Hi, I'm MJ!

Hi there! I'm MJ. I just graduated from Middlebury College, a small liberal arts school in Vermont, where I graduated with double major in computer science & psychology. During my time, I did internships in UXUI, full stack, and product to learn about potential careers. Now, I'm working as an associate mobile engineer with Disney, specifically on android (though I do own an iPhone).

Some background

To take a step back, the reason I got into computer science was because I participated in one of the first Girls Who Code programs back in 2013, where I made a website that matched potential owners with adoptable animals based on personality. Thats when I saw how much of an impact that technology can have on our society, but I also realized the lack of exposure to coding, especially in underserved communities, which is how I became passionate about doing coding initiatives and social impact projects.

A bit of my 2020 goals

As a junior developer, my current goal is to learn as much about android development in hopes that one day I'll have the opportunity to speak at tech conferences. I'm starting this blog to have a collection of technical concepts I'm learning as well as non-technical (though just as important) topics. Maybe one day it'll help others too!

Ethical Living:

A couple of months ago, I attended the Write/Speak/Code conference and learned about many of the ethical issues with tech. Currently, I'm using this ethical resources site to move from "bad" products. I don't shop from Amazon, deleted my Facebook account, and no longer host my personal website on GitHub.

Ableist language:

Something else I learned at the W/S/C conference was ableist language, which I want to avoid/minimize as much as possible from doing this upcoming year.

Reading:

I really enjoy reading about social issues and tech ethics (am always open to recommendations). Feel free to take a peek at my book list. I'm a big fan of the library (I highly recommend checking out NoName's bookclub, super cool initiative) and local bookshops.

Writing:

I'm hoping to write more about my journey in tech, whether it's technical content or personal professional experiences working in the field. I plan to continue writing about my experiences with coding initiatives on my medium blog, while keeping this one more focused on my experiences as a junior developer.

Here are some ideas I'm hoping to share soon:

• How I'm learning android development & kotlin
• To be a male ally
• 7 years post-Girls Who Code
• Android Architecture: MVP
• My journey transitioning using ethical technology

I doubt many will read this post (hi to my supportive friends who I'll be sharing this with), but I'm excited to start my journey and can't wait to connect with others on this site :) Thanks for reading!

Comments

[Pachi 🥑]

Welcome to Dev.to MJ!
Loves your introductory post and I am looking forward for your future ones.

I am currently a junior web dev but I am really interesting in getting into mobile, so any post about that would be welcomed.
Best luck on your blogging journey, the #DEVcommunity is great!

[mj 👩🏻‍💻✨]

Thanks so much! I'm definitely hoping to write a lot about mobile :) I look forward to becoming a part of the community.

[Katie Nelson]

Hey MJ, I really enjoyed your post. Sounds like you have a great career ahead of you

How did you like Middlebury? I didn’t know they had a CS program.

[mj 👩🏻‍💻✨]

Thanks Katie! I enjoyed Middlebury, mostly because I was able to take courses on a range of topics, which is how I fell upon my interest in psychology. The CS major definitely grew a lot since I started as a first year