Alternative Career Paths in Technology

Lessons I've learned over my varied and interesting career in technology.

Transcript

1. Beautiful accounting software Rebecca Martin @coder_bec Alternative Career Paths in Technology Choose your own tech <> BYO Career
2. Who am I?… • Technology personality – public speaking, events and panels Bec Martin Developer Evangelist at Xero @coderbec www.coderbec.com • Freelance Mobile Developer – native Android and iOS • Hackathoner – mentoring and judging
3. What have I done so far? Accountant Intranet Developer/Admin IT consultant and Enterprise Architect Developer Evangelist ???
4. What are my friends in tech doing?
5. • Get a relevant internship • Hackathons • Personal Projects • Build stuff! Lesson 1: Learn Frameworks
6. Lesson 2: Certifications, you’d be silly not to! • Give them every excuse to hire you and justify your pay • You probably already know it – certify it • Easy way to prove real world skills • Some experience is always important, how you create this is up to you!
7. Lesson 3: You are a brand • Don’t have private vs. public social media • Make yourself as easy to find as possible • Speaking vs. blogging vs. both • Be genuinely interesting
8. Lesson 4 – Network like a pro • Make genuine connections • Find a champion and be a champion • People know who’s only out for themselves • Cards – Have them, get them, sync them to the cloud • Everyone you meet is important • Make sure you get to know people outside of your friendship group, language group and class group • Not even geographic borders are relevant these days!
9. Case Study: Hackathoning and Tech Events • UNIHACK 2014 – Best Design, Braintree/Paypal Award • Graduated to mentoring and judging… • Battlehack – ‘Pat on the Back’ • Hackagong 2014 – Braintree Award • Health Hack 2014 – 2nd place • HealthXL – 1st place • Health Hack 2015 – 1st place
10. HealthXL
11. Lesson 5: Know Your Own Limitations • This is typically the most difficult part for devs • Decide what your motivations are for the job/project • Create high performing teams
12. ConnectEd
13. #xerolvlup @xeroapi
14. xero.com/about/careers/
15. Beautiful accounting software www.xero.com