Getting In: Transitioning Into a Career in Tech

Things you should know as you explore getting into tech:
Understanding how you learn best, exploring career options, and resources for learning.

Transcript

1. Getting in TRANSITIONING INTO A CAREER IN TECH
2. Cecy Correa Chapter Leader, Girl Develop It, Austin I help people get into tech!
3. To start your career in tech, you must ask yourself a few guiding questions...
4. 1. Why do you want to work in tech?
5. You like the work!
6. For the money?
7. Do it for the right reasons
8. 2. How do you think?
9. How do you think? • There is only one right answer • Want instructions in repeatable steps • Never stray from instructions • Failing is not an option • There are many answers • Like to experiment • Deviate from instructions • Failure is part of learning
10. How do you think? FIXED MINDSET • There is only one right answer • Want instructions in repeatable steps • Never stray from instructions • Failing is not an option GROWTH MINDSET • There are many answers • Like to experiment • Deviate from instructions • Failure is part of learning
11. Growth mindset? Awesome! You’ll have an easier time learning!
12. Fixed mindset? You’ll have to fix how you think
13. Fixing a fixed mindset 1. Stop thinking in terms of pass / fail, right / wrong
14. Fixing a fixed mindset 2. Eliminate negative self-talk
15. Fixing a fixed mindset 3. Value learning over being right
16. 3. What are you good at?
17. Like puzzles, data, algorithms, just building things BACKEND DEVELOPER
18. Like interactivity, animation, making things pretty FRONTEND DEVELOPER
19. Like color theory, typography, grids, layouts UI DESIGNER
20. Have people skills, good at organizing, looking at big picture PRODUCT MANAGER
21. Like breaking things QA ENGINEER
22. Really good at explaining highly technical concepts TECHNICAL WRITER
23. 4. How do you learn?
24. Self-teaching No guidance Can get yourself unstuck on your own
25. Books! • Michael Hartl “Rails Tutorial” — railstutorial.org • Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby — poignant.guide • Eloquent Javascript — eloquentjavascript.net • Node School — nodeschool.io • ANYTHING BY NO STARCH PRESS — nostarchpress.com
26. Self-paced, Online, No guidance Okay with learning from videos with no mentorship
27. Online videos! • Code School — codeschool.com • Pluralsight — pluralsight.com • Udemy — udemy.com • Codeplace — codeplace.com
28. Self-paced, Online, Mentorship Okay with learning from videos but want mentorship
29. Videos + mentorship! • Thinkful — thinkful.com
30. Traditional learning Want to learn in a class environment, ask questions
31. Specialized schools • Austin Coding Academy (JS, .NET) — austincodingacademy.com • Galvanize (Data Science) — galvanize.com
32. Generalist / full-stack schools • General Assembly — generalassemb.ly • Galvanize — galvanize.com
33. Out of State Schools • Turing School of Software Design — turing.io • Ada Developers Academy — adadevelopersacademy.org
34. Thank you! @cecycorrea cecycorrea.com github.com/cecyc cecy@girldevelopit.com