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Arit Developer
Arit Developer

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at arit.dev

Better Code Than Never

Finally! I’m over the paralysis of writing my first blog post, thanks to my fellow Firehose Project classmates. While reading their blog posts, I realized that mine needn’t be a thesis-level exposition lol! So, having relaxed and taken a deep breath…

My Journey Into Web Development

  • Pre-med biology major
  • Dropped pre-med; kept Bio; dabbled in Wordpress
  • Public Health analyst; small Wordpress side-hustle
  • Married & a baby in the same year 💒 👶🏽 😩
  • Let go from Analyst job
  • Several short-term work contracts, and Wordpress freelancing
  • Baby #2! 🍼
  • Self-learning HTML & CSS 👩🏽‍💻
  • Completed several web-dev mini-bootcamps
  • Decided on and began The Firehose Project

That’s my story, in a nutshell :) The moments I consider significant appear in bold italics. Non-linear to be sure, and terrifying at times. I’m a career-switching mother-of-two in the process of becoming a developer.

Stay tuned!

Top comments (15)

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yucer profile image
yucer

Congrats !

You have nice journey.

Something I have learned is to look at my past achievements, see the way they are correlated (what Steve Jobs call connecting the dots ) and check how can take advantages from them.

According to your past achievements, I'd say that you should give a look at Data Visualization tools.

If you have a background as Public-health researcher, that means that statistics is familiar to you.

Your other achievements show skills to present the content, and you have already learned and applied some web standards.

That's not in conflict with your passion:

leveraging technology to solve problems and achieve business/organizational goals

because "defining a problem is half of the solution" . Well presented data insights can show the business the problems that they don't even think they have. This can also show them process optimizations that can save them millions or duplicate the amount of sales.

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aritdeveloper profile image
Arit Developer

Thanks so much for this input 💖

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antonybaasan profile image
Antony Baasandorj • Edited

Great job Arit. I have two kids too. It is more challenging to have free time to learn new stuff. I guess it is even harder if you are switching a career.

Good luck, be persistant, always have in your mind long term goals.

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aritdeveloper profile image
Arit Developer

Thank you so much!

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

One heck of a journey, congrats on making it this far!

Very impressed that you’re into TDD, it’s a great approach which takes discipline. Were you taught that in boot camp?

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aritdeveloper profile image
Arit Developer • Edited

Thank you Ben! Yes we were taught RSpec and I havent looked back - its so awesome being able to test apps without interacting with them lol. I just graduated the bootcamp in July so I'm seeking my first dev role. I'm so hungry for that first foot-in-the-door 😄 Thanks so much for commenting - it encourages me a lot 💖

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

That’s great!

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xortype profile image
xorType

I echo what @yucer said. Data is king in this industry! Visuaizing data, coupled with the ability to setup and execute an experiment (Agile) to make the data actionable will take you far. Understanding the new wave of technology is essential.

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4lch4 profile image
Devin W. Leaman

I had never heard of The Firehose Project before, but it seems really interesting. How are you liking it so far?

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aritdeveloper profile image
Arit Developer

Oh I shall be blogging about the FHP soon 😘

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annlin profile image
ann lin

You go girl!

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aritdeveloper profile image
Arit Developer

Thanks mama!

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charlyn profile image
Charlyn Gonda

I can totally relate to paralysis about writing, and I’m so glad you were able to let go of it! Looking forward to reading more from your journey! 💖

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codevault profile image
Sergiu Mureşan

What do you do as a wordpress freelancer?

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aritdeveloper profile image
Arit Developer

I use the WP platform to help small biz and nonprofits be more efficient and effective. I implement productivity and workflow solutions.