to gather information about forest covers and resources. This internship required advanced technical skills which made Sharon realize she needed to gain more knowledge. This is when she moved to Germany to start a Master’s program in Cartography.

However, most job offers in the career path she wanted to follow required specific coding skills. This is because there’s a need to build automated methods to extract information from satellite images, as well as process, store, and publish that information.

“My degree in Cartography was a good start in introducing me to the world of coding. However, I didn't really get a chance to develop and gain a deep understanding of web development because at University we are usually focusing on wider topics.”

When she started looking for jobs, this lack of coding knowledge started to stand between her and the positions she was interested in. Sharon remembers always having a hard time responding to basic questions about coding which constantly popped up during interviews.

“It was the realization that knowing how code could help me progress in my career that eventually made me take it seriously and want to have a deep understanding.“

Sharon really enjoyed her learning experience with SheCodes 😍 To her, the best part about the structure of our program is that it starts from the very basics of coding to build on top of that knowledge all the way until the end. So you’re gradually introduced to more complex concepts without feeling like you’re out of your depth.

“Prior to taking the SheCodes workshops, it was difficult to grasp concepts and I always ended up copying and pasting code from StackOverflow or somewhere on the internet without any idea of what it does and just praying that it works.  With SheCodes I was able to explain every line of code I wrote and what it does.”

It didn’t take much time for Sharon to realize front-end development was exactly the right step for her career. Since front-end works with the more visual side of coding, it would allow her to build web maps with data extracted from satellite images that her users could easily interact with.

“It is just amazing when you can see a web application come to life just using lines of code.”

By the time she graduated from SheCodes, Sharon had a strong portfolio with all her projects and certificates to back it up. She now had the confidence she was missing before to apply for jobs that required coding skills. She recalls this made her become a far more confident woman.

“Taking up a challenge like coding and discovering I can actually do it and produce wonderful work and that someone can actually hire me because of that... it’s truly amazing.”

Sharon is now working as a Satellite Image Analyst - and she has never felt so confident and bold to explore advanced coding tasks. Her daily activities include extracting geographic information from images and using her web development skills to create interactive maps or develop satellite imagery applications. 

Her work is extremely relevant for emergency services to be able to identify flooded areas and give the right information to local bodies to carry out successful evacuation or rescue missions.

It’s safe to say, Sharon’s new coding knowledge was exactly what her career needed to jump to the next level. And funnily enough, she discovered a deep interest in coding and technology in general.

“Besides the wonders it has done for my career, I am curious about technology trends and how things can be automated to make life easier. At the centre of every cutting new technology is a code from self-driving cars, DNA sequencing, navigation, gaming  and so forth”

Sharon highly recommends SheCodes to anyone who is interested in learning web development even without prior experience since our workshops are designed to take you from level zero to a confident coder.

“If you get stuck, someone can always look at your code and give you a solution. And having deadlines for submitting homework projects really helps in committing to achieving a goal within a certain time frame.“

Besides the structure, she also sees coding as a great opportunity to expand your skillset and open up new career opportunities.

“I am certain coding is increasingly becoming a highly in-demand skill as more businesses and organizations rely on technology, there is a growing need for skilled web developers who can help build and maintain websites and applications.”

We couldn’t be more proud of Sharon’s journey and where it took her. ❤️ Congratulations, Sharon!!

Sharon’s Testimonials:

“I had the pleasure of creating a web page from scratch. I am looking forward to creating more advanced web pages with the next level SheCodes workshop.”

“I really enjoyed SheCodes Plus, it improved my knowledge of JS objects, functions, conditional statements and events. It's amazing to see me go from being hacky to being a more confident web developer. 🎈🎈🎈”

“I am so thrilled to have finished the React workshop. I can boldly say it was time well spent and the skills I have gained I will forever carry. This workshop has taken me from zero ReactJS to confidently able to develop a React Application. I highly recommend it.”