How I Got Started with Coding

With Tanya Powell

@tanya_powell | [email protected]
  • I'm a Software Engineer at Gamesys
  • I volunteer at EmpowerHack
  • and I spend too much time on Instagram

What is a Firewall? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  • During my ICT GCSE I saw this question and can you guess what I did?
  • I closed the paper and fell asleep

But why would you fall asleep?

  • We only studied Microsoft Office in lessons. Nothing to do with computing
  • Only the super duper intelligent people understood anything to do with computing and I was not one of them
  • And I honestly thought that would be the last time I'd ever do anything with computing

My Former Life as a Presentation Scheduler

  • For almost six years I worked as a Senior Television Presentation Scheduler across multiple channels
  • I was in charge of making sure each TV Show in a schedule started and ended on time
  • I had to manually place all the sponsorship around programmes
  • I had to place all the commercial breaks in and around TV Shows

Presentation Scheduler != Software Engineer

  • During my first couple of months I had my first encounter with the Devs of our bespoke Scheduling system OnAir
  • Thanks to this encounter I was introduced to the concepts of stress and load testing. Concepts these Devs didn't know about

Presentation Scheduler != Software Engineer

  • Within a year I became the team's superuser and was able to report bugs and communicate better with the Devs than OnAir support
  • I finally recognised that computing wasn't only for brainiacs and that maybe I could actually have a career in this field...but what did I want to do?

Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker

  • I'd always had creative hobbies: baking, pottery, playing drums, photography, graphic designing
  • But what does being creative have to do with the software world?
  • It has EVERYTHING to do with the software world!
  • I decided I wanted to make things...I wanted to make software

Back to School

  • Within days I had found a course and in September 2012 I officially became a part time MSc Software Engineering student
  • Over the two years I studied for my MSc I learnt C++, C#, Oracle SQL and MSSql

Back in TV land

  • Whilst studying I was asked to put my new skills to use by fixing bugs and conducting very simple spikes
  • I became the unofficial part time junior developer
  • I was fortunate to be exposed to real world dev work whilst studying and I made the most of it
  • I also built a few websites for friends who had side projects or were starting businesses
  • After graduating in November 2014 I took a few months break before looking for my first official software development role
  • And most importantly...I caught up on some sleep

Gamesys

  • Soon after starting my job hunt I discovered Gamesys
  • They seemed like the right culture fit for me and so I applied for a role
  • I was offered a job in April 2015 and started the following August after a long notice period at my previous job

Gamesys

  • Since being at Gamesys I've been given the opportunity to lead a project which had a group of Junior Devs on
  • I'm fortunate enough to be one of the only full stack engineers there and have been exposed to many technologies

What's this open source thing I keep hearing about?

  • Whilst job hunting I started hearing more about the open source world and was intrigued by it all...but had no idea where to start
  • In early 2015 I started attending various meetups and meeting like minded people

Women Hack for Non-Profits

  • In June 2015 I joined Women Hack for Non-Profits and was soon made the backend lead for one of the projects
  • As my former life as a Presentation Scheduler gave me many soft skills I was also able to use these skills to help the org grow

Acorn Hack

Draw My Life (EmpowerHack)

Technology is the gateway to your dreams

What's next for Tanya?

  • My life as a coder has been short, however has been jam packed with various projects, technology and people
  • Local businesses have started using my services to improve their online presence
  • In early 2017 I am hoping to launch a personal project to help Black British women find beauty services that are specifically catered for our needs
  • (but ssshh it's still a secret)
  • Carry on my day job as a Software Engineer