Ruby Conf 2013 - Becoming a Software Engineer: Inspiring a New Generation of Developers

KINSEY ANN DURHAM: OK, I'm gonna go ahead
and start.

How's everybody doing today?

AUDIENCE: We're good.

K.A.D.: Good? Having a good conference? Thank
you all

for coming. I'm Kinsey. I'm an apprentice
at ThoughtBot

in the new Denver office, and today I'm going

to be talking about becoming a software engineer:
inspiring

a new generation of developers.

So if you were to tell me even a

year ago that I would be standing up here

speaking at RubyConf, I would have told you
that

you were crazy. I never dreamt or even thought

it was possible to find such a yearning passion

for writing code. I thought I wasn't smart
enough,

and I honestly build up building ba- grew
up

building Barbie's dreamhouse and not computers.

I have been working in ad agencies since I

was sixteen. I was an advertising major and
I

was good at it. And the thought of being

a software engineer never crossed my mind.
It honestly

looked really boring and intimidating. My
step-brother is a

really awesome developer, and any time I heard
him

talk, it sounded like he was talking in an

alien language. I never understood anything
that he was

saying.

People are shocked and sometimes even blatantly
negative when

they hear about my new dreams of becoming
a

developer. Friends' jaws literally dropped
when I told them

that I was learning how to write code. I've

also received comments that I'm too sociable
and I'm

the last person on Earth they thought would
want

to write code. That I should be in sales

and also I don't think in a way that

a developer should.

I don't ever want to let these comments discourage

me, although it's definitely easier said than
done. There

are definitely times when I want to give up

and throw my computer out the door and go

back to some of the mindless work I did

in advertising.

So the path to becoming a software engineer,
in

my mind, was straightforward and well-defined.
You needed a

computer, you needed a computer science degree,
to have

dropped out of your computer science degree
to work

for a company writing code, or have been a

self-taught programmer who loon- learned to
code at a

very young age.

Recently, the community has seen a rise in
non-traditional

paths to becoming a software engineer. These
paths are

the future to building a diverse community
and training

the next generation of developers. So today
I'm here

to argue that outreach programs, mentorship
and apprentice programs

are legitimate paths to becoming a software
engineer.

This path is begin, has been the beginning
of

my journey, making me see that what I thought

was impossible was actually possible. So I
first want

to talk about outreach programs. Railsbridge
is a great

example of an outreach program that is working.

So how many people have heard of Railsbridge?
Wow.

That's a lot. A lot. Awesome. How many people

have volunteered, sponsored, or participated
in a Railsbridge? Awesome.

I can honestly tell you that a Railsbridge
workshop

changed my life. Railsbridge, for those of
you who

don't know even though most of you raised
your

hands, is an outreach program that puts on
free

weekend workshops where people learn from
experienced Rails volunteers.

So these workshop attract, workshops attract
a lot of

beginners, and in one day you get to build

a basic Rails app and deploy it on Heroku.

It planted a seed to a career that I

had always dreamed of but hadn't yet realized.
I

not only met Jesse McAdam who would become
one

of my greatest mentors and influencers, but
discovered a

passion for writing Rails that I never would
have

discovered on my own.

This is a Tweet that I Tweeted when I

was at Railsbridge. I was so excited.

Railsbridge taught me that writing code wasn't
scary and

in a few hours I deployed my first application

to Heroku. I literally remember it like it
was

yesterday. I was yelling at my best friend
who

also was in the workshop at the top of

my lungs that I was going to write code

from now on. And Railsbridge was the beginning
of

my journey, where I learned that I could actually

have a passion for writing code.

So SarahMay and Sarah Allen started Railsbridge
in 2009

when the San Francisco Ruby community was
98% male

and 2% female. Since the program lowered the
barrier

to entry, they saw an increase of women attending

the workshops. In one year, the Sarahs saw
the

female ratio increase from 2 to 18% thanks
to

Railsbridge efforts.

And I am - yeah.

So I am definitely not the only one who

has pursued a career in web development thanks
to

Railsbridge. I want to share with you guys
a

few of the testimonials from various women
who have

attended the workshop and who are now full-time
software

engineers.

So Rachel Meyers who is now a developer at

GitHub said this about her experience at Railsbridge.
I'm

gonna let you guys read this, cause I don't

want to just read off the slide.

Laura Steadman, who is now a developer at
QuickLab,

said that attending Railsbridge was inspiring
because of what

she built that day. Or not because of what

she built that day, but rather the sincere
enthusiasm

of the volunteers. She was amazed that people
were

giving up their weekends to volunteer at a
workshop.

Rita Vatshi who is now a developer outright
stated

this.

So Railsbridge is not the only outreach program
that

is out there that has been successful. Rails
Girls,

Women who Code, Black Girls who Code are other

great programs, all of which need sponsors,
teachers, and

volunteers on an ongoing basis. I'm currently
the coordinator

for the Denver women who code group, and it

is truly amazing to see the impact that the

group has had in the community in one year.

The most popular meetups are typically ones
that are

geared towards beginners, so in them we have
more

experienced females develop- female developers
come in to speak

about how they got into programming, what
resources are

out there and advice to becoming a developer.

So now that I've talked about outreach programs,
I

want to talk about mentorship. Mentorship
is another important

aspect to train the next generation of developers.
Mentorship

is beneficial to me because I look to my

mentors not only for technical skills but
for soft

skills and support. Because, to go from attending
a

Railsbridge workshop to becoming a full-time
software engineer is

way more work than I ever expected.

There are days when I come home in tears

and I feel stupid and frustrated for not understanding

basic concepts still. I'm not only learning
how to

write Ruby, Rails, testing frameworks, use
get, but a

completely new way of thinking.

So Jesse who I mentioned earlier is one of

my greatest mentors has opened doors to me
that

I didn't even know existed. She's truly humble
about

all the work that she's doing and bringing
diversity

into the industry, but she really is making
a

difference. She works tirelessly on top of
her job

and managing her family to reach out through
organizations.

It's like Dev Chicks and Railsbridge.

And I even hear her talking about how she

wants to open a beginning to code school in

her house on the weekend. Jesse and one other

mentor in particular have been there for me,
to

pick me back up when I'm feeling frustrated
and

that I cannot continue, and they remind me
of

how far I've come in a year and how

hard it truly is to understand this stuff.

no matter how busy they are, they are always

there to listen to me and help me when

I get stuck on a problem and am floundering.

So they give me the encouragement that I sometimes

desperately need.

So mentoring is also beneficial to my mentors.
My

mentors constantly tell me how mentoring ultimately
makes them

a better developer, because it solidifies
an understanding of

the content being taught. John Fully, who's
a developer

at Pivotal Labs told me that mentoring elevates
you

from thinking you know to actually knowing
you know

or not knowing at all.

Mentoring not only provides countless and
necessary benefits to

the mentee, but to the mentor perspectively.
So even

advanced developers can learn new things by
having to

explain it in a way that a beginner can

understand it.

So I recently came for- full-circle in the
Railsbridge

community and was a TA for one of the

workshops in Colorado, and teaching basic
Ruby conference- concepts

was really frightening because I kept questioning
myself, and

I went back, you know, and did more research

and made sure that I actually understood what
I

was telling people.

So I really did learn a lot that day.

Maybe even more than when I was doing the

Railsbridge workshop.

So I really think that mentorship is worth
your

time. How many people here have been mentored
by

somebody?

Quite a few. And did it help you in

advancing your career? Yes. Cool.

And how many people here have been a mentor

to somebody? Wow. That's a lot of hands. That's

awesome. I want to encourage everyone to be
a

mentor if you have time, resources, and the
patience

to do so. Mentoring is a really hard thing

to do and it definitely isn't for everyone.
It

requires a lot of time and patience.

I'm really inspired because I've met a lot
of

people here this weekend who are mentors and,
or,

or making the effort to become a great mentor.

So thanks to all of you who I've talked

to you about this and your efforts are truly

making a difference.

Now I want to switch gears and talk about

what it means to be a great mentor. I've

had so many great mentors this past year and

would love to share with you some of the

qualities that I thought they all shared.
Ally talked

about this in her lightning talk yesterday
and she

gave a lot of great advice as well.

So if you were gifted in explaining concepts,
complex

concepts simply, you would be a great mentor.
The

greatest mentors that I have had were able
to

take an abstract concept and make it really
concrete

to me. Emily Saffo, who presented yesterday,
she gave

an awesome talk in Paris at a conference about

concurrency in Ruby. And she gave a really
simple

analogy to explain threading, and it, she
compared it

with an orchestra, and I thought it was a

really awesome metaphor, and she took this
complex thing

and really broke it down into something simple
that

I could understand.

Last night, Steve Harms who presented here
at RubyConf

yesterday gave us a Star Wars example that
was,

that made it easy for us to understand the

topic he was talking about in regards to object-oriented

programming.

It's really important to try and explain these
things

in a simple manner that anyone can understand,
at

least at first, to get the concept through.
And

you know some con- some concepts are complex
and

can't really be boiled down to something simple.

But one technique that one of my mentors does

with me is ask me, if I had no

idea what any of this was, how would you

explain to me what I was doing? It was

really challenging and hard for me to do that.

It is, once again, beneficial to the mentor
to

have to explain things in a simple way.

Awareness. Awareness of both yourself and
your mentee. Mentors

who are unaware of the fact that they are

coming off as discouraging could ruin or completely
dissuade

a beginners' passion for the craft. It is
important

to be aware of signs of frustration, language
that

is discouraging, and body language when mentoring
an apprentice

developer.

Great mentors that I have had have also been

very aware of my learning styles. The same
mentor

that would, that would ask me to explain things

back to him asked me on the first day

of being my mentor what my learning style
was.

I wasn't even aware of the best ways that

I learned, but we were able to up, discover

that together, and use those, and practice
how I

learned best.

I really excelled during my apprenticeship
with this mentor

because we were both aware of my learning
habits,

my way of thinking and learning. I learned
that

drawing things on the white board, drawing
them out

was really helpful to me. And I also discovered

a lot of the time I need to sle-

I needed to sleep on what I had learned.

Then the next day I was able to get

it.

Also on this note, getting to know your mentee

is invaluable. Knowing what makes them tick,
how they

learn, how they think, and how they approach
problems

can make for a more productive mentorship.

Patience is also very important. It's also,
it's important

for the mentor and the mentee. If you're an

impatient person, it might not be best for
you

to be a mentor. When a beginner is learning

to code, you may have to explain things multiple

times until they get it. Things move at a

slow pace, and it is important to make sure

that you're being patient and understanding
when working with

your mentee.

Patience is also a skill that I have to

learn. One of the things that I struggle with

is when I see an error message or there's

a bug, I angrily switch from the failing test

back to them without taking my time to read

the error message. So writing code and mentoring
are

similar. Heh. I see people nodding.

Writing code and mentoring are similar in
that it

ta- requires a lot of patience. So I've learned

a lot in that aspect as well.

Weekly retrospectives are also very important
in a formal

mentorship. Once a week, take time and sit
down

with your mentee. Discuss what went well,
what didn't

go well, and what to improve on. These meetings

were invaluable to me because I was able to

focus on softer skills as well, and overall
skills.

I became aware of my impatience habit and
areas

that I needed to focus on the most, so

that really helped me out.

Pairing. I think pairing with my mentors has
been

the best thing for me from a technical standpoint.

So it was definitely where I learned the most.

Pairing on actual client projects and even
on my

own breakable toy was extremely helpful. Pairing
is also

great because you can speak remotely with
a mentor.

I was able to learn so much fun, more

in a pairing situation than when trying to
read

the Ruby pickaxe book. I was able to constantly

ask questions, drive, and really dive into
learning the

Ruby language and Rails framework.

But the most important piece of advice that
I

can give to mentors is to have empathy. It

is extremely discouraging to be told that
this is

easy and you should be getting this. It's
really

not easy, especially for someone who has never
done

this before. You know, how long have you been

writing code? Something that was easy, that
is easy

to you now, is not gonna be easy for

a beginner.

Also, remember that your mentee might have
a completely

different way of thinking. It's important
to put yourself

in their shoes and remember what it was like

to learn how to write code.

So my incredible mentors and my experience
Railsbridge has

not only changed my life, but changed others
around

me in an almost verbal effect. These are my

two best friends at another Railsbridge event
that we

did in Denver. We were all three advertising
majors

at CU.

Emma, the blond one, she's now doing front-end
development

in San Francisco, and Terra, just, got accepted
into

an intense Ruby on Rails program in New York

City. So Terra had a really great job and

decided to quit her career to pursue a career

as a developer, which I think is really cool.

So intense Ruby on Rails training programs
like GSchool,

Dev BootCamp, are other great examples of
alternative education

options that I unfortunately don't have a
lot of

time to discuss today. I get to spend a

lot of time around the G Schoolers and Galvanized

because we work in the same place. It's amazing

to see the applications that they build in
a

short amount of time.

We can also relate to the struggles of learning

Ruby together. I've also gotten to meet a,
so

many wonderful developers this weekend, who
have come out

programs like Flat Iron School, Bit Maker
and Dev

Boot Camp.

Talking with all of them about their experiences
has

made me realize how these programs can really
open

doors for people who never thought it was
possible

to become a developer. And it is truly inspiring

to see how passionate they are about the community

and the craft of writing code.

So now that I've talked about outreach programs
and

mentorship I want to talk about apprentice
programs. Apprentice

programs are intense training that you would
not receive

at a university, and apprentice programs can
take a

passionate learner and turn them into competent,
reliable software

engineers.

I'm really, really fortunate because ThoughtBot
accepted me into

their apprentice program this past year. It
is one

of the most challenging things that I've ever
done,

but the amount that I have learned during
my

apprenticeship has been incredible.

For those of you who don't know what ThoughtBot

is, it's a consulting company that builds
and designs

web and mobile application. And they have
a program

specifically for apprentices called apprentice
io. ThoughtBot's really passionate

about the learning space and has a learn program

where workshops are frequently taught. And
twenty-five percent of

the employees at ThoughtBot were apprentices
at one time

in the company. So a quarter of the company

actually came through the apprentice program.

And it is proved to, to be a great

way for ThoughtBot to train and maintain budding
talent.

So Dan the CMO describes why the program was

created in this quote, and once again I'm
gonna

let you guys read this.

Chad, the CEO, stated, that everyone in the
program

who has been eligible to get a job afterward

has gotten a job, with ThoughtBot or another
employer.

That's pretty impressive. ThoughtBot's apprentice
program has given me

the biggest push in achieving my dream. They
believe

that I can do it, they support me, and

even are taking the time and money that it

takes to train me.

ThoughtBot rewards and supports its employees
for engaging in

mentoring programs and for participating in
programs like Railsbridge.

This is something that I think all companies
should

be doing.

So the U.S. Department of Labor did a study

on apprentice programs in the U.S., and apprentice
program

graduates have much higher earnings than those
who did

not. The study also showed that the social
and

overall benefits to the company that maintain
these programs

appear to be much larger than the cost. So

over the career of an apprentice, the estimated
benefits

to the company exceeded the initial cost by
more

than $49,000.

So apprentice programs are not only a legitimate
path

to becoming a developer, but it's a bridge
for

people coming out of these outreach programs
that I

spoke about earlier. Even after doing multiple
Railsbridges and

working tirelessly with many mentors, I wasn't
ready to

become a full-time software engineer managing
large web applications.

I needed something like the apprentice program
to really

jump off the deep-end into writing code. And
apprentice

programs create a structured environment where
I can continue

to learn best practices and become a developer
that

produces reliable and maintainable software.

So there are many benefits to companies creating
a

formal or mentorship, formal apprentice or
mentorship program. So

if companies invest in apprentice and mentorship
programs, there

will be more highly-trained and prepared candidates
out there.

These companies can help other companies find,
et cetera,

find highly, find high quality candidates.

CSR is also really important in our society.
A

study showed that 94% of consumers would be
more

loyal to the company if they have CSR initiative.

96% of people said that they would have a

more positive image of the company. So CSR
is

clearly important and an all-around great
way to give

back to the community.

So this is more specific to consulting companies,
but

a lot of times projects are lost due to

a large price tag, and if companies take in

an apprentices, they will be able to bill
them

at lower rates to projects that have a strict

budget and not so much of a strict timeline.

So there are also a lot of engineers that

I have met that are out there who would

love the opportunity to become a mentor and
are

not sure the right way to get involved. This

would create an opportunity for interested
parties to teach

and mentor in a more formal environment.

So, I mean, look at me. I'm up here

genuinely talking about ThoughtBot and, because
they took a

risk on me. SO the message and good will

of your company will spread throughout the
students that

you take risks on and train.

But why is all of this important? Why is

it important to have educational alternatives
to training the

next generation of developers? I have three
reasons.

Diversity, a massive lack of, of supply of
engineer,

and traditional education that isn't providing
with the amount

of people that we need. So mentorship Railsbridge
programs

and apprentice programs are absolutely key
in getting more

diversity into not only the web development
world but

the tech world as a whole.

As you can see, NCWiT thinks it's crucial
for

advancing underrepresented employees.

So access to the internet is a privilege.
White

males specifically have access at an earlier
age and

a much higher rate than females. And people
of

different ethnic backgrounds. Statistics show
that boys get their

first computers at fourteen, while girls at
age eleven.

It's even later for people of color, who tend

to have a much higher adoption rate of smart

phones, and I can't imagine trying to write
code

in a smart phone.

So females make up more than half of undergrad

graduates but only 18% of computer science
graduates. There's

a really high barrier via the traditional
computer science

route in university.

Financial access, discrimination, lack of
role models, lack of

encouragement in general are creating this
large gap of

the lack of diversity. These are all barriers
that

are hard to overcome. So we want to create

diversity within the industry, education has
to come from

elsewhere.

outreach programs, mentorship and apprentice
programs are all alternatives

to a traditional education that lower these
barriers. This

is key in creating a diverse community. And
I

really want to emphasize that this is lowering
the

barriers and not the standards.

Alternative education needs to be high quality
in caliber

in order to maintain the standard in the industry.

So we all know that diversity is important.
Not

only does it drive economic growth, it's been
scientifically

proven that diversity fosters innovation and
enhances abilities to

solve problems. And approaching tricky programming
problems from many

perspectives proves to be successful in this
industry.

So another thing to be aware of is a

lot of these outreach programs and alternative
paths are

in predominately white areas for people of
average or

even high socioeconomic statuses. So it would
be awesome

to see mentorship apprentice programs and
outreach programs happening

in rural areas that have a low socioeconomic
status

and ethnic diversity.

So secondly, there's a massive lack of quality
engineers.

How many people here, or their company, is
hiring

on an ongoing basis? Yeah, and is it hard

to find quality engineers? Yeah.

So companies continually struggle with this.
According to NCWIT

research, if current trends continue by 2018,
the information

technology industry will only be able to fill
half

of its available jobs. There are people who
never

considered software engineering as a viable
career option because

they were discouraged from it, never thought
they were

smart enough, never grew up with a computer
or

were intimidated by people who had been programming
for

most of their lives.

These people can discover their passion and
take an

alternative approach such as the ones I discussed
earlier

and programs like GSchool and Flat Iron School.

So thirdly, the traditional science, computer
science degree isn't

providing the industry with the developers
that it needs.

Most people coming out of college are not
ready

for full-time engineering jobs. It takes four
or more

years to recieve a degree and not to mention

the hefty price tag.

So thanks to programs like Railsbridge, my
amazing mentors,

and ThoughtBot's apprentice program, I am
here today to

speak about the importance of alternative
education paths in

software development. I am almost done with
my apprenticeship

and I'm excited for what my next step will

be on this path, and I would be lying

if I told you that the path, my path

to becoming a software engineer has been easy
and

constantly rewarding.

There are times when I'm really close to quitting

and there are times when I cry from feeling

so frustrated and incompetent when the test
suite won't

turn green. But I know that I love what

I'm doing and I won't quit and I know

that it's because sometimes I literally get
chills when

I manage to get through it, refactor it, and

produce some beautiful code.

It literally moves me and makes me feel like

I can do anything. My goal is that other

people who never thought that becoming a software
engineer

was possible will become inspired by one of
these

alternative education programs or by an influential
mentor and

discover that they not only can be a great

developer but find a passion for it.

Thank you for your time today and you can

contact me through email or Twitter if you
have

any questions. And here are some of my works'

cited.