Episode 30 – Do mentorship and training programs really work for a new mom?

One of the best ways to grow is by obtaining a mentor or going through additional training. Sometimes, that may include both. But, is either method for everyone and do both have a proven track record of success? Episode 30 of Mentoring Developers covers all this and more. Special guest, Jennifer Kelly offers her expert opinions and experience on the matter. Listen in to learn more.
Jennifer’s Bio:
Jennifer Kelly is a mother of a year (6 months at the time of the interview), a programmer of a year and a half, and a student for life. Her career began in accounting, transitioned to finance, and then leapt to programming based on her desire to build, create, and tinker. She sporadically attends COJUG and Girl Develop It events when not wrapped in the fascination that comes with raising a little human.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkehnkelly
Episode Highlights and Show Notes:
Arsalan: Today we have Jennifer Kelly with us. Jennifer, how are you today?
Jennifer: I’m doing great. How are you, Arsalan?
Arsalan: I’m doing fantastic. I know that it’s hard for you to be on the show at this time because you just had a baby and you’re dealing with that. So, his name is Oliver, right?
Jennifer: Yes, he’s five months old.
Arsalan: What is the thing that you like most about him right now?
Jennifer: I would say morning smiles and he babbles a lot. It’s cute.
Arsalan: I have a daughter about 15 months ago and she’s a real joy. She has her moments, though. Overall, it’s just an incredible experience to have a child.
Jennifer: Absolutely. It’s really cool. It’ll be even cooler when he starts sleeping through the night.
Arsalan: Out of all the things the baby does to you lack of sleep is not fun.
Jennifer: Yeah, we’re making it work, though. So, it’s good.
Arsalan: I think all of us want to know Jennifer Kelly is. We know that you have a baby and that you’re probably a software developer, but we want to know from you how you describe yourself. Who is Jennifer?
Jennifer: I am a very curious person. My background is actually accounting and finance. I am a big Excel nerd and I love creating things and Excel. It was through discussions with some of my friends over the years that I should try programming, since I love Excel models. That was the first time that I thought about it, but I put it in the back of my head.
Jennifer: Then just over time there was an opportunity for me to either continue with finance or break from finance and I just decided to explore this other world. So at that time I didn’t even know what HTML or CSS was. I would say that I’m just a very curious person because I always have these ideas that I wish this existed, I wish that existed. I wish that I could just poke around and play with this. I think that’s kind of lent itself to me going down this avenue.
Arsalan: That’s a good way to get into anything that excites you. It’s good to have something that just piques your interest and you follow it.
Jennifer: Yeah, it’s just a fun way to tweak and explore and play around. It’s like a fun little sandbox and people can relate to it because we all have experience with the Internet now. It’s a fun field to get into, overwhelming, but really interesting and exciting.
Arsalan: How long ago was that when you were doing Excel?
Jennifer: I left the finance world at the end of 2013. In 2014 I tried a couple of different things. I wrote a book. I started a small business. We were starting to build the website through Volusion, I think. We ended up moving up to Joomla and having someone build it. But, it was one of those situations where I just really wish that I could do it myself. It seemed interesting and I wanted to be able to make changes and do other things.

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