CodeNewbie

Marty Haught, director of Ruby Central, has read and reviewed over 1,000 talk proposals. We talk about how to write a great talk proposal, how to make conferences a welcome and inclusive space for all developers, and how to prepare for your next big talk.

Self-taught dev Kinsey Ann Durham didn't stop at learning to code. We talk about what it was like to give her 1st tech talk, how to use your coding skills for social good, and how she handled someone telling her that she should be a secretary instead.

After just two months of teaching themselves to code, Felicia and Jamal O'Garro got paid to build and fix other people's websites. And soon after that, they started Code Crew, the community that's taught over two thousand people how to code in just a year and half. We talk about what it's like to work as a couple, how they discovered tech, and how they used their coding passion to build a thriving community of learners.

Brian Douglas, rails developer at Izea and graduate of the Bloc program, shares his story of learning to code and finding a job in 7 months, while also getting his MBA, working full time, running the online study group, Ruby Newbies, and having a young son at home. We talk about the different tools he used to learn how to code, how he landed his first programming job, and there may or may not be some unexpected singing.