So You Want To Become A Developer?

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So You Want To Become A Developer?

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be-a-developer

Presentation slides for OLA Superconference 2016 talk: So you want to be a developer?

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So You Want To Become A Developer?

Created by Vanessa Merritt and Emily Porta for the OLA Superconference 2016

Slides: goo.gl/qj5Z77

The jouney from librarian to developer

Vanessa Merritt

Then: UofT iSchool 2010, TPL Librarian 2010-2014

Now: Web Developer, Telus

Emily Porta

Then: UofT iSchool 2013, ...various 2013-2014

Now: Scrum Master, Rangle.io

What does it mean to be a developer?

  • Web development vs. other programming
  • Front end vs. back end vs. full stack
  • Types of places you'd work
  • The day to day of the job

how do you get into development from librarianship?

  • Bootcamps
    • Pros: up to date, efficient, cheapest classroom
    • Cons: few grants/loans, intense, only just enough
  • DIY (books, websites)
    • Pros: cheapest, on your own time, at own pace
    • Cons: slow, can waste time on wrong materials, confusing, hard to keep up
  • Colleges
    • Pros: cheaper than university, more skills-focused
    • Cons: behind the times, all over the place
  • Universities
    • Pros: deep learning, most guaranteed job security
    • Cons: long, expensive, not practical

What makes a good developer

  • Personal characteristics
  • Myths!
  • Need to have skills

Why librarians are potentially great developers

  • People skills
  • Deal with difficult situations and people
  • Researching, organizing, intelligent, problem solvers
  • Already in the same industry, some familiar terms and tools
  • Reference interview = talking to a client

Difficulties in pursuing this career path

  • Feminist Timeout!!
  • Tech is always changing
  • Yes, programming is hard, and it's hard not to be good at something
  • Quitting your career, taking on a big risk
  • Imposter syndrome everywhere

Possible jobs for web developers

Pretty much anything you want! With web development skills, you'll get many interviews and lots of interest.

  • Front or back end developer
  • Scrum or other technical project management
  • UX design or information architecture
  • Freelancing!
  • Educator

Next Steps

If you're 100% sure:

If you can, quit your job and join a full-time bootcamp (Hackeryou, Bitmaker, Brainstation, etc.), go back to school, or start teaching yourself If $$$ = no, start with shorter part-time classes, online courses, aim to build a few basic websites, and then a portfolio Focus on HTML basics, then CSS, then Javascript basics, then try to make an app using Ruby on Rails, Python and Django, or learn Wordpress (complicated websites) or ecommerce. See if work will let you get into a more "technical" role, like web master, etc. Take some time to learn some web design. Your portfolio depends on it. Try to get a simple freelance project! Really! FORGET ALL CERTIFICATES

Next Steps

If you're a maybe:

  • Take a part time program, or series of one-off workshops
  • More reading, aim to learn a little bit about a lot of different languages, tools, frameworks, etc. to see what you find interesting.
  • Something like the Ladies Learning Code Digital Skills program is perfect

If you want to keep it casual:

  • Short online, simple courses like Codeacademy
  • Ladies Learning Code has one-off intro classes all the time

The end!

Questions?

VANESSA: @vanessamerritt_

EMILY: @agentemily

So You Want To Become A Developer? Created by Vanessa Merritt and Emily Porta for the OLA Superconference 2016 Slides: goo.gl/qj5Z77