Hello, World!

Jessica Dembe — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 22:26:23 +0000

Hi everybody!

I announced yesterday that, my original Jess Can Code content will be moving exclusively to DEV.TO! The blog posts that I wrote for Jess Can Code shares my story of transitioning into the software development industry.

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Each week, I will review my post, write a reflection based 2 years after the fact and the original content will follow. You will see that I wrote a lot of rhetorical questions and now, I am in the position to answer the questions that I asked. Feel free to ask questions as a lot has changed since I sat down and wrote each post in all of their lightly edited glory!

Below is a preview of what I will be doing over the next few weeks. This post was titled "Hello World!" and published on April 16, 2016.

"Hello World" is a fitting way to open up your first blog post, no?

I have created this website to journal and document my journey into becoming a web developer. This blog will feature reflections, lessons learned, and thoughts about the latest tech trends. I also hope that one day, it can inspire other self-taught web developers to keep growing and learning, no matter how difficult the path.

Some of the things that are racking my brain right now:

Do I have the discipline needed to be a self-taught web developer?
Is there any way I can fit in design as I am interested in design?
What do I do with Github?
How are there so many resources out there!?
Do I need to attend bootcamp?
Will I ever move out of my mother's house?
AngularJS?! Node.js?! What IS all this?!

So here we go...thank you for joining me on this journey!

Kale!

-Jess

Here are the answers to 2016 Jess:

1) I took the self-teaching route for about six months. I was feeling very stuck in my old job and wanted to speed up my career transition, so I pivoted to a boot camp.

2) Roles as a UX/UI developer are out there. As a front-end developer, it is very useful to have an eye for design and not be responsible for that aspect of work.

3) Github is my lifeblood as it is where I push/pull code for work and personal projects.

4) Everyone learns differently whether it be through video, reading, etc. It is also a very useful skill to be able to explain technical concepts through different mediums. So for that question, I would say that there are a need and a demand for 50 million different tutorials.

5) You do not need to attend a boot camp. I felt that it was right for me at the time because I really like the classroom-style atmosphere when I am learning things that are unfamiliar to me.

6) Still working on that, but I am in a better position to do that now than I was a few years ago. It is about getting my finances in order.

7) AngularJS is a JavaScript framework used to build single page applications. Single page applications are like websites, with some nuance. Node.js is a run-time environment where you can run JavaScript code from outside of the browse.

Note: "Kale" is an informal goodbye in Luganda, the language that my mother's family speak in Central Uganda 🇺🇬. Not to be confused with kale, the dark leafy vegetable.

Nevertheless, Jessica Dembe Coded

Jessica Dembe — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 12:38:20 +0000

I began coding because...

Two reason:

Coding appealed to me as someone who likes to tinker with things. When I code an app or a basic program to completion, I feel powerful--almost like I can conquer the world.

I'm currently hacking on...

My online portfolio

I'm excited about...

My first dev job that I am accepting today! :D

My advice for other women who code is...

1)Do your best to bring up women who are coming up in tech behind you.

2)Build your network of women in tech that you can ask for advice and support.