Friday Keynote: Susan Buck, "So you want to be a developer..."

As an instructor with the Women's Coding Collective, at the Harvard Extension School, and Wellesley College, I spend a lot of time teaching people how to code. As one would expect, this invariably leads to lots of calls for advice from students: How do I get started in this field?

 

In this keynote, I'll walk through the advice I typically give when faced with this very good question.

 

Key points:

  • Understanding what developers do

  • Deciding the kind of work you want to do and the kind of work environment you want

  • Choosing where to learn

  • Building your own portfolio

  • Getting jobs and/or clients

 

Experience level: 
Beginner
Session Time Slot(s): 
Time: 
Sep 12 2014 - 4:00pm-Sep 12 2014 - 5:00pm
Room: 
163C
Allowed Types: 
Session
Session Track: 

Session Tracks (NERDSummit 2014)

Sessions Topics: 
Speaker Bio(s): 

Susan Buck is a programmer, designer, and educator with over 15 years of web development experience, starting with her education in digital media at NYU's Interactive Telecommunication Program and UNC Asheville's New Media program.

Most recently, Susan co-founded the Women's Coding Collective, an educational initiative aimed at helping more women excel in programming and web development. While working on the WCC, Susan also teaches Dynamic Web Applications with the Harvard Extension School and Harvard Summer School.