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Lauras blog post #274

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Lauras blog post #274

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add Lauras blog post issue 73
sareg0 Oct 20, 2014
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second draft of Laura's blog post
sareg0 Jan 2, 2015
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---
title: Post-RGSoC Stories: Laura Wadden, Thoughtworks (2013 Grad)
layout: post
created_at: Fri Oct 24 2014
permalink: blog/laura-wadden-thoughtworks
current: blog
author: Laura Wadden
twitter: laurawadden
---

My name is Laura Wadden and I’m proud to say that I’m one of the first “graduates” from the Rails Girls Summer of Code Program.
My team was part of batch 1 and even though it was the first time around, it was a huge success. I’m now a Graduate Developer for
ThoughtWorks, a world-wide software consulting firm. In this post I’ll explain more about my journey after Rails Girls Summer of Code
and how my experience at ThoughtWorks has been so far.

I started my journey with coding when I moved to Berlin from San Francisco in September 2012.
I first stumbled upon the Rails Girls community in May last year and attended my first beginners workshop,
where the energy was electric and I immediately found a supportive community.
At the workshop I heard about Rails Girls Summer of Code -- a 3-month, paid program for beginners to work on
open source projects and learn to code.

The next few months changed my life. I met my mentor and Rails Girls Summer of Code Coach, Duana Stanley,
who taught me about everything from TDD to working as a software developer.
The summer was difficult, rewarding and went so quickly I was reeling. There were different options
available - internship, junior developer, another community program - and I asked myself, “What comes next?”


The RGSoC community was very supportive during this time. I went to coffee with a million different people,
announced my job search on Twitter, attended meetups (even though I admittedly hate meetups) and told everyone
I knew I was looking for a job / next step / who knows.

The search continued and in the meantime I participated in Open Tech School’s Hackerhsip, another community program in Berlin.
It was a perfect option because it continued my learning from before and even though it was paid, I didn’t have to pay until the
next year and the payment was a percentage of my future income. By the end of Hackership I was ready for a junior developer position
or internship, but I never imagined I was ready for a firm like ThoughtWorks. During these few months I tried to freelance a bit,
went to A MILLION interviews, and I still attended meetups and other community events. The interviews helped me practice my interview
skills and I met lots of new people at the various meetups.

Then came my lucky moment. I gave a presentation at a meetup in Berlin about my Hackerhsip project in d3.js, and a ThoughtWorks employee
was in the audience. She heard my repeated plug, “I’m looking for a job!” and sent my name to the ThoughtWorks recruiting team.
The next day I had a message in my inbox.

“You really want me?”

“Yes,” the recruiter said. She explained about ThoughtWorks’ Graduate Developer program.

Her explanation can mostly be found on the website here: [link]. Even after reading the description on the site I didn’t think
I was ready for a job like that. I had barely been learning to code for a year and I wasn’t even sure which language I would be working in.
It felt like a long shot, but something worth trying.

I realized through the recruiting process and when I began at ThoughtWorks, that they do a few special things to help new programmers
integrate into a developer role. As a company they value “Quereinsteiger” - someone who comes from another career. They believe in my ability
to learn on the job and do as much as they can to support me in that journey. For someone coming out of an atmosphere like RGSoC, therefore it was a rather smooth transition.

However!!!! It’s still difficult. I’ve been at ThoughtWorks for six months and I am still constantly challenged with new concepts and
exhausted by learning new things everyday. Everyday I have to remind myself to be patient and trust that I’m doing the best that I can.
It’s tough when I still don’t understand concepts as quickly as others but I have to remember that I’m bringing a fresh perspective to the work that is also valuable.

ThoughtWorks did a few special things to help me succeed in my role. I’m going to discuss them here because I think it’s important
to realize what kind of supportive atmosphere is possible. In your future job interviews, you can integrate some questions about
how the employer plans to support your learning, what kind of flexibility you will have, and what their attitude is towards people
who don’t have backgrounds in Computer Science. And any other things that you think will help you be successful in your first job or internship.

First of all, training. I attended a 5-week training program in Pune, India. It has classroom sessions, project work and individual performance
coaching and review. For me personally, this meant intensive training in test driven development (TDD), pair programming, and experience working
on a real client project. Before I left for the program I completed a (long and difficult) programming assignment to prepare me for the coursework to come.

After the training, I received a lot of on-the-job support. Employees who aren’t working on client projects are “On the Beach”.
During this time they can shadow ongoing projects, work on pro-bono projects, or simply learn. For a new developer this is especially
helpful because I had space and opportunities to develop new skills. I shadowed on a project for my first 2 months and now am assigned to that project.

Lastly, ThoughtWorks loves learning and teaching. There is a personal development budget for books, workshops, conferences or online courses.
During my project I’ve held one-off sessions on CSS or other technical concepts and participated in a Design Patterns book club. Since these opportunities
are usually included in work time, I’m not overwhelmed with studying at night.

These are just a few notes on my experience, post-Summer of Code, and of course there’s much more I could say. Luckily I’m a real person and I love questions
. Please reach out to me, whether you're a recent Summer of Code grad, or planning on participating 2015. And if you’re interested in ThoughtWorks
[link: http://www.thoughtworks.com/] you can talk to me as well.