Bit late to the party, but thought I would contribute anyway. 😜
I've always felt the need to prove myself mainly due to being a woman developer. I think this is more to do with me, and me feeling the need too with being in a male dominated environment. Luckily, I’ve never felt excluded for this reason, but have however had (very few) unnecessary remarks - few years ago now.
In the past 2 years, I've had to fight for a pay rise as I never get the promotional increase going from junior to mid. Even that promotion I had to fight for it. It took over 1.5 years to get what I deserved. I found during that time I became extremely motivated to learn new things like Angular and setup some side projects in my own time. Ultimately, found a new job too. 💃
When I’ve been asked what I do for work, from men it’s always a shock (every time) and women a sense of empowerment and interest. But why is it always a shock? 😮
Why development? 🤔
I don’t remember what sparked my interest in pursuing a software development course at college. But I do remember open day, I asked my mum to come with me as I was so nervous. I had no idea what to expect and I was so incredibly shy. There was me and another girl for the 2 year course.
During my 4 year university course (computing BSc (Hons)), I had a placement year as a software developer and both at the job and course I was the only girl. There were 2 other girls at the start of the course but didn't go through to 2nd year. Post uni, I jumped into a junior software developer role for 1.5 years and, again, the only girl. I then joined another company for just over 3 years (where I am today, moving to a new job soon) and have worked with 2 female devs. Both were over a very short time separately - a few months.
I've always liked computers, and this passion grew. I feel fortunate to have not had the same experience in the development world compared to some of the stories I've read (on dev.to). I was shocked and saddened to see how far people go with their vile comments.
Achievements 🎉
Things I'm proud to have achieved over the past year.
- Junior to mid level developer
- Motivation - the past year I have been able to develop side projects (not fully complete) for fun and to increase my knowledge and is now very much a hobby. I found it very difficult to get running with this as typically the last thing I wanted to do after a full day at work, is more work
- Learning .NET Core, Angular 8, Git and Netlify
- My website - almost complete and using Angular 8
What I'm excited about 😃
Things I'm excited about in the near future.
- Starting new job as a .NET Developer within next few weeks
- Finishing off a couple side projects
- Learning new stuff like Node.js
Final thoughts 😎
Once painfully shy, now confident, I know I have found my passion and career I want to do forever. I love programming and cannot imagine doing anything else. I am proud to be a woman in tech. 🙌
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