Breaking into Front End Development with panelists Melvin Nix, Zach Hall, Bryan Markham, Lucy Barber, and Sarah Hudson
Jul 18, 2015
Breaking into Front End Development
with panelists Melvin Nix, Zach Hall, Bryan Markham, Lucy Barber, and Sarah Hudson
Backstory
• Boone, NC
• Computer programming classes in high school
• NC Teaching Fellow – Appalachian State
• Fresh start – Charlotte, NC
• A.A.S at CPCC
• Web Development Intern – Elevation Church
• Online Courses
– Codecademy, The Odin Project, Lynda, etc.
• Tech Talent South - CLT
Personal Projects
• Crown Town Soccer
• Teacher Assistant @ TTS
• TTS Full Time – Summer 2015
• Available for Hire!!!
Advice
• Don’t get discouraged at the Cliff of Confusion
• Find a mentor
• Commit to it
– Toggl, SelfControl, StayFocusd
• Be willing to spend some money
Lucy BarberUX Designer, Front End Dev, Customer Support Aficionado
checkAppointments, mailVU, and TimeTap
Background
● English & Creative
Writing major in school
● Tons of odds & ends
jobs
● DealCloud (startup) in
misc. roles
Learning to code
● Got into html by editing email templates in
MailChimp
● Loved being able to quickly see progress in
my work
● Found it was easy to get in focused “flow”
state
Now & later
● Static site development
& html framework for
checkAppointments,
mailVU, TimeTap
● Getting more
comfortable with
Javascript
Advice
● Understand what part of web development
appeals to your personality
● Look for a starter job where they understand
you are growing
● Challenge yourself
Sarah HudsonFront End & Mobile Dev, Web Design Instructor, TTS Grad
checkAppointments, mailVU, TimeTap, & TTS
Background (B.C. - Before Coding)
● CPCCo Interior Design & Architectureo AAS in Web Technologies
● Interned as online marketer and blogger● Music journalism - Elevate Lifestyle & The
Sound Faction● Product Development @ Little Idea & Enventys
o Lead Graphic & Web Designero Art Director & an Assistant Editor of Inventor’s Digest
Journey to Coding
● 2009 - 2011: Took programming classes at CPCC
o Python
o PHP
● 2011 - 2013: As a web designer - edited HTML & CSS of Shopify & Wordpress templates, learned Bootstrap
● Spring 2013: Enjoyed design, but wanted to learn how to make web apps
● Summer 2013: studied PHP & Python, lectures on MIT’s open courseware
● October 2013: part time w/ Enventys, moved to ATL for 2 months of TTS bootcamp and RoR!
The Journey Continues
● Dec 2013: front end dev role @ checkAppointments and taught myself AngularJS
● Summer 2014: TA for TTS
● Dec 2014: 1 year (and 3 apps later), have learned JS, AngularJS, Hybrid HTML mobile apps, ins and outs of running a SaaS
● Nov 2014 through Feb 2015: TTS Grad Class
● Today: Weekly hack nights and peer review, involvement in community, teaching class for TTS
Advice
● Break it up into bite sized pieces: Don’t try to learn it all at once
● Partner up: Find a buddy to chat code with, go to hack nights
● Read, read read: Subscribe to newsletters, blogs, and magazines by well renowned devs in the community
● Take a break: Burn out? Take a walk or sleep on it - or work on something else
● Never stop practicing: Make it a goal to learn 1 new thing a week
● Participate in the community: Learn & share with others, grow your network for new projects and opportunities
● Get out of your comfort zone: Don’t let you be the one to hold you back. If it’s a challenge, you’ll grow a lot!
Open DiscussionAsk questions about front end development, web design,
learning how to code, or general career advice
Thank you!Melvin Nix:
creativityunleashedllc.com@melvinnix
Zach Hall:@zachhall_
Bryan Markham:@BryanJMarkham
Lucy Barber:@lucb202
Sarah Hudson:www.sarah-hudson.com
@sarahhudson2008