![]() I think I checked out some books at the library too, if you can believe it, on HTML and CSS. And trial and error troubleshooting, I don’t even think I knew if Stack Overflow existed early 2000. And so Google became one of my best friends during that time. They didn’t know what they were doing, let alone being able to come in and provide technical guidance. I didn’t really have anyone I could ask for help at my current company. It was a lot of trial and error, a lot of Googling. And how did you learn how to do that? Or was that just a lot of Googling? Did you ask for help? How’d you figure that out? You’re going to update our website.” So my first exposure to code was in an email template, writing some HTML and some CSS. We’re going to give you all the tech stuff. So I was planning special events, athletic events, big galas, and they also, being the youngest one at many of these nonprofits, they said, “Oh, you’re young. And so in addition to grant writing, I started working on the events team. You have to get a lot done with very few resources. ![]() Nonprofit work is a lot like startup work. I slowly started picking up some additional responsibilities. They don’t pay the bills, warm, fuzzy feelings, but I did enjoy the work and it was rewarding when the grant writing paid off. It really does give you at the end of the day that warm, fuzzy feeling. SY: And did you like that? Was that fun for you? Yeah, writing these really large grants to different foundations. So for a couple of years, I like to say professionally begged for money. And so I transitioned to working for nonprofits for these institutions where I became a grant writer. So one of the constants throughout my career and my education has also been a love of writing. I spent some time getting a certificate in fundraising development. KE: So I graduate with an arts management degree. SY: So you graduate school with your art management degree, decide that that probably wasn’t for you. So I know that you went to college for, I think it was art history. KE: We looked at each other and it’s that Spider Man meme. I’m now in tech and he does nonprofit work, political work. And we’ve kind of flip flopped later in life. Funnily enough, my brother really wanted to get into tech. Did it ever occur to you that tech might be a career or something that you study, or was it just kind of these random electives that you took as part of school? And I remember storing my nail polish in it, and I was super proud. And so it’s a lot of interesting folds and we got to put metal clasps on it, a metal handle. SY: And when you were doing that, when you exploring CAT, and CAT, that’s the one where you like design and build stuff, right? It was the first real technical class that I took, and then I remember switching to home ec after that and I was a little disappointed. I think the first exposure to anything STEM-related was a CAD class I took in middle school, if you can believe it. And coding came much, much later down the line. To be frank, I really didn’t start using the computer until high school for essays, papers you had to write. In school, it was never made apparent that this was something that I could pursue. I didn’t really use the computer that often. Back then, I didn’t really understand tech. I grew up early ’90s, dial up, your mom and dad yelling down to get off the internet because they have to make a phone call. Tell me what it was like for you growing up. I’m sure some of them were a little unexpected, but let’s start all the way at the beginning. Kudos to you for having all those opportunities. So you are currently doing a lot, really excited to get to unpacking and exploring all the things that you do. ![]() SY: Oh, wonderful! Glad to have you on the show. Great!” SY: Katherine walks us through her journey from bootcamp student to bootcamp teacher, and shares her tips for recent grads looking to land their first role after this. There is never a point where you say, “Oh, I know everything. I could tell.” And I think that is so, so, so important because this is a career path that you need to keep learning. And, you know, I said, “Why did you hire me?” And he said, “You were excited. I just graduated from a Ruby on Rails and a Vue.js bootcamp. I had zero years of programming experience. KE: They wanted someone who had three years of PHP experience. I’m your host, Saron, and today we’re talking about being open to the unexpected with Katherine Evans, Lead Engineering Instructor at Actualize Coding Bootcamp, Live Lab Instructor at Podium Education, and Senior Engineer at Neon One. SY: Welcome to the CodeNewbie Podcast where we talk to people on their coding journey in hopes of helping you on yours.
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