DEV Community: Microverse

Inspirational Women in Software Development: History of Computing

Meesen Brown — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 19:29:04 +0000

Women play a key role in computing, now, and in the early days of it, but still only represent 27.5% of software developers globally. At Microverse, we're committed to helping more women and non-binary people become software developers so, we decided to learn more about the history of women in software development, as well as share insights from current software developers.

Key Women in the History of Software Engineering

Women have been pioneers in the computing world, with recognizable achievements such as acting as ‘human computers’ during the wars, creating new computer languages and algorithms, as well as helping with safe space travel and to put the first human on the moon.

Some notable women in computing history include:

1843: Ada Lovelace is widely regarded as the first computer programmer, as she wrote the first machine algorithm for an early computing machine (that didn’t yet exist). Source)

1942: Hedy Lamarr invented the frequency-hopping technology, during World War II, which later allowed for the invention of wireless signals like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Source)

1945: Jean Bartik and five other women developed and codified many of the foundations of software programming while working on ENIAC. Source

1952: Rear Admiral Grace Hopper created one of the world’s first compilers and her programming language design work led to the creation of COBOL, which is used to this day. Source

1950s: Katherine Johnson helped confirm the accuracy of computers used by NASA and performed critical calculations that ensured safe space travel. She had a 35-year career at NASA which recognized her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist". Source

1969: Margaret Hamilton developed the onboard guidance software for Apollo 11 which was essential to its successful moon landing. Without this software, computers would not exist. Source

...and there are many more. Women play a key role in computing, now, and in the early days, but as we’ve mentioned before, women only represent 27.5% of software developers globally. Source

So, we asked some of the female software developers at Microverse to share their stories to highlight them, and help inspire others who are thinking of becoming software developers. They shared who, or what, inspired them to become a developer, and what they love about being a software developer, as well as some great advice for aspiring developers.

Here’s some of the advice they had to share.

Finding Their Inspiration to Become a Software Developer

The inspiration for becoming a developer can be found in many different places, from our household environments, to school, work, or even simply interacting with computers.

One of our students from Nigeria, Taiwo Coker, shared that she was inspired by the UBER app while working as an UBER driver.

“I was interested in learning how to build apps that will solve problems for people.”

For Mily Puente of Mexico, her inspiration also came from her work. “I worked as an IT recruiter for almost 6 years, and after a good thinking process I decided to change careers to try this.”

Multiple students mentioned the role that family members played in inspiring them to become a software developer.

Cecilia Benitez of Paraguay said her father inspired her to become a software developer, and Ana Paula Hübner of Brazil also said it was a parent that had inspired her. For Amita Roy of India, her husband inspired her to become a software developer.

Another student, Lamia Sristy of The Netherlands, noted that,

“The day I got my personal computer, I got to know everything inside running software, and decided I would be pursuing a career in the software industry.”

Another common theme was students being inspired by passionate teachers. Cinthia Villalejos, a Microverse alum from Mexico said;

“I didn't have a lot of examples growing up, but at college, I came across a very passionate teacher who absolutely loved computer science. You were drawn to every word he said, even if you weren't particularly fond of science. I was majoring in something else at the time but the drive he had pushed me to dip bit by bit into computers and programming. He was the first one to make me think that I could do this, and I strive everyday to perfect my craft with the level of enthusiasm he has.”

Peris Ndanu of Kenya noted, “My high school computer teacher spiked my interest in technology. It was a fairly newly taught subject but his passion drove me to explore more on it. After high school I joined Andela bootcamp where I wrote my first ‘Hello world’ program. I was completely blown away that I could create anything I wanted, as long as I set my mind to it. From there, I began my journey into software development.”

We were also delighted to see that for one of our students, Rose Sumba Zawadi of Kenya, Microverse played a role in inspiring her to become a developer.

“I was inspired by Microverse, the diversity it upholds and the materials they provide are very, very reliable.”

The Most Enjoyable Part of Being a Software Developer

For many of our students, learning and creating projects and software that can change lives is a key part of what makes their journey as a software developer so great.

Cecilia, Cinthia and Rose all echoed that, stating that learning and solving problems was a key source of enjoyment. Rose said, “Choosing this path is the best decision I have ever made.” Taiwo also shared that she loves having the ability to bring an idea to reality.

On a similar note, Mily enjoys solving problems as well as the career potential of software development.

“I really like when you see the final outcome of a difficult project, and how everything starts making sense while you're learning. From the professional side, I think a career like this offers a huge improvement to your life, since it's in high demand and will continue to be because of the expansion of technology in almost every aspect of our lives.”

For Ana, working on the front-end brings her a lot of joy, while Lamia attributes her love of math and solving puzzles - where she developed analytical skills to solve logical problems - to being the most enjoyable part of programming for her.

As for Peris, she said she loves networking.

“Software developers are the easiest and kindest people you will ever meet. Through Microverse, I have extended my network globally and made friends in every part of the world. How cool is that!”

Amita also noted that learning something new is one of the most enjoyable parts for her, and that one of the best parts for her is being able to discuss issues or new technologies with her husband, a fellow software developer.

“Technology is a vast domain and so are the growth opportunities in this industry. The more time I spend on it, the more my understanding is increasing. Now I'm realizing that this is something I can do for a long time without any distractions.”

Advice for Aspiring Software Developers

The women were happy to share great actionable advice and tips to help other aspiring developers and encourage them to stay the course. Many of them noted how much potential and opportunity there is in the software industry.

Taiwo shared, “Becoming a software developer is not a walk in the park but through your tenacity and hard work, it becomes easier.” While Cecilia’s advice was simple but powerful, “Never give up”, Ana advised, “Keep the hard work and don't care about the amount of men in this industry, women are coders too!”

Cinthia said, “Sometimes the amount of new information can be a bit overwhelming because everything is in constant change in software development, but you don't have to learn all the things and certainly, not at once. Just learning and studying a small thing everyday can help you gradually build your knowledge into greater things.” She added,

“Remember it's completely natural not to be good at something right away and that we're allowed to make mistakes. Sometimes we get caught up in the idea that if we're not good at something, then it's not for us. But the truth is that perseverance and consistency will make you good at every journey you decide to embark on.”

Amita’s advice was to not let the length of your career in one industry deter you from switching. ”If you are willing to learn then you can start anytime. I have four years of experience in HR and now I’m on my way to becoming a software developer. Technology is a really interesting domain and you will never get bored with doing the same thing because there is always something new every day.”

“I would advise anybody who wants to have a career in software development to give it a go, no matter how hard or scary it seems to be.” said Peris. “It is a very exciting and innovative industry with a lot of opportunities to create products that can have a great impact on people’s lives.”
Lamia recommends, “If any part of you loves to spend time thinking about solving complex problems, programming is your destination.”

Finally, Mily advised, “Just try it. If you have been thinking about it for some time, it means that it's something you're curious about, and the best way to know if it's something that you like or not, is leaving your fears/doubts behind and just going for it.”

We are inspired each and every day by our amazing students and their journeys, and we hope their stories and advice inspire you too.

At Microverse, we're committed to being an inclusive school and community, and to helping people around the world succeed as global software developers. With students from more than 100 countries, we're proud of the work our students do and the supportive community they’ve helped us build. But we know there is always more work to do. We will continue to do our best to support people of all genders, countries, cultures and religions and help them become world-class software developers. If you’re interested in becoming a software developer or Microverse learn more here.

How remote pair programming works and why it can change your life

Ariel Camus — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:07:15 +0000

Photo by Trust “Tru” Katsande on Unsplash

The silver bullet to deal with loneliness and distractions while learning to code

Whether you are working or learning remotely, chances are that loneliness and distractions are your main daily struggles to staying happy and productive.

What if you had a buddy to code and learn together with every day? What if you could face the challenges of learning to code with the help of someone who is as invested as you are? And what if you did that by working on the same software project, discussing all the steps and possible solutions as you go?

Take a moment to think about this Swedish proverb and how it affects your learning journey:

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow.

The good news is that all those ideas can apply to you even if your coding buddy is somewhere else in the world. That’s what remote pair programming can offer to you. Here is how it works and why it can change your life.

How Remote Pair Programming Works

Remote pair programming is not very different from traditional pair programming.

In pair programming, you and another software developer (or aspiring software developer) sit together in front of a computer and take turns writing code using just one keyboard.

The person typing on the keyboard is called the Driver. They will be responsible for thinking about the classes, variables, functions, and algorithms that they need to code in order to make the program accomplish its goal. This person will try to verbalize their thinking process as much as possible as they code.

The other person is called the Navigator. They will be sitting next to the Driver but won’t be writing any code. Instead, the Navigator will be paying close attention to the code the Driver is writing, and will offer guidance and suggestions whenever possible. The Navigator will suggest alternatives, find answers to upcoming questions and challenges, and act as a sounding board for the ideas the Driver is coming up with.

Regularly, the Driver and Navigator will switch roles, so now the Navigator will become the Driver and they will now be the one writing the code. You can switch roles every 30–40 minutes, or every time you finish implementing a given feature or function.

If you and your coding partner are not in the same room and working on the same computer, you can still do pair programming. But we will call it remote pair programming.

In remote pair programming, each developer will be working from a different computer. You will be using some kind of software that allows you to talk to each other and share your screen. For example, you can use a video conference tool such as Google Hangouts, Skype, or Zoom.us. Using one of those tools, the Driver will start by sharing their screen so the Navigator can see what they are typing.

There are also plugins for Atom, Sublime, VS Code and almost any other code editor that allow you to share your IDE with the other developer and modify the code at the same time. You can also allow the other developer remote access to your computer.

However, my recommendation is that you just stick to a video conference tool for two simple reasons:

Only the Driver should be typing code. If you have access to the code editor of the Driver through a plugin or remote access, you will sometimes feel tempted to help the Driver by typing something. This is not necessarily against the rules, but it requires certain maturity and it’s something you can introduce later on in the process.
By working on two separate computers, you will force yourself to make proper use of version control in order to keep track of changes and share the code with each other every time you switch roles.

To give you an example of that last point, let’s see what happens once you
decide to switch roles:

First, the current Driver will commit their latest changes (for example, git
commit) providing a descriptive comment. After that, they will push those
changes to the remote repository, making the latest version of the code
available for the Navigator.

Now, the Navigator will become the Driver by pulling the latest changes to
their computer and opening the corresponding file. They will now start sharing their screen and writing code.

The Benefits of Remote Pair Programming

Constant feedback: when you are writing code as the Driver, the Navigator will be providing feedback about the quality of your code. They will also offer different perspectives that will help you improve.
Reduced frustration: they say two heads think better than one, and that shared sorrow is half sorrow. If you get stuck with a problem, the other person will be there to help you in real time.
Increased focus: since you are sharing your screen and microphone, you will find it really hard to get distracted by social media. Also, the people who are physically around you (for example, your family) will have a harder time interrupting you.
Social interaction: The State of Remote Work report for 2018 concluded that loneliness is the main struggle for people working/learning remotely. Your coding partner will, most likely, become a good friend and a daily source of support that goes way beyond coding.
Accountability: you should have a pre-arranged, recurring schedule with your coding partner. That way, you will hold each other accountable and make sure that you show up every time.
Collaborative skills: technical skills are important when searching for a job (and once you’ve found one). But collaboration and communication are the most important skills in any modern knowledge-based and complex job such as software development.
Real-world experience: remote pair programming will help you learn how to build software as part of a team, and will force you to use version control and gitflow. That will give you a competitive edge when looking for your first job.
Mentorship: your coding partner and you will most likely bring different skills and levels of proficiency to the table. By doing remote pair programming, you will have the chance to learn from each other while also mentoring each other.

Does all of that sound too good? That’s because pair programming has the
potential to make you a much better developer and help you learn at a much
faster pace. Let’s talk about how to find a coding partner.

How to find a Remote Coding Partner

Finding other people learning to code is not difficult. However, in order for
remote pair programming to help you in your learning journey, it’s extremely important that you find someone willing to commit to a recurring schedule.

As we mentioned before, in order to make pair programming part of your daily habits, and in order to use it as an accountability mechanism, it’s very important that you and your coding partner meet on the same days, at the same time every week. It’s like having a gym or running buddy, but for coding.

I run a school for remote software developers where students from all around the world learn by pair programming full-time with each other. We do the hard job of selecting people with a high level of motivation who are willing to commit to their coding partners full-time. However, there are several other places where you can find people as motivated as you are:

However, no matter where you look for remote pair programming partners, just remember: make sure that you communicate the amount of time you want to dedicate per day/week and that you agree to a recurring schedule.

And if you are ready to jump into learning to code with a remote pair programming partner full-time, go ahead and apply to join Microverse. We accept students from any country in the world and we don’t charge you anything until you get a job. We currently have full-time students in 40+ countries.

Follow these simple rules and you’ll become a Git and GitHub master

Ariel Camus — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 14:34:53 +0000

In this article, I won’t cover how to create a GitHub profile or how to use the terminal to make a Git commit. Instead, I will explain why using Git and GitHub every day is so important, especially for those of you who are learning to code. I’ll also share and discuss the three simple rules that you can easily follow to become a master Git and GitHub user.

Why are Git and GitHub so important?

If you are learning to code, chances are your most important goal is to eventually get a job as a software developer. In that case, the answer is very simple:

Learning Git and GitHub is incredibly important because 99% of the companies that can hire you will use Git and GitHub. Therefore, learning how to work with Git and GitHub make you more hirable and help you differentiate yourself from more junior developers.

What makes senior developers senior is not that they know the syntax of a given language better, but that they have experience working with large and complex projects with real users and business goals.

When you are learning to code, it’s hard to get that kind of experience. However, a simple way of getting real-world experience is by using the tools and methodologies used in real-world projects. Git and GitHub are an example of those.

Other things you can do are remote pair programming, contributing to open source, and building professionally-designed websites for your portfolio.

Even if you agree that mastering Git and GitHub will help you get a job, you might still be wondering:

“Why are Git and Github so important for companies?”

The short answer is that Git allows teams to efficiently and effectively contribute code to the same project in an asynchronous way. This empowers teams to collaborate better and thus allows them to solve bigger and more complex problems.

Git, which is a distributed version control system, also provides mechanisms to revert changes, create branches of code, solve merge conflicts, and so on. Those are very useful features that solve specific and common problems that every software team faces every day. And Git is the dominant solution nowadays.

GitHub, on the other hand, is an added layer on top of Git that provides solutions to other specific and common problems such as code reviews, pull requests, issue management/bug tracking, and so on.

Quick note: Even though Git is the go-to version control solution for most companies, GitHub has some strong competitors such as GitLab and Bitbucket. However, if you know how to use GitHub, you won’t have any problem working with GitLab or Bitbucket.

Now that you know why it’s so important to master Git and Github, it’s time to tell you the three simple rules to follow to easily become a professional Git and Github user while you are still learning to code.

How to master Git and Github with 3 simple rules

Just for some additional context, I’m the founder of Microverse, a school for remote software developers that is completely free until you get a job. As part of our 30-week program, we not only teach our students how to code, but we also give them plenty of guidance and structure for them to get real-world experience while in the program.

One of the things we ask our students to do is to follow the three rules you will find below in order to become professional Git and Github users. By the end of the training, working with Git, GitHub, branches, pull requests and code reviews becomes second nature for our students.

Before I go ahead and discuss the three simple rules for mastering Git and Github, please consider completing the following tasks:

If you are not familiar with Git or GitHub yet, you should complete this awesome tutorial from HubSpot.
If you don’t know what the GitHub Flow is, you should learn about Github Flow since we will use it below.

And now, without much further ado, the three simple rules to master Git and Github while learning how to code…

Rule #1: Create a Git repository for every new project
Rule #2: Create a new branch for every new feature
Rule #3: Use Pull Requests to merge code to Master

Even if you are working on small and simple projects, and even if you are working alone, following those three rules every time you code will make you a Git and GitHub master user very quickly.

Let’s briefly break down each one of the rules so you understand what you are supposed to do and why each rule is important.

Rule #1: Create a Git repository for every new project

This first rule is quite straightforward, but making a habit out of it is very important. Every time you start working on something new — your portfolio, a learning project, a solution to a coding challenge, and so on — you should create a new Git repository and push it to GitHub.

Having a dedicated repo is the first step to being able to use version control for every line of code you write. Using version control is how you will work once you join a company and start working on real-world projects. Learn this early and make it a habit.

*Quick Note: if using the terminal becomes a hassle and makes you less likely to use Git for all your projects, consider using the Github Desktop app.

Rule #2: Create a new branch for every new feature

Let’s say you are working on your portfolio and you want to build a new “Contact me” section/component. Create a dedicated branch for this new feature, give it a meaningful name (e.g. contact-me-section), and commit all the code to that specific branch.

If you don’t know what branches are, go back to the Github Flow reading that I recommended before.

Working with branches allows you and your team members to work on different features in a parallel way while keeping the specific code for each feature isolated from the rest. This makes it harder for unstable code to get merged into the main code base.

Even if you are the only person on your team, getting used to using feature branches will make the Github Flow process a breeze once you join a real job.

Rule #3: Use Pull Requests to merge code to Master

Every repository starts with a master branch by default. You should never push changes directly to the master branch. Instead, you should use feature branches as described above, and open a new Pull Request to merge the feature branch code with the master branch code.

In a real job, someone will look at your Pull Request and do a code review before approving it. GitHub will even run automated tests to your code and let you know if there is an issue with it. You will also be notified if there is any merge conflict between your code and the code in the master branch. This can happen, for example, if another developer pushed a change to the master branch that affects a file that you also modified.

After your code has been reviewed, tested, and approved, your reviewer will give you thumbs up for you to merge the Pull Request, or they will directly merge your pull request.

Even if you are working alone, get used to creating Pull Requests as a way to merge your changes to the master branch. This, by the way, is the basic workflow used by almost every open source project. If you ever contribute to one (you should!), understanding this three rules will make it really easy for you to get your contribution accepted without any problem.

Wrapping up

If you are still confused, just start slow and keep the three rules in mind. Don’t try to think about “How” to do things yet and focus on “What” to do and “Why” it’s important for now.

Once the “What” and the “Why” are clear, you can figure out the “How” when the times comes to do things. Once you have repeated this process 2–3 times, it will become really easy and natural for you.

I publish new articles regularly based on the things that we teach our full-time students. I focus on practical tips and hacks that will make you learn fast while at the same time helping you build strong soft skills and making you more hirable. If you want to stay in touch, you can follow me on
Twitter.

The portfolio hack that will make everyone want to hire you

Ariel Camus — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 07:59:36 +0000

A beautiful Sketch design that you could build to make your portfolio stand out

If you are a software developer applying to get your first job, having an outstanding portfolio should be one of your main priorities.

Even though your résumé is absolutely important and will be the first thing that employers will look at, your portfolio will be your secret weapon to stand out and show the complexity of the projects you have worked on.

However, even if you have built some really complex projects, if you can’t show them in a way that will get the employer’s attention, all your efforts will be in vain.

To put it in simple words, if your portfolio doesn’t look good, you won’t look good in the eyes of the employer.

I know this because I help people from all around the world become web developers and get their first remote job. Every day, I see the huge impact that having a strong portfolio has on their chances of landing their first job.

This is especially important if you want to get a job as a front-end or full-stack web developer. Your HTML & CSS skills are important, but you are ultimately supposed to build great UI/UX.

In a real job, there will most likely be a designer in your team that will take care of designing the UI/UX. However, you need to show that you can build beautiful products based on the specs of the designer.

How do you do that if you don’t have a designer to help you with your portfolio?

Here is the not-so-secret-anymore 😉 hack that we ask our students to use.

The Hack: Build a few fully-spec’ed projects using someone else’s designs

If you want your portfolio to stand out, build a few beautiful-looking frontend projects that communicate your attention to detail and love for great UI/UX.

You could just copy any website that you like (such as Pinterest). However, it will cause a much better impression if you build something beautiful that not many people know about.

One approach is to visit dribbble.com and find a few concept websites that you can build. Many designers take the time to reimagine how certain websites would look like if they were built from scratch. However, those designs often don’t get implemented. Here is where you come in: just pick one and build it from scratch. Here are a few examples — and remember to link to the original designer if you follow this idea.

A few concept websites found on Dribbble

However, the problem with this approach is that most of those designs will have visual assets (for example, background images) that you can’t export to include in your implementation. Also, as a junior developer you are probably not great yet at paying attention to all the little details that the designer thought about (such as margins, paddings, font sizes, and so on).

Here is an alternative approach that will make your portfolio projects look as amazing as the original designs. Find free Sketch templates, export them to Zeplin, and build them based on detailed specs.

Let’s analyze this approach step by step:

Step #1: Download a free Sketch template

Sketch is one of the most popular design tools used by product designers nowadays. Just go to Google and search for *free sketch templates website. *Open a few of those results and find a website design that you want to build. Here is a great one I just found using this approach.

Another Sketch template that you can use to build an incredibly well-designed project for your portfolio

Now download and install Sketch (there is a free 30 day trial) and open the Sketch template you downloaded in the previous step with it.

Make sure the design is complete and that it’s something that you want to build. Once you find a design that you like, move on to the next step.

Step #2: Export the design to Zeplin

Zeplin is another amazing tool built to help designers and developers collaborate more effectively with each other.

Designers upload their designs to Zeplin, and Zeplin shows all the font sizes, margins, and paddings so that developers can easily get those details without having any design knowledge. Zeplin even generates the CSS code for many of those components for you. Finally, it also lets you export all the images from the original Sketch file so you can easily use them when building the website.

Go ahead and sign up for Zeplin. You can use their free account that is valid for 1 project (that’s all you need). Now restart Sketch and go to the Plugins menu. If you see an option there called Zeplin, you are good to go. If you don’t see the option, follow these instructions to manually install the plugin.

Once the Zeplin plugin is installed in Sketch, go to Plugins > Zeplin and click on Export Selected Artboards. The Sketch design you have downloaded might have multiple artboards, each one corresponding to a different view of the app/website.

How to use Sketch export the design to Zeplin

Follow the instructions and upload all the artboards you want to implement to Zeplin.

Step #3: Build the design based on its detailed specs

Open your recently uploaded designs in Zeplin and notice how many details you get when you hover on each element of the design. Since the design has been organized using layers in Sketch, Zeplin can differentiate each element and show you specs such as font sizes and spaces between elements.

A Sketch design exported to Zeplin, where you can see all the specs and even the generated CSS code

If you want to export an image, click on the image in Zeplin and look for the option to download the PNG image on the right menu.

How to download visual assets from Zeplin

If you don’t see that option, go back to Sketch, click on the image you want to make exportable, and click on the option that says Make Exportable*. *After that, just re-upload the artboards to Zeplin and try again.

Option in Sketch to make images exportable in Zeplin

Finally, just use all these detailed specs and high-quality assets to build the website. And remember that great UIs are made out of hundreds of tiny details. Even though you might not appreciate those details individually, implement each one of them carefully using the specs from Zeplin and you will see how the final result looks more beautiful than anything you have ever built before.

Adding the finishing touches

Following this approach won’t just help you have a great portfolio that catches the attention of potential employers. It will also help you appreciate the great effort behind the work of designers, and **it will make you much better at working with designers on your team. **This, by itself, is also a great learning experience that employers will value.

You can follow this same approach to find existing portfolio designs to build your actual portfolio page. You don’t need the design your portfolio from scratch for it to be unique, you just need the content within it to authentic.

Remember to add all your previous projects to your portfolio, even the back-end ones. For those, try to use cards that show the title of the project with some cool font over a solid color or just a little piece of the UI of the project. That will make the design of your portfolio consistent.

Every project should list the technologies used and even a small description. More importantly, you should link to the live version of those projects (that’s where your new front-end projects will shine) and to the GitHub repos containing the code of your projects.

Finally, don’t forget to include your contact information, a link to your GitHub profile, and a list of other things that will make your portfolio unique (for example, open source contributions, articles you have written and anything else unique about you).

Wrapping up

Building an eye-catching portfolio is a really powerful hack, but don’t forget that you will ultimately have to pass technical and behavioral interviews in order to show that you can get the work done and get the job.

At Microverse, we ask our students to dedicate almost 180 hours of our training program to coding structures and algorithms and to prepare for the interviews. Make sure to prepare yourself for that next step, too.

If you have questions about the portfolio approach explained in this article or about getting a job in general, feel free to follow me on Twitter and ask me any question you have.