Unlocking My Potential

The Twitter DM That Changed Everything: Breaking Into Tech the Unconventional Way


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In this episode of Unlocking My Potential, we sit down with Isabel Zimmerman to hear how she accidentally stumbled into data science, boldly tweeted her way into her dream job, and learned that choosing discomfort is the secret to exponential growth in tech.

Isabel shares:
🔹 How she applied to 4 colleges with 4 completely different majors—from finance to biotech—before landing at Florida Poly
🔹 The Twitter DM that changed everything: how she landed her job at RStudio (now Posit) by reaching out directly to the founder
🔹 Her journey from scared student to software engineer, contributing to major open-source projects like Quarto
🔹 Why writing bugs and failing publicly might be your greatest career accelerator
🔹 The liberating truth about imposter syndrome: nobody knows what they're doing—not even your tech heroes
🔹 How she transitioned from playing it safe to actively seeking uncomfortable challenges that fuel growth

This episode is a must-listen for anyone battling imposter syndrome, considering a career pivot into tech, or needing permission to do it scared and choose growth over comfort.


#UnlockingMyPotential #WomenInSTEM #WomenInTech #DataScience #ImposterSyndrome #CareerPivot #OpenSource #WomenWhoCode

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Unlocking My PotentialBy Natalie Thompson