As the eighth season of the Learn to Code With Me podcast draws to a close, I wanted to share a few quick updates on LTCWM and my life outside of work. To stay in touch while we're off-season, join our email list at learntocodewith.me . Catch up on all past episodes at learntocodewith.me/podcast, including these Season 8 episodes: S8E1 : From Stay-At-Home Mom to Full-Time Front-End Developer With Phoebe Voong-Fadel S8E2 : From Frying Chicken to Working at Google With Danny Thompson S8E3 : From P...
Sep 07, 2021•3 min
After playing rugby in college, working an unpaid filmmaking internship, and switching into recruiting, Michael Poage was feeling burnt out. But after teaching himself how to code, Michael was able to land a job at startup Teachable without a computer science degree or coding bootcamp experience. In this episode, Mike talks about how he got his job at Teachable, what internal tools are and why they matter to a company, and his experience watching a brand new startup grow into a 200+ employee com...
Aug 31, 2021•49 min•Season 8Ep. 8
At 17, Kara Luton was living on her own in New York City on her way to becoming a professional ballerina. But after realizing that a career in ballet wasn’t for her, she worked in the music industry and PR before she stumbled across coding. In this episode, you’ll learn how Kara’s athletic training helped her in her tech career, and how she became a UX engineer at CrowdStrike. To learn more about Kara Luton, Laurence Bradford, and today’s key takeaways, visit learntocodewith.me/s8e7 . Thank you ...
Aug 17, 2021•49 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Matt Wiethoff had a promising career in tech, until everything was put on pause because of an injury that made it painful to type on a keyboard. But he turned his challenge into an opportunity and founded Serenade, a powerful tool that lets you code using only your voice, from refactoring code to writing docs. Your move, RSI. To learn more about Matt Wiethoff, Laurence Bradford, and today’s key takeaways, visit learntocodewith.me/s8e6 . Thank you to our sponsor for this season, Linode. Host your...
Aug 03, 2021•40 min•Season 8Ep. 6
It took Stacey Graham 13 years to earn her IT degree. She’s gone through a lot – moving into another state, becoming a mother of three, surviving cancer, and losing a six-month-old son – and amidst these difficult situations, Stacey was still able to find a successful career in tech. To learn more about Stacey Graham, Laurence Bradford, and today’s key takeaways, visit learntocodewith.me/s8e5 . Thank you to our sponsor for this season, Linode. Host your app, website, or service on the cloud from...
Jul 20, 2021•44 min•Season 8Ep. 5
Jesse Weigel pivoted into a new tech career under a unique combination of circumstances – a growing family, a curiosity for coding, and a friend with a job opportunity. Even without formal training, Jesse was able to teach himself to code, leave his job in the restaurant industry, and ultimately become the head of engineering at Tabela and a live coder for freeCodeCamp, where he first learned to code. To learn more about Jesse Weigel, Laurence Bradford, and today’s key takeaways, visit learntoco...
Jul 06, 2021•52 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Nikkole Spurgeon has been through a lot - domestic violence, drug addiction, and even imprisonment. She knew that things should change, and that’s where coding came into the picture. In this episode, Nikkole talks about her life before prison, difficulties with learning in prison, adapting to COVID-19, her motivation for learning, transitioning to the outside world, and what her day-to-day life is like right now. To learn more about Nikkole Spurgeon, Laurence Bradford, and today’s key takeaways,...
Jun 22, 2021•34 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Danny Thompson was at a crossroads. He had to decide between staying at his job as a gas station fry cook or making a drastic career shift. And after learning to code as a hobby, Danny now works full-time at Google in Developer Relations. In this episode, Danny talks about his job search strategy and how he landed his first job in tech. He also shares the value of meaningful relationships in your career, how anyone at any age and background can learn how to code, and his best advice if you’re co...
Jun 08, 2021•52 min•Season 8Ep. 2
In today’s episode, Phoebe Voong-Fadel talks about how she structured her days and found time to code as a stay-at-home mom, when she felt ready to start freelancing, tips for job hunting as a self-taught developer, advice for parents who want to learn to code, and more! To learn more about Phoebe Voong-Fadel, Laurence Bradford, and today’s key takeaways, visit learntocodewith.me/s8e1 . Thank you to our sponsor this season, Linode. Host your app, website, or service on the cloud from just $5 a m...
May 25, 2021•46 min•Season 8Ep. 1
Host Laurence Bradford shares an update on Learn to Code With Me, including what’s new for Season 8 of the podcast. She also shares a few major updates on her life and business since Season 7 wrapped in July 2020, plus an exciting look at what’s to come in this 8-episode season of the Learn to Code With Me Podcast. Thank you to our sponsor this season, Linode. Host your app, website, or service on the cloud from just $5 a month, plus get $100 in credit when you create a new account at linode.com...
May 25, 2021•5 min
As the seventh season of the Learn to Code With Me podcast draws to a close, I reflect on the inspiring transformation stories we shared, including recaps of my favorite moments. I also share updates on LTCWM and my goals for 2020, including a sneak peek into what we’re working on next through the end of the year. Catch up on all eight episodes from Season 7 here or at learntocodewith.me/podcast : S7E1 : Making the Pivot from Pastor to Web Designer with Chris Misterek S7E2 : How an English Profe...
Jul 28, 2020•8 min
As a young aspiring astronaut in high school, Camille Eddy started building websites to pay for her college housing. She’s a first-generation STEM student, and with support from key mentors, today, Camille is a Product Engineer at Bloc and an International Public Speaker. In this episode, you’ll learn… How Camille got into robotics How mentors have played a critical role in her career Why Camille believes it’s so important to advocate for women and Black employees in tech How Camille found inter...
Jul 21, 2020•44 min
With barely enough income to support his wife and child, not to mention a poor working environment for his physical and mental health, Michael Pimentel wanted to move on from being a glassblower. That’s why after 9 years in the film industry, Michael decided to pursue a career in tech by using free online resources to teach himself how to code. If you’re considering a transition to tech from a non-traditional background, Michael offers great advice about teaching himself to code while working a ...
Jul 14, 2020•48 min
Caitlyn Greffly used to travel around the country selling beer, but it got tiring. So in pursuit of a more sustainable way of living, Caitlyn started teaching herself to code. She ended up joining a bootcamp and quickly received a job offer before she even completed the program, less than 6 months later. In this episode, Caitlyn talks about… Applying to boot camps, and how she came back after getting rejected the first time Her experience learning with Thinkful Finding a job in the middle of the...
Jul 07, 2020•43 min
Newvick Lee is a software developer at WealthBar, a Canadian fintech company. He’s also working on Habitmon, a chatbot that helps with building habits. But before all this, Newvick was a pharmacist who helped people with mental health issues. In this episode, you’ll learn… How Newvick made the transition from pharmacist to software engineer without a computer science degree The importance of working on side projects when you're learning to code The advice Newvick shares for anyone who wants to m...
Jun 30, 2020•39 min
Erik is a senior software engineer at an insurance technology company in Reno, Nevada. He’s also a tech author, podcast co-host, blogger, and YouTuber. Even though Erik has a traditional computer science degree, his path wasn’t very traditional. He took a break from college after a couple of semesters, took a job in tech support for a few years, and then went back to finish his degree. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today: Erik’s journey to becoming a senior software engineer Wh...
Jun 23, 2020•47 min
Rebecca Garcia is a Career Coach & Product Manager who helps women build fulfilling six-figure careers in tech. Previously she was a Program Manager at Microsoft, Developer at Squarespace, and is currently a Technical Product Manager. Named one of the 'Top Women Under 35 Changing the Tech Industry' by Glamour Magazine, and a 'Champion of Change for Tech Inclusion' from former U.S. President Barack Obama. In this episode, Rebecca shares her story before walking through tips to build your tech...
Jun 16, 2020•44 min
Bekah Hawrot Weigel is a mother of four and a former part-time English teacher who redefined her life through coding. As she was giving birth to her fourth child, Bekah experienced trauma that left her with PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Feeling lost at the time, Bekah finally took on her husband’s crazy suggestion to learn to code (as he had a few years ago). She found coding surprisingly therapeutic, and a few years later, she graduated from Flatiron School and now works as a fr...
Jun 09, 2020•51 min
With a full-time job as a worship pastor and as a single dad of three girls, Chris Misterek couldn’t afford to take any job that required him to be away from home. So on a friend’s recommendation, he started looking into web design, took courses, and even started building websites for his friends’ businesses or blogs. He eventually found his way to Showit, a family-oriented tech company, and in this episode, Chris talks about his transition from being a pastor to a web designer, time management ...
Jun 02, 2020•49 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Host Laurence Bradford shares an update on Learn to Code with Me, including what’s new for Season 7 of the podcast. She also shares a few major updates on her life and business since Season 6 wrapped in October 2019, plus an exciting look at what’s to come in this 8-episode season of the Learn to Code With Me Podcast. Special Announcement: The biggest Learn to Code With Me event of the year is right around the corner — the 2020 Ultimate Tech Career Toolbox bundle sale . This year, you can save o...
Jun 02, 2020•7 min
As the sixth season of the Learn to Code With Me podcast comes to an end, I share a few updates about what’s coming up over the next few months.
Oct 16, 2019•8 min•Season 6Ep. 21
Tommy Griffith has been doing search engine optimization for more than 10 years. He was previously managed SEO at PayPal and Airbnb, and now runs ClickMinded, a digital marketing training platform for marketers and entrepreneurs. Tommy started ClickMinded as a side project while working full-time at Airbnb. He grew it until it started generating more revenue than his annual salary. Two years ago, he quit Airbnb to go full-time on it and ran into a number of problems in trying to grow the busines...
Oct 15, 2019•43 min•Season 6Ep. 20
Safia Abdalla is an open source developer, writer, and a software engineer at Microsoft and she also co-hosts the BookBytes podcast, a fortnightly book club for developers. She’s passionate about bringing people together to build great things and using storytelling to share knowledge. In this episode, we discuss… How to get into open source development What makes a good open source project to start with Whether open source contributions can help you get a job How to transition from contributor t...
Oct 08, 2019•40 min•Season 6Ep. 19
Jenn Clevenger is Etsy's Data Engineering Director. In this role, she leads engineering teams in charge of Big Data platforms, Business insights infrastructure and Data Integrations. These teams provide data products and services to internal stakeholders including Analytics, Data Science, Product and Marketing organizations at Etsy. In this episode, we discuss… Job-hunting/career-building when pregnant What a day in the life of a data engineering director looks like How to create an inclusive wo...
Oct 01, 2019•38 min•Season 6Ep. 16
Clément Mihailescu enrolled in a coding bootcamp without ever having written a single line of code. Less than six months later, he secured a job at Google as a software engineer. His experience applying for jobs also inspired him to start a side business, helping others practice for the technical interview. In this episode, we discuss… How to land a job at a top tech company What it’s like working at Google How to prepare for a coding interview What it’s like balancing a side gig and a full-time...
Sep 24, 2019•36 min•Season 6Ep. 17
Ina Yulo is the global manager for BrightTALK's FinTech and Women in Business communities. She also advises companies including tech giants and large banks on content marketing. She’s on the Women in FinTech Power List, was named a WeAreTheCity Rising Star for 2018, and is both a speaker and a mentor for business owners. In this episode, we discuss… Current innovations in FinTech What kinds of jobs are available and what level of tech skills you might need Ina’s advice for startup founders and w...
Sep 17, 2019•36 min•Season 6Ep. 16
It can be tough to know if a coding bootcamp is the right investment for you. Before you make that decision, you should weigh all the factors involved and evaluate them in the context of your personality and goals. Here to help explain how to do this is Ruben Harris, CEO of Career Karma, where is empowers people to make their most important career decisions—the first being which coding boot camp is best for them. In this episode, we discuss… The history of bootcamps How to know whether attending...
Aug 06, 2019•43 min•Season 6Ep. 15
If you want to work in tech or run your own business, chances are high that you’ll be working with data at some point. That means you need to know about data privacy, and it’s hard to find someone more knowledgeable and experienced than Sheila FitzPatrick. Sheila is the founder and president of FitzPatrick & Associates, a strategic global data privacy and protection compliance consulting firm. In this episode, we discuss… What developers/tech professionals need to know to make sure that thei...
Jul 30, 2019•38 min•Season 6Ep. 14
Logan Tran made his tech transition from the music industry about five and a half years ago. He began by self-teaching and building his own projects. He was soon introduced to DevOps through his work and decided to pursue the specialty. Now, he’s in his second DevOps Engineer role at NextCapital. In this episode, we discuss… What DevOps entails, from the culture to the technology to the job market How Logan went from the music industry to tech without a college degree Why working remotely isn’t ...
Jul 23, 2019•41 min•Season 6Ep. 13
Christina Gorton is a self-taught creative coder and instructor who works remotely from Costa Rica. She was a stay-at-home mom for 5 years before transitioning into tech, and she landed a junior developer job after just 9 months of learning to code. In this episode, we discuss... How to make time to learn to code as a mom What it’s like to work remotely What creative coding is all about Learn more about Christina and what we discussed on the Learn to Code With Me website . Thank you to this epis...
Jul 16, 2019•35 min•Season 6Ep. 12
