My Journey With Code

In this presentation I tell my story about how I learnt to code, what drew to code, why I chose Python as a language of choice and my whole career journey to get me where I am today. This was my DjangoCon US 2018 Keynote.

Transcript

1. My Journey With Code
   by Anna Makarudze
   DjangoCon US 2018
   @amakarudze
   

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2. About me Fundraising
   Coordinator, Django
   Girls Foundation
   Django Software
   Foundation Board 2018
   

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3. Overview
   ➔
   Share my coding journey.
   ➔
   Answer “Why Python?”
   ➔
   Share my thoughts on mentorship
   through a project.
   

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4. My background
   

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5. Childhood in
   the rural
   areas
   1998
   

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6. Zimuto High
   School,
   Masvingo
   1999
   

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7. Then I met a tech
   enthusiast...
   

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8. Making the decision for
   a career in tech…
   

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9. And my coding journey
   begins…
   

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10. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    High School
    Student
    

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11. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    High School
    Student
    2. University
    Student,
    Intern
    

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12. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    Student
    2. University Student,
    Intern
    3. Network
    Technician
    

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13. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    Student
    2. University Student,
    Intern
    3. Network
    Technician
    4. Senior ICT
    Technician
    

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14. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    Student
    2. University Student,
    Intern
    3. Network
    Technician
    4. Senior ICT
    Technician
    5. NOC
    Technician,
    Billing
    Analyst
    

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15. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    Student
    2. University Student,
    Intern
    3. Network
    Technician
    4. Senior ICT
    Technician
    5. NOC
    Technician,
    Billing Analyst
    6. Senior
    BSS/OSS
    Consultant
    

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16. What role do I apply
    for?
    

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17. Met another old friend...
    

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18. Why Python?
    

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19. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    Student
    2. University Student,
    Intern
    3. Network
    Technician
    4. Senior ICT
    Technician
    5. NOC
    Technician,
    Billing Analyst
    6. Senior BSS/OSS
    Consultant
    7. Consultant,
    Python
    Developer
    

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20. 1. Computer
    Studies,
    Computing
    Student
    2. University Student,
    Intern
    3. Network
    Technician
    4. Senior ICT
    Technician
    5. NOC
    Technician,
    Billing Analyst
    6. Senior BSS/OSS
    Consultant
    7. ICT Consultant,
    Python
    Developer
    8.
    Fundraising
    Coordinator
    

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21. Working with Python
    

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22. Full Disclosure/
    Disclaimer
    This is not my best project and it’s
    still incomplete. Work in progress.
    

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23. Github repo
    https://github.com/amakarudze/sh
    erpany-task
    

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24. Question
    Build a single page app with a full
    viewport map on top and a list of
    addresses below based on Django
    1.9.
    

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25. Major challenges
    ➔
    We don’t use Google Maps that
    much.
    ➔
    Had never heard of Google
    Fusion Tables in my life!
    

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26. Initial attempt
    ➔
    AngularJS
    ➔
    Django Rest Framework
    ➔
    Django 1.9
    

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27. Initial feedback
    ➔
    No testing.
    ➔
    No validation.
    ➔
    No documentation.
    

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28. Time for some personal
    development...
    

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29. Developing coding skills
    ➔
    Learnt Angular online.
    ➔
    Did a workshop tutorial on
    Django + Angular + DRF.
    

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30. Second attempt
    ➔
    Google Map rendering issues with
    ngMap.
    ➔
    POST requests were a huge
    struggle.
    

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31. Third attempt
    ➔
    Angular, DRF and Django.
    ➔
    Javascript to load map.
    ➔
    Still struggled with Angular POST
    requests.
    

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32. Asking for help
    ➔
    Twitter - for Angular POST.
    ➔
    A friend responded and pointed
    me to a tutorial on CodeCraft.
    

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33. Asking for help
    ➔
    Harry Percival- Testing & other
    stuff @ PyCon Namibia.
    ➔
    Harry recommended books for
    coding interviews.
    

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34. Asking for help
    Marc Tamyln - Django dev and
    Validation
    

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35. Asking for help
    Daniele Procida- documentation @
    DjangoCon EU
    

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36. Asking for help
    Emma Delescolle- Django Rest
    Framework @ DjangoCon EU
    

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37. Asking for help
    Ola & Ola, Markus, Norma – Django
    & AJAX
    

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38. Sourcing books
    Raphael Michel helped with the
    shopping pre-DjangoCon Europe.
    

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39. Project redesign
    ➔
    Django
    ➔
    Javascript
    ➔
    AJAX
    ➔
    Django Rest Framework Amazon
    

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40. Getting a mentor
    ➔
    Asked Tom Christie for help with
    AJAX via Twitter since DRF also
    uses AJAX.
    

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41. Brute force solution
    ➔Load map and do reverse geocoding
    for clicked places with Javascript.
    ➔Save to database and Google Fusion
    Tables using AJAX.
    

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42. Architecture
    ➔JavaScript and AJAX for frontend.
    ➔Django backend.
    ➔Django Rest Framework to link the
    two.
    

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43. Working with AJAX
    ➔I was new to AJAX and jQuery.
    ➔Required many Twitter DMs between
    me and Tom Christie to get the
    project working.
    

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44. Testing
    ➔
    Functional tests.
    ➔
    Unit tests.
    O’Reilly Media
    

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45. Validation
    Custom validator to check for
    “Unnamed” and duplicates for
    Address Model.
    

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46. Documentation
    Tutorial How-to Guides
    Explanation Reference
    

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47. Documentation
    ➔
    Small project so followed the
    format but in a README.md.
    ➔
    Best documentation I have ever
    done for a project!
    

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48. More feedback
    ➔
    Good documentation and tests,
    though incomplete tests.
    ➔
    Reverse geocoding to be done in
    backend.
    

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49. More feedback
    ➔
    Resetting with a GET request
    wrong.
    ➔
    Recommended reading resources.
    ➔
    Validation not enough.
    

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50. More feedback
    ➔Question: What’s my career plan?
    ➔Joining a small team would be ideal for me
    to learn and would one day become a great
    developer.
    

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51. My reaction to the
    feedback?
    

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52. My ultimate career
    plan?
    

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53. Site Reliability
    Engineering
    

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54. Key lessons to draw
    from my journey...
    

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55. ➔Attending meetups, conferences,
    sprints helps meet potential mentors.
    ➔ASKING FOR HELP is crucial.
    

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56. ➔DO NOT dismiss a beginner.
    ➔Encourage.
    ➔DO NOT tell them how poor their
    code is - they that know already.
    

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57. My thoughts on
    mentorship...
    

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58. I feel so blessed to have so
    many kind people who take
    their time to look at my code
    and help me improve it.
    

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59. Getting involved in
    Africa…
    

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60. ➔Mentoring someone/ some people.
    ➔Speaking at conferences.
    ➔Help organise conferences.
    ➔Sponsor in some way.
    

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61. ➔Join our mailing list and help
    organise Pan-African events in Africa.
    python-africa@python.org
    https://africa.python.org/en/
    

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62. “The key to realizing a dream is to
    focus not on success but significance,
    and then even the small steps and little
    victories along your path will take on
    greater meaning.”
    

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63. Thanks!
    Contact:
    @amakarudze
    anna@djangogirls.org
    

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