 Good morning everyone, or good afternoon. I'm really not sure what time it is anymore. So I'm a little bit jet lagged still. I flew in from the U.S. So my name is Byda Heate. I work as a web developer in Baltimore, Maryland. I work for a small software design studio called Friends of the Web. And I want to talk to you guys a little bit today about how I got into programming because it is probably not what you think. I have only been coding for nine, ten months, and I work as a developer. So most of the time I kind of feel like I don't know what I'm doing, which I think is pretty normal when you're starting out. So I actually used to be a teacher. About a year ago, actually, I was teaching in a low-income community in Mumbai, India. So all of this is to say, I have no computer science background. I have never coded before really before I started a year ago. And to me, the idea of programming was just really, really terrifying. So basically my attitude towards code was like, code, no. That's not a thing I know how to do. I can't do that. That's like, that's for people who are really analytical and logical. And I'm like, I'm a writer and a teacher. And that's not something that I can ever learn how to do. So when I got into code, I was actually learning HTML and CSS. So I had a website and I was like, well, I want to make it prettier and I want to make this thing blue and spin. So how do I do that? And I feel like there's probably quite a few developers out there who started out that way and it just kind of was like a rabbit hole that you stumbled into. So I got introduced to code just by Explored. And it was something that I really enjoyed. And I got introduced to Rails at Rails Girls, just like all of you. So that was about a year ago. And it was through Rails Girls that I kind of started teaching myself Ruby and Rails. The only problem with that was, it's very, very hard to learn. And I feel like there's probably people here today who kind of feel like that. Programming is very, very hard. And I decided that I need a little bit of help to learn how to code. And that's when I found the Flatiron School, which this is a picture of what an average day at Flatiron looks like. The Flatiron School is a school in New York City that exclusively teaches people how to code. It runs 12-week immersion courses in iOS and web development. And what's really awesome about it is most of the people there have never programmed in their life. So you all kind of enter without knowing what you're doing, which is pretty fantastic. Because you're all lost, but you're all lost together. So you're all together in that, I guess. So at the Flatiron School, the way that the curriculum works is you do a lot of lectures. And that's kind of like how you learn the syntax of the language. We work primarily with Ruby. And then we get introduced to Rails and start building applications that way. So one of the things that I loved about Flatiron is the way that they immerse you into the curriculum. And the reason that I want to share this with you is because the things that I learned at Flatiron are things that I think everybody can kind of use when they're learning programming. So I hope in the next, like, five minutes, there are a few things that you'll be able to take away that no matter how you continue with programming, and if you continue, you'll kind of have a couple of tips on how you can learn on your own, even if you end up going to a programming bootcamp or if you continue coming to meetups or something like that. So we ended up doing a lot of immersion with the language, with Ruby, and the iOS group worked a lot with Objective C. And we also did a lot of labs. So we would just come in to Flatiron school every single day from, like, 9 a.m. until 8 or 9 p.m. and just code. And, like, the thing with programming is you just have to put a lot of time into it. That's the only way to get over your fear of computers, because, like, when I started programming, I was just, like, terrified of my computer. I was afraid that I was going to break Ruby, which you're not going to break Ruby. It's going to be fine. But you kind of feel like it's very, very terrifying. And the only way to get over that fear is by just doing it again and again and again and getting comfortable with it. And the other awesome thing is we had really amazing teachers. And really, they're your resources. So you guys have the same thing here with all of these amazing coaches, right? We had teachers who had been programming for six months and some who had been doing it for decades. So they were really fantastic resources because they knew how to guide us in learning a new language. And they knew what it's like to start as a beginner, because the beginner's mindset when it comes to programming is very different than somebody who's been doing it for, like, 10 or 20 years. So all of this is to say that programming is really hard. But it's not impossible. As you can see, I work as a developer now, and that did not seem plausible to me at all a year ago. So how did I end up doing it? So what I kind of want to share with you is a few things that I learned at the Flatiron School that I think I wish I had known earlier, and I hope that you guys will be able to take away and, like, apply it to however you continue programming. A few things is programming is just a language, right? It's just a language for computers. So the same way that you would learn any language, you kind of, I think it helps to approach it the same way. Just as if you were learning a language, you want to learn how to read it, how to write it, and how to speak it. So when it comes to code, one of the great ways to learn is by reading code. And I think it can be intimidating, like, to open up the Braille source code and start reading it is very hard. But if you take it piece by piece and read small programs or small applications and just try to understand what's going on, that really, really is helpful. Also, just as if you're learning a language, you have to do it. You have to write your own programs you have to build. And, like, obviously that's something that you guys are doing here today because you're going to be creating your own applications. And they probably won't be beautiful, but it's fine because you have to start somewhere. And the more that you get comfortable building and the more that you write code, the better you're going to get at it. And the last piece of that is talking about code. Coming to meetups and interacting with people and asking them questions, whether they've been programming a long time or whether they're just starting out, that's just going to get you comfortable in terms of talking about programming and getting used to the different syntax and terms that are used. So a couple of the things that we ended up doing at Flatiron School is building our own applications. And like I said, a lot of them were not very beautiful and I think that's okay. I've gone and looked back at my old applications and really, really felt bad about the code that I wrote six months ago. But if you don't go through the process of writing bad code, you're just never going to get better at it. So I would suggest to all of you to keep on writing code and keep building and keep exploring in whatever context that might be comfortable for you, whether it's through Rails or JavaScript or CSS. You should just not stop doing it because that's the only way to get better at it. And the other thing that we did at Flatiron School was actually create applications and deploy them. So going through the process of learning the syntax of a language, creating an application and deploying into something like Heroku and seeing it live and sending the link to people and watching people use your applications is a great process. And I think it really lends itself to if you are considering pursuing this as a career, it's definitely helpful to go through that process because if you end up working as a developer, that is ultimately what you will do as a job. And again, coming to meetups, learning about new technologies that people are using and sharing what you've been working on with other people and getting their feedback and trying to make your applications better is only going to make you better as a developer. Yeah, so I also realize that a 12-week bootcamp is definitely not the route for everyone. So there are a few things that I would definitely say to people who maybe aren't considering a bootcamp and want to learn on your own because there are a lot of developers out there who are self-taught and it's a very impressive thing to do. It wasn't the right path for me because I needed help and that's just not the way I learned. But there are a few things that every developer probably goes through. So somebody once told me this at a meetup, I thought it was really corny but I put it on the slide because I also think it's very true. Somebody once told me the paths are many but the code is the same. Do not judge me for this, okay? I didn't say it, they said it but it's very very true. Like I said, there is no one way to learn how to be a developer. There's no one way to get into programming. You can teach yourself, it can take a while, you can be very active in the community and then sometimes it happens a little faster. You can go to a bootcamp, you can go into apprenticeships and internships. There are lots of different ways to get into code. Which is to say that no matter what path you end up choosing, you should always always be curious and ask a lot of questions because it's a very very different landscape and industry and it can be really really intimidating when you're starting out and a lot of younger developers kind of suffer from imposter syndrome where you feel like you're not qualified or you're not capable but the only way to get over that is by just asking questions and learning more because if you don't know it now once you know it that's that's one more thing that you understand then you can go on to the next thing that you don't feel comfortable with. So ask questions and don't feel stupid about it. I wish somebody told me that earlier and I wish I had asked more questions when I was starting out. Now that I know that I asked so many questions and maybe it's a little bit irritating to people but I don't care. I just keep asking questions because that's the only way that you're gonna learn and that's the only way that you're gonna know more. So don't be discouraged. I also wish somebody had told me that because when I was starting out I would get really down on myself when I didn't understand a concept but that's kind of the way that learning works right and this was something that I kind of realized when I was at the Flatiron School. If it's hard it means that you're learning and learning is supposed to be hard because you're getting something new right. If you if it's easy for you that means you probably already knew it and if it's hard that means that you're struggling through it that means you're learning something new. So it's a good thing if it feels hard because eventually if you do it enough it'll stop feeling hard and you'll have a new skill. So don't be discouraged by that and embrace the struggle as difficult as that might be sometimes and don't give up because I know way too many people who really were interested in code thought it was hard and just didn't keep going and every single developer and every single person out there who learned something new hits a wall you just have to keep being persistent keep asking questions and keep trying because that's the only way that you're going to get over that hump. And if you really really enjoy what you do here today then even if it takes a while and even if it's hard nothing is going to stop you from learning it. That's the amazing thing about code I think is that there are so many resources out there there's documentation there are people who have been doing this for years and years and years so you have the option to learn how to code even if it's really intimidating you shouldn't let that stop you. Okay so really quickly to sum up here are three B's of programming that I wanted to share with you. Blog build and present it really is supposed to be present but like two B's and one P doesn't sound as good so let's just pretend to present. So blogging I think whether you are the person who's writing a blog or whether you're using blogs they're both important when I was starting out I would read a lot of blog posts to learn concepts and really well written blog posts will explain something as a concept and also give you examples so that can be super helpful and then I would also encourage all of you to start blogging because on the one hand it'll be great for you in like five months when you're like oh yeah look at all these things I learned I wrote a blog post about this good job passed me so that'll be nice and also it's really great when you're like looking for jobs because you have this entire resume of concepts that you understand and you can send it to an interview and be like yeah I know how it works let me tell you about scaffolds I wrote a blog post about it here you go so it's a great way to market yourself as a developer and a great way to give back to the community and learn from the community as well building obviously you want to learn how to code you've got to write code and if you're writing code you can build amazing things with it that you can show to people and that you can refactor and make better and it's also adds to your resume as a developer and it's only going to be really helpful for you to work with code every day get comfortable with it and presenting my favorite one go to as many meetups and events as you can and learn as much as you can and I don't just mean like Rails and Ruby I mean all different technologies and speak at meetups because everybody I'm sure Winston will agree with me everybody wants more people to speak at meetups and it's really really good for you to like introduce yourself to the community and get feedback and meet amazing developers because you never know where those connections might be so my favorite thing about programming is that you are never ever ever going to know everything and I used to think this was really horrible and it really used to be mad because I used to feel like I want to know everything and I'm just never there's never a thing that I completely understand but actually I think it's fantastic because it means that you never stop learning so if you feel like there's a lot for you to learn today if you keep programming in five years you probably are still gonna feel like that because there's gonna be a new technology like you'll have to like learn react or another language or a framework or god forbid two JavaScript frameworks but you know that's the fantastic thing about programming is that you're always a beginner so just if you keep in mind that programming is always integrated with the beginner's mindset then it'll probably feel a little less intimidating to you and you'll just get comfortable not knowing things and in a way it's really fantastic because this field it always keeps growing and there's always new things to learn so in a way that's probably a great source of motivation because you'll never have run out of things that you want to learn and get good at so good luck to all of you and I I'll be around so if you have any questions about Flatiron school or code or not code or whatever presenting I'll be around so please ask me questions and I hope all of you keep on coding thank you so much thank you so much but if you're coming to share your experience