DEV Community: Tanya Mott

My Futuristic Portfolio!!

Tanya Mott — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:22:48 +0000

This is a submission for the New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Presented by Google AI

About Me

Hi everyone! I'm Tanya, a senior software engineer from Atlanta, GA. I focus on frontend development with a focus in Angular and the Microsoft stack/ecosystem. This is the first website/app I've built using pure AI and I'm very excited to share it here below. I'm looking forward to learning more about AI and building more cool things in the near future.

Portfolio

How I Built It

I built my portfolio using Google's AI Studio. It was my first time using it and I found it to be very fascinating. I spent the past two weeks creating it, off and on, making tweaks until I got it to where I fully love it enough to submit! I learned a lot about AI Studio and how to prompt to get the changes I wanted implemented.

What I'm Most Proud Of

I'm really proud of myself for diving in head first into creating a website/app from scratch using AI Studio. The initial version looked super rough and plain but with some really thoughtful prompting and further tweaking through follow-up prompts, I was able to create a beautiful website that is functional and shows my personality.

I love the logo image generator, I am truly so fascinated with AI image generation, it is truly magical. To be able to implement an image generator within an app that was also generated is pretty cool. I am in awe of how images are generated within seconds and can't wait to learn more about how exactly that all works.

Not going to lie, I am an Angular developer and this application is written in React out of the box but I was still able to read the code and make tweaks within the code as well, not just rely on AI. Perhaps I will generate an app that translates React to Angular or vise-versa OR maybe I could just prompt AI to do it for me (lol).

Bonus points: I generated my cover photo in chatgpt using a prompt it suggested from checking out my portfolio. The colors matches perfectly! 🤩

Thanks for checking out my portfolio & good luck to all the participants! This was fun...thank you dev.to! 🚀✨

I'm Still Living My Dream as a Software Developer

Tanya Mott — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 15:36:30 +0000

Five years ago, I started my journey professionally as a software developer after attaining my BS in Information Systems degree.

I wrote in a previous post more about my software development experience and my struggles but to summarize...

1) The road has not been close to easy, plenty of roadblocks, speed humps, pot holes... you name it.
2) Mental emotional abuse was real in the workplace.
3) Managed chaos and unrealistic deadlines.
4) Getting laid off for BS reasons - where I live, Georgia, it's a right to work state.
5) Dealt with incompetent and jerk bosses.

Even going through all of that, it didn't stop be from continuing to pursue my dream. It's what I wanted to do since high school, how could I let it stop me?! I knew if I could manage to stay in my field for five years that it would get better, and it has. Now, I'm working for the best company so far in my career. I've been able to become more picky in my company selection after gaining more experience. Sometimes, we have to take what we can get in the moment in order to succeed. I think for women, it's harder on us, I still experience some struggles but it's getting better. I'm used to being the only woman developer on past teams and now currently. I'm OK with it though, sometimes it's nice to be 'special'.

We still need more women in tech but I am happy at the direction we are going since I started my career.

I am proud to be a woman software developer!

Thanks for reading!

Sometimes Letting Go is Hard in Our Career

Tanya Mott — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 03:05:37 +0000

Sometimes in our career, we are super hard on ourselves. Whether it's not thinking you're good enough for that next role or position, or maybe a mental blocker is blocking you from achieving your goals. Whatever it is, we've all had some struggle that blocks us from achieving our best.

In my previous article, I talked about how a company laid me off last October. I have had my share of negative feelings since then, trust me. Sometimes you got to really believe it's for the better. I have to give credit to Applied Resource Group, and to an awesome man named Dan - who is a recruiter - now manager - there. Dan placed me in my two last roles. I'm forever in his debt, seriously. But anyway, tonight was one of their networking events, their 10th anniversary -at Pontoon Brewing, which is a big deal! Congrats ARG!!!

ARG has hosted many events that I've attended, some post prev job, and all of them have been a blast. Since ARG is a partner with my prev company - I'll just go ahead and name Improving - my old boss (Scott) and HR (Nancy) - show up frequently to their events. It's no brainer that I would/will show up and they would be there, so I might as well get used to it. At first tonight, I was avoiding them, shy to introduce myself, again; but after a few beers, I gained enough courage to do so. I went over to say hey, and immediately I was greeted with the same smiley faces, that I once remembered. It was warm and welcoming. Even the CEO was there visiting, it was nice to see him again, even thought he didn't remember me. We chatted for awhile and it was nice. When it was time for them to go, we said our goodbyes and separated.

Afterwards, I could feel a weight lifted off my shoulder, it was as if all that stress and anxiety was gone and it was such a freeing feeling. I was so worried about what they would think of me that it blocked me from my healing. I can now move on, without feeling like I have regret. I can now feel fully confident in my current role, and feel secure in my feelings - that I am great and special and all the things that I truly am.

Sometimes, we have to do what seems to be such a hard task, to accomplish something so great!

When I first arrived and before I walked in the door tonight, I saw my current boss, the one that just left the office! We said hey and I walked in. Immediately I was greeted with the news that my boss shared - saying that I am great and so awesome! Yes - me - I am so awesome! Like I hadn't heard real feedback from him yet (but you know how you can tell) - but I am super flattered. I heard all that good news about me, that I went up to my old employer's face and faced my demons. I feel accomplished, I feel worthy.

We need to face our demons more, they hold way too much power over us. My rough experience has caused mental harm that I am overcoming. We shouldn't be ashamed of our past, because it is what has got us to where we are today.

Five years into my software development career, and now it can be the best year ever because I have finally let go of what inhibits my growth.

I courage you to go be great and to let your past be the past and to let go of what inhibits you.

Thanks for reading!

How My Software Development Experience Changed My Mental Health

Tanya Mott — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 02:21:18 +0000

Mental health is something that is not mentioned enough, especially in the tech industry so I wanted to share my story.

I first became a software developer February of 2015, so about five years ago. It was almost two years after graduating with my BS in Information Systems degree. I already thought I was “behind” back then, because I couldn’t find a job right after college. I was working full-time as a technical writer after I graduated but continued the job search.

I remember interviewing at Bluetube Interactive (now, no longer exists)…the interview was over two hours long. I didn’t do too well on the technical exercise on the computer, but the manager gave me a chance anyway, in hopes that I learn and grow. I only lasted there three months, before my manager fired me. He gave me an “ultimatum” in that, if I didn’t finish a project in two weeks, that he would let me go. I remember sitting in his office when he told me that. I wasn’t allowed to ask for help, even though I was learning 3 new technologies on the job (C#, Entity Framework, and responsive design). I learned .NET in college but it was with VB.NET. That really set the tone for most of my experience going forward. I was underappreciated and emotionally abused during those 3 months, it was rough.

I was unemployed for a month before moving on to PowWow HR (also no longer exists). This company was at the Atlanta Tech Village as a startup, which back then, I thought was pretty cool. Turns out the micromanagement was pretty emotionally draining and abusive. Being in a small room, with your boss/CEO walking around and making sure you do your job everyday is not ideal. One day, in the middle of a week, my aunt passed away from cancer. It was sudden, even though she had cancer, so I was pretty upset. I found out after work and went in the next day. My boss could tell I was pretty upset, so he told me to go home for the day, so I went to see my mom. I came in the next day and everything seemed fine. Later on that week, they let me go. The reason being the deadline didn’t get met, even though it was an unrealistic one to begin with.

I was unemployed for two months before finding my next job at Project Time & Cost. This was the first decent company I’ve worked for, everything was good…until my CTO hired a new team lead 8 months after I got there. Things went south pretty quickly and I ended up leaving voluntarily after a year. The new team lead was a micromanager who was also a fraud, who loved to demonize us developers. A lot of us jumped ship during that time.

My next job at BreakAway Loyalty came smoothly after, I started right after leaving my previous job. Everything was great there until I had to work OT to meet a drastic deadline but no emotional abuse. I ended up leaving voluntarily after staying 2.5 years, my longest running job to date.

I then went on to Improving Atlanta, a consulting company, which was absolutely horrid to begin with. Loved the culture but hated the work. What little spark and passion I had for technology, died there. After being burned out at BreakAway, I needed a good place to recover but IA wasn’t it at all. I ended up getting laid off, with no notice at all.

After two months of unemployment (which was hell btw, but I’ll share in another post) brings me to my current company, CRH, which has been absolutely amazing so far. I have a wonderful boss, the best one I’ve ever had, I believe. Everything is almost perfect and a true “dream” job. The only problem is that I no longer have my passion “spark” that I once had and I am not sure how to get it back. I’ve only been with CRH for not even 2 months but I struggle with demonizing thoughts at least weekly. It’s horrible for my mental health. I know I need to see a therapist but I am waiting til I am financially able. Yes, I’m kind of in a “lull” stage cause I’m new and we are starting a new project, which is exciting btw. Rewriting an app from Angularjs (v.1) to Angular (v.9) is exciting, I love Angular. I was hired to do this project! But I’m afraid that my demons are going to kill everything and I’m not sure what to do except talk to a therapist. I remember when I interviewed, it was my last interview, as I received a verbal offer 2 hrs after I left. I remember my passion and excitement, the same feelings that got me the job. Those feelings are fading away but I hope they come back soon! Everyday is a new opportunity to change thoughts, I just have to take it in strides and hope time heals. I hope I get back to being “me” soon because I miss that drive and passion I once had.

What has helped me the most in the past, and still continues to do so, is running and exercise. Also having a good support system.
I hope my story inspired you, I wanted to share with the world because it’s been so hard over the last 5 years for me, especially being a woman developer.
Thanks for reading!

Working Remotely...

Tanya Mott — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 16:59:26 +0000

I have two questions about working remotely...

1) Can you really work anywhere?

2) Can you work out of state if you move?

I'm considering moving out of state and wanted to see if it would be feasible to obtain a remote job here or in my future city?

Thoughts?

Thanks!