I’m a career-changer into software development. Most recently I’ve worked in foreign language education services (501c3 nonprofit) as a program director. After a few years in education, I decided to look into a fulfilling career change. While trying out new things I did not expect to become passionate about programming and web development, but I did, and that's what brings us to the present moment-- you visiting my GitHub! I feel grateful to be entering a field that will always challenge me to learn and grow.

JavaScript is my first programming language; before learning it, I had absolutely zero knowledge about programming, software development, or computer science. What struck me as unique as I was first learning to code was the passionate programming community. The professional people I’ve been priviliged to meet both in-person and online possess a very rare commitment to lifelong learning and curiosity. Not only that, they are constantly honing their craft. I too want to experience the personal growth and joy that comes with that high level of commitment, build meaningful software, and be part of a community as passionate as the dev community.

Anyone you speak to will tell you soberly that this field isn’t easy (on the contrary it’s extremely tough), but the rewards I mention above have been powerful motivation for me to get through the tough days.

You can find me writing code and learning new tools daily ever since I’ve set my mind on becoming a hirable developer. In my free time, I enjoy walks in nature, gardening with my husband, and serving on the film production team at my church. Goals of mine this year include developing a weekly habit of lifting weights for my health.

I’ve learned most of what I know about programming through the The Odin Project, a web development roadmap and open-source project that guides self-learners to full-stack competence using resources that are 100% free online. In Odin, you build many, many projects. The curriculum emphasizes mindset, problem solving ability, and importance of the fundamentals. You are expected to develop grit as a developer and overcome obstacles in your code by reading documentation and doing your own research.

Some recent projects I've worked on:

• Thinkfolio, a frontend-based e-commerce store (React) using React Router and the Context API
• Memory Card Game (React) using useState and useEffect hooks
• Resume Builder (React) using useState hook, props, and Vite's React config
• Weather App (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) using asynchronous code and an external API
• To-Do List App (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) using ES6 modules, Webpack, and Web Storage API

My faith, support from family, morning routine, intellectual challenges, mindset podcasts, music, nature, meeting people at meetups, filming YouTube videos, 'git push' ;), progress

"Failure is exciting. It means you have different ways, opportunities, to get better." -Kobe Bryant

Learning backend with Node.js!