Learn to Code With Me

Lillian Pierson is a freelance data scientist for SMEs and entrepreneurs, as well as a trainer, speaker, and coach for people who want to get into data science and analytics.

Before she got into data science, Lillian worked in engineering. However, her interest in the tech space began early: she started teaching herself basic code in sixth grade, and always enjoyed working with data. When she decided on a career change, data science was the natural choice.

Lillian is also the author of Data Science for Dummies and the founder of Data-Mania, the company through which she offers data training services to professionals seeking career advancement. She works remotely as much as possible, which allowed her to move overseas to Thailand, where she's currently living the island life with her family.

In today's episode, we discuss freelancing as a data scientist, how to manage remote work and travel, the importance of building your personal brand, and more.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Interview Cake
• Firehose Project

Bill Sourour is the founder of DevMastery.com, the founder and president of technology consulting firm Arcnovus, and a frequent consultant for the Canadian government.

Through DevMastery, Bill offers a weekly newsletter full of tips and resources to help developers program better and advance their careers. Bill has 20 years of experience as a programmer and architect, which he uses to help both individual developers and large organizations as a teacher and consultant.

Bill's secondary passion was for acting; after studying theatre at Concordia University, he balanced both pursuits for years until he decided to fully commit to his tech career.

In today's conversation, we talk about the early days of Bill's career balancing his tech and theatre passions, how he got into consulting and started a business, his advice for people who want to work freelance, his goals for helping developers with the DevMastery newsletter, and more.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Interview Cake
• Firehose Project

Bridget Kromhout is a DevOps professional with a passion for giving back to her community.

In her professional working life so far, Bridget spent 15 years as an operations engineer, and now works at Microsoft as a Principal Cloud Developer Advocate.

Her spare time is full of tech-related and volunteer activities: she leads the worldwide conference organization Devopsdays, runs community tech events in her home city of Minneapolis, co-hosts the Arrested DevOps podcast, and frequently participates in tech conferences as both a speaker and committee member.

In our conversation, Bridget talks about how she worked her way through college, what the day-to-day of being a tech advocate looks like, her experiences attending, chairing, and speaking at tech conferences, and the various side projects she's involved in to do her part in helping others.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Make School
• Flatiron School

Fernando Hidalgo is a self-taught data scientist who went from being a teacher's assistant to a data scientist in just one-and-a-half years.

After studying economics in school, Fernando held a variety of jobs, unsure of what he wanted to do. One day, he started researching data science, and it captured his interest. Using trial and error, a bunch of online platforms, and a data science bootcamp, Fernando completely transformed his career path.

Now, Fernando works as a data scientist at Discovery Communications, and in his spare time helps others hack their careers at fernandodata.com.

In the episode, we talk about how Fernando started from zero to teach himself data science, what resources he used, what technologies aspiring data scientists should learn, and his tips for marketing yourself to employers or clients.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Make School
• Flatiron School

Josh Doody is a salary negotiation coach and author who helps software developers receive more job offers and negotiate higher salaries.

In addition to helping clients one-on-one, Josh wrote the book Fearless Salary Negotiation, which includes his best strategies and tactics for getting paid what you're worth. The principles in this book can be used by anyone, not just software developers!

Our conversation covers how Josh got inspired to pursue the art of negotiation, how to stand out during the interview and hiring process, some of his top salary negotiation strategies, and how to get promoted at your current company.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Make School
• Flatiron School

By day, Christine Chapman works as a software engineer at Audible, where she's been ever since leaving her previous role as a full-stack Android developer at Amazon. But her love of tech doesn't stop when she leaves the office: Christine is also passionate about giving back and spreading computer science literacy to her community.

Some of Christine's favorite organizations to get involved with are ones that make an effort to increase diversity in the tech world, like Black Girls Code, Girl Develop It, and Women's Coding Collective. She teaches courses for Girl Develop It and volunteers at Uplift, a nonprofit dedicated to combating sexual violence online.

In our conversation, Christine talks about her early experiences studying computer science and interning in competitive programs, gives advice for a job at a company like Amazon, and encourages us all to volunteer outside our day jobs, with actionable tips for getting involved.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Make School
• Flatiron School

Neel Mehta is a co-author of "Swipe to Unlock: The Non-Coder's Guide to Technology and the Business Strategy Behind It." At time of this interview Neel is a senior at Harvard, studying computer science, and has held internships at Microsoft, Khan Academy, and the U.S. census bureau.

One of Neel's greatest passions is using technology for social good. He started by launching an education app with a quarter-million users while he was still in high school. More recently, he founded a civic technology nonprofit, Coding it Forward, empowering young coders to use their talents for good.

In our discussion, Neel shares what drew him to technology at a young age, how he landed his competitive internships in college, why it's important to understand technology even for professionals not in tech roles, and more.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Make School
• Flatiron School

Ben Collins is a spreadsheet developer, data consultant, and data analytics instructor. He blogs and creates courses at BenLCollins.com, focusing on how to work with data using Google Sheets, Apps Script, and Data Studio.

Ben has taught workshops on data analysis, as well as doing freelance and consulting work. Prior to striking out on his own, he spent seven years as a forensic accountant focusing on data analysis.

In this episode, we talk about what a data analyst does, how Ben taught himself how to code, why demand is high for data professionals right now, the tools a data analyst uses, and the first steps to take if you want to get started in the field.

If you want to step up your spreadsheet game, you can get 20% off Ben's Google Sheets Training Bundle using my affiliate/commission link at LearntoCodeWith.Me/sheets. Going through this link will automatically apply the 20% discount on this course and send a few bucks my way at no extra cost to you.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Fullstack Academy
• Xojo

In just one year, Madison Kanna transitioned careers from fashion model to software engineer. She is now a fullstack developer at Conversio, and in her spare time blogs about development and life at MadisonKanna.com. Madison has also created a Udemy course, JavaScript For Beginners.

Listen to the episode for the story of Madison's journey from homeschooler to college dropout to fashion model to frontend and then fullstack developer. Along the way, she shares thoughts on productivity, working remotely, pursuing your passions, landing that first job, learning by teaching, and more.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Fullstack Academy
• Xojo

In today's episode I talk with Alice Zhao, a senior data scientist at Metis. We talk about her background in analytics, the importance of storytelling in data science, and her advice for anyone who wants to get into data science.

See the full show notes on the Learn to Code With Me website.

Thank you to this episode's sponsors:

• Fullstack Academy
• Xojo