DEV Community: Dana Ottaviani

Nevertheless, Dana Ottaviani coded.

Dana Ottaviani — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 14:37:38 +0000

My most recent achievement was:

Finding a job at the start of 2021. I strongly dislike the different hoops someone needs to jump through to apply to jobs. The endless questionnaires, cover letters that some people claim don't get read anyway, uncompensated take-home projects no-one has time for, timed challenges, etc. I once got a reply to a job application almost a year later. 😕 I seriously don't know what the next interview process will be like.

Advocating for myself looks like:

Speaking to my manger when something bothers me or I don't feel like my position in the company is safe. I think it's from my experience in other companies, but I am very hyper sensitive to people's reactions and how they speak to me.

It is mentally draining to feel like you are not seen as good as an engineer as the rest of your team and that no matter how hard you're working and how many more hours you work you still feel like none of it changes a manager's perception of you and your competency as an engineer.

via GIPHY

My biggest goal is:

Work on more projects I can be proud of while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

My advice for allies to support underrepresented folks:

Analyze what you've been doing to support minorities in tech. Have they left your company? Did you let them go because they didn't measure up to your standards? If you want them to succeed in your company, ask them how you can better support them. Do you have a careers page on your site talking about how much you value diversity and people's different backgrounds but it seems to be all talk? Work on that.

Flexible hours are also important to me. You can't expect someone in a different time zone to constantly work at the same time you are.

There is something else I want to address: recognize when you make mistakes and acknowledge them. I've had to bring up concerns about managers in previous companies and I always get praised for doing so but I feel like this happens too often and I'm tired of having to go though this experience.

Eight Queens Puzzle

Dana Ottaviani — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 20:40:59 +0000

I came across the eight queens puzzle in a computer game and as I learned more about it, I thought it would be cool to code for one of my projects.

As I create new projects, I try to incorporate my own designs. The queen svg pieces were all created using Inkscape based on the image from the puzzle's Wikipedia's page. 🎨

The game board can be navigated using arrow keys and there is more than 1 solution to solving it.

If there's anything I can improve on in terms of accessibility please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.

Thanks for reading. 👑

Repo
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Nevertheless, Dana Coded

Dana Ottaviani — Sat, 07 Mar 2020 01:35:26 +0000

I code and I like to read (preferably fiction).

I code and I am learning to improve my drawing.

I code and I like to wake up at 6 am.

I code and I am learning Blender.

I code and I like to take long walks outside.

I code and I don't have all the answers, but I'm doing my best, and that's good enough (I still need to remind myself of this sometimes). ❤️

Why do I code?

I like the idea of being able to create programs for fun and to challenge myself. I truly believe that women and other underrepresented groups are the key to making technology work for everyone. Their experience and perspective will show in their work and help others that aren't in the same place to change it themselves.

Equality in tech looks like…

Respecting everyone. Period.
Picking others up instead of tearing them down.
Realizing that no one knows what another person is going through and just being patient and creating a safe environment can do so much for a person's well-being in their job.

Oh, and destroy that gender-wage gap of course!

Be the change you want to see in the world. 🌎

I’m an expert at…

Learning.

Lights Puzzle made with Vue

Dana Ottaviani — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 19:26:15 +0000

I built this project a while ago, but I wanted to add more levels and clean-up the code before showing it off.

The game board can be navigated using arrow keys.
If there's anything I can improve on in terms of accessibility please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.

Thanks for reading. 😄

Repo
Live

See if you can beat my scores:

Level 1: 5 moves

Level 2: 25 moves

Level 3: Still haven't had a chance to solve. 😅

Do you use Multidimensional Arrays in Your Job?

Dana Ottaviani — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 13:28:48 +0000

In the companies I've worked at, I have never needed to use multidimensional arrays. I've only worked with them in college when I was first learning about arrays and in storing data for puzzles in personal projects.

I'm curious, has anyone needed to use them in their job?