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Graphic Design to Software Engineering
67 Plays10 months ago
Ashley takes us on her journey from discovering an interest in coding to carving out a career as a Solutions Engineer. She describes how her background in graphic design serves as a valuable asset in her current role. Ashley shares insights into her job application strategy, describing how imperative it is to show your demonstrate soft skills along with the hard skills. Additionally, she attributes her current position to a career accelerator.
If you have any questions for Ashley or the host that you'd like to be answered on a future episode, send an email to [email protected].
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Transcript
Meet Ashley: From Graphic Design to Solutions Engineer
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello, everyone. Another Wednesday, another awesome episode for Life After Tech Bootcamp. I'm really excited to talk to our first software engineering graduate, Ashley. She is currently in a very cool place right now. I will let her talk a bit more about that once I introduce her. But let me share a little bit about Ashley before we get into her story.
00:00:41
Speaker
She is a former graphic designer turned software engineer through Springboard Software Engineering Career Track. She's currently using her background in design and coding, working as a solutions engineer for a marketing company called Adlucent. She hopes her story is able to help other people. Hi, Ashley. Welcome. It's so great to reconnect. Hi, Alyssa. It's good to talk to you again. Glad to be back.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, would you like to share where you've been tuning in from? Yes, I'm currently in Paris right
The Perks and Challenges of Remote Work
00:01:15
Speaker
now. I work fully remote, so I did like to take the opportunity to travel more because I can just bring work with me. Yeah, that's the best part about remote work, especially if you have a company that lets you take your laptop out of the country. I love Paris, so very jealous. I'll be there this summer.
00:01:36
Speaker
which isn't soon enough. Oh, okay. Maybe we can meet up there. Certainly. Are you going to be there for the Olympics? No, I plan to be there in June because it's not very hot yet because they don't really have air conditioning in France or in any parts or most parts of Europe. So during the hottest time of summer, I'll be back in America. But it is a very pleasant place to work in June in France.
00:02:04
Speaker
Have you gotten into any cool cultural things there, or what do you do when you're not working? When I'm not working on weekends, I do like to go visit the other countries as well too, because it's easier to get to than other states in the United States. The fairs for the flights might be 100 to 200 US dollars, so it's fun to see different places on the weekends.
00:02:34
Speaker
yeah that's the best part that is one of the best parts about europe is that just going to spain or germany is 100 ish dollars so very jealous
00:02:44
Speaker
That's very, very cool and very inspiring. Perhaps someone's thinking, maybe I can be that one day. Yeah, I bet everybody could.
Career Shift: Graphic Design to Software Engineering
00:02:52
Speaker
I think that there's different rules that every company has in regards to traveling outside the country and working. So I would just check with your HR first. But mine does allow me to work for up to 30 days at a time outside of the US.
00:03:09
Speaker
Oh, so cool. Yes, I agree. Check with HR. I know I'm not allowed to do that, even though I'm fully remote. So a good way. Well, let me back up. That would be an interesting interview question, is what kind of perks like that exist? Though that's a little awkward. I don't know. Did you, I'm actually curious when you were interviewing, did they volunteer this information? Because I can't imagine you were just like, what can I do?
00:03:38
Speaker
remotely. It's a tricky question to ask. You don't want to come off as like, how can I go away with traveling and working?
00:03:46
Speaker
because you want to be serious about a job, if that makes sense. Yeah, that's a good question. It was after I finished negotiating the terms and the salary, I asked, oh, by the way, are we allowed to work outside the country? Because it obviously wasn't the priority to me at the time. I didn't think I would travel that much. But I just asked, oh, aside, by the way, are you able to go outside the country and work as well, too?
00:04:14
Speaker
and they said you can work internationally for up to 30 days at a time with your manager's approval. So luckily my manager is very nice and they're very flexible and I work with a really fun team so I would like to take advantage of that perk and once I found that out then I was super excited. Well let's
00:04:40
Speaker
hear about where you were before you got to travel for up to 30 days or whatever the policy was. Let's talk about where you started. So I know you were a graphic designer. You were living in New York City. Tell me about what was going on. Yeah, I was working as a graphic
Why Springboard? Transitioning into Coding
00:05:00
Speaker
designer for about seven years before I moved over to software engineering.
00:05:07
Speaker
With graphic design, I eventually started to feel very limited in the role. It's, in my experience, a dead end position. And once I felt like I couldn't really move up, I decided to go back to school to learn to code. So I was living in New York City for a while, about four years, and then
00:05:35
Speaker
during the pandemic there was a lot of changes so I did leave New York City and I did move back to Michigan where I'm from to be able to pay for coding school because it's much cheaper to live in Michigan and that's where I learned how to code and I started working as a software engineer in 2021. That's awesome so I'd love to hear
00:06:04
Speaker
Where did coding come within your sphere? I don't know how much you were doing with web development on that end, but what made you interested in it? It wasn't like a...
00:06:16
Speaker
a clear-cut time. I just started noticing with them every time I would change jobs as a graphic designer that they're looking for more and more code like as supplementary knowledge and eventually it started to become more of a requirement and now I'm competing against other graphic designers or other people that are able to code. So it's kind of just this increasing pressure to be able to build
00:06:46
Speaker
applications along with being able to design them as well too. So it wasn't until 2020 that it finally gave me the final push to leave my job and finally just go back to school to learn already because ultimately I just wanted more doors open and once I saw the potential for
00:07:13
Speaker
how much you can grow with this new skill set. I was interested. It's so interesting you say that. I was talking to somebody else, Mike, whose episode came out recently. He said something so beautifully, like, when you give yourself new skills, you give yourself new opportunities. And I think you obviously know that. I know that, but I just loved how you put that together in such a succinct way. And it's so true.
00:07:42
Speaker
Yeah, sometimes we are put in situations where we're forced to, it was kind of like a crossroads for me. You know, at the time I did have an offer from a previous job, like a previous graphic design role, they offered for me to come back.
00:08:01
Speaker
or I would have to just kind of sacrifice for a while to be able to go to coding school. So ultimately I decided to go to coding school and since then I've found a job. I've freed myself from debt. I've done a lot of traveling and I've learned a lot of new things and I've met a lot of really great people. I've definitely, this is definitely
The Power of Support Networks in Career Transitions
00:08:25
Speaker
the happiest I've been in a job ever. So it was definitely worth it in the long run.
00:08:31
Speaker
But I'd like to go back to kind of what you said. You had an offer. You basically had a crossroads. You could have learned something new, or you could have taken an offer from what you said, an old company. That must have been a really scary decision. Or am I wrong? Were you very, very sure of yourself?
00:08:50
Speaker
Oh no, I was for a while. I was actually wanting to go back to my previous role because it was in New York City and I really loved being in New York City. It was not an easy choice. I remember I went to my roommate actually. She's also a graphic designer as well too.
00:09:10
Speaker
And I asked her advice on it, like, should I go back to my previous job or should I go to coding school and do something else? And then she was really the one that encouraged me that I have a very unique opportunity to go and to change my circumstances. And she was right. Yeah.
00:09:32
Speaker
that's great that you had that support too because sometimes I feel like I don't know you but like I get so in my head of am I doing the right thing and sometimes you don't know if it's the right thing until things might work out or they don't but that's great that you had that support system.
00:09:51
Speaker
Yeah, I'm very lucky. I still keep in touch with her sometimes. And she was very happy for me once I did get my software engineering job. And it's just been a much needed change. Certainly. I mean, you're in Paris. So let me hear about you're deciding to go to coding school. How did springboard come into your orbit? Why did you think springboard was the right choice for you to get to where you are now?
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, Springboard was my, I think it was my second school I went to. I really went through four programs. I took a workshop first for UI, UX, actually. I was thinking I would do that because that's kind of the logical next step to go to from graphic design.
00:10:43
Speaker
And after taking a few classes for UI, UX, I learned that it's good to have some coding as supplementary knowledge. So I took a coding class on the side alongside that. And I realized I liked coding more. So I decided to go in the coding direction. And I found springboards through an ad, actually, on Instagram.
00:11:10
Speaker
I was looking around at different coding schools. I was interested in, there was like three or four at the time, but I liked Springboard because it looked like a newer school. And I did some research on the creator of the program. And I really liked the way that they set up their payment plans and the course timelines and the languages that we're learning as well.
00:11:38
Speaker
So ultimately, I liked springboard more, especially the way that you were able to test into the program as well, too, because everybody has to take like a coding test to enter the school. And I liked their process for that as well, too. I remember when I first saw your intake survey for the podcast, seeing someone go from graphic design software engineering, I was, yeah, you're right. Like it is common for them to switch
00:12:08
Speaker
or will that profession to switch into UX? So I was very curious to understand how you were parlaying your graphic design skills into software engineering.
Continuous Learning and Job Search Strategies
00:12:21
Speaker
Yes, when I was working as a graphic designer, you're basically working with every type of media that
00:12:30
Speaker
whatever they ask you pretty much so. I did paper packaging like hang tags on clothes and I did digital products as well too so some people may need
00:12:41
Speaker
help designing their websites as well. And you're really limited if you cannot code it. You're only just designing what it's supposed to look like. So that can be limiting as well, too. So that's just kind of one of the things I knew that you're limited unless you can learn how to code. So even now in my current position, there's random images.
00:13:08
Speaker
things that need to be photoshopped or need to be changed a little bit or altered. Sometimes they might need gifts for certain things. So I'm able to use the Adobe Creative Suite for those. And I'm the only person on my team that knows how to do that. So that's what makes it, that's what makes me a little different than normal software engineers because I have Adobe Creative Suite knowledge as well too.
00:13:36
Speaker
Yeah, that's very cool. And I think that's so great to share when someone might not really be interested in UX design. So thank you for sharing all of that and how you connected the dots in that way. So I'd love to also hear, I know you said you did a couple other boot camps. What other things did you do outside of the course that supplemented your knowledge for software engineering?
00:14:03
Speaker
Well, Springboard was the main boot camp for coding. So I learned the bulk of my coding there. That was the really immersive, long program. Before that, I just took a UI, UX course, just a few classes. And then after that, I joined a workshop with She Codes, where you're only learning just the basic HTML, CSS, and basic JavaScript.
00:14:31
Speaker
And then I went to the immersive program with Springboard. And then after that, I joined a program called Outco, which is kind of a job-searching support program for software engineers. It's specifically for software engineers. So they help you with interviews and testing and data and algorithms. So that way, it's really to help any software engineer that's looking to level up
00:15:00
Speaker
career, like if they're looking for promotion or if they're looking for a new position. And that's right. Finally, that's ultimately the program that helps me find my job. That's fantastic. And I remember you saying that you're allowed to stay in that program outco until you get the results you want or a job that you want.
00:15:22
Speaker
Correct. So that was the big selling point for me for Alco because usually these career support programs are kind of like on a certain timeline. But the thing that was really special about them is that they
00:15:39
Speaker
They want to make sure that you get what you want out of their services, out of their help. And it was totally worth it. I'm really glad that I found them. I actually found them through Springboard as well, too. Springboard was letting us know if there's further support we can find after boot camp. And I decided to go without Ko.
00:16:03
Speaker
certainly yeah and to your point people don't learn at the same rates so in a timeline isn't always suitable for everybody some people need a little bit extra attention maybe they're overcoming something maybe there's something going on their personal lives things don't just happen at the exact time you want them to yeah that's the thing with um
00:16:31
Speaker
with boot camps. It's because they are immersive, meaning that they're condensing a lot of information into a shorter amount of time because a lot of it's meant for career changers. They want to have it just be done a little more quickly. So a lot of people don't really have the time or just life gets in the way. So luckily, I've not had the same blockers as other people or challenging circumstances.
00:17:00
Speaker
Luckily with bootcamps, there's other students as well too. So you're able to have support from many places. And I think that's what's different about bootcamps. There's a lot of software engineers that are like self-taught developers, but I like having the support. So that's why a bootcamp is the best choice for me. Absolutely. Well, I'd love to hear a little bit more about your job height. So I know you said you selected Outco more so for the support
00:17:28
Speaker
Whereas Springboard gives us that, I actually forget what it's called, but there's that period of time after you finish the course where you work with a career coach and do job hunting activities and things like that. Yes, there is some form of that after Springboard as well too. It's just less strict, I suppose. The one without code, they are
00:17:57
Speaker
very like hands-on as far as what you're doing for looking for jobs and there's a lot more like there's more than one career coach that you're talking to as well too so there's a lot of support there as well but my job search was
00:18:16
Speaker
I remember I was applying to a lot of jobs. I think the minimum was 25 jobs per week, but I did much more than that because I was just very focused, I suppose. So probably 50 to 100 per week.
00:18:33
Speaker
And I did that for about six months, I think. I did take like a month or two off because I did go to Europe for vacation at one point because I was not expecting I would get a remote position. I thought I would just move back to New York probably and probably wouldn't have time to travel anymore.
00:18:54
Speaker
I start working because at the time remote work was considered like a luxury and it's very competitive to find them but I suppose I just got lucky um but yes I did apply to about 50 to 100 jobs per week and I had an interview maybe two times per week for about six months it was a very long six months so that is a long that is a lot 50 to 100 that is
00:19:24
Speaker
Incredible. First of all, I'm kind of happy to hear that there are that many jobs out there for people. There was at the time. Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy. But then also I know LinkedIn makes it easy with auto apply. But that's still like that much a week. That's still a lot of time. So and then you said you were interviewing on top of that.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah, my interviews were, because I was applying mostly to front end roles, a lot of them were take home projects or like small exams.
Industry Insights: Soft Skills and Market Trends
00:19:59
Speaker
So I kind of had my days split up between kind of like working on
00:20:06
Speaker
maybe an interview like a project and then the other half is probably actually the real interview so and you know there's multiple rounds for every interview so usually it takes like two weeks for a normal interview for a software engineer that's still but if you're doing that multiple times that's a lot of work on your end in mental state and then also just not knowing what's going to happen so
00:20:36
Speaker
props to you for being that persistent. That's incredible. I'd love to know what do you think you did to make yourself successful in getting these interviews and getting these take-home projects. I know, of course, you can't get every job out there, but clearly you were doing something right to get people attracted to your talents.
00:20:59
Speaker
I think the resume, I think you need to have a really nice looking resume and I did get a lot of support from that with my career coaching.
00:21:12
Speaker
And I guess I do have a pretty interesting story to tell. I don't have a CS degree. So there's a lot of different ways to really sell yourself if you don't have the usual background for software engineers. But that ended up being kind of to my advantage. I think one, maybe because I'm a female, there's not a lot of female software engineers.
00:21:41
Speaker
Two, because it's not like a very big career change, actually. There's a lot of graphic designers that also code as a supplementary knowledge, because they do kind of go hand-in-hand, depending on the job role.
00:21:59
Speaker
Uh, it was a pretty easy thing to look for for the front end developers. So luckily there was a lot available at the time. I don't know about right now, but about a year and a half ago, there were, there was a lot of roles available for front end. Certainly. Yeah. I also have no idea how many front end roles are out there now, just within.
00:22:24
Speaker
the LinkedIn sphere that I log into, I log into LinkedIn maybe every three days and I see just more and more people seeming, I don't wanna say desperate, but just really frustrated about finding a job, like more so than ever before across multiple different disciplines. So, you know, I'd love to know if,
00:22:49
Speaker
You know, someone reached out to you who's been on the job hunt six, eight months being like, Ashley, like, what could I be doing wrong? Like, what do you think you would tell them?
00:23:03
Speaker
Well, first thing I would do is I actually I did that conversation earlier today with because I did go to a tech webinar today. So I did check my company website. Okay, are we hiring anybody right now? And it's nothing really related. So the first thing I do is check my company if they're hiring. But I think for people who are long unemployed, I would say to continue learning. Because if
00:23:33
Speaker
If you're getting interviews, I bet there's something more that you could add to your resume while you're still looking because there might be something missing. You never know who you might impress by being able to add something else to your resume. And if you are just coming from a bootcamp, there's still plenty of other resources out there aside from a bootcamp. It might be helpful to learn any language
00:24:00
Speaker
in the time while you're job searching so I would say to continue learning new skills that are not already on your resume so that way you are still able to build your resume and I would reach out to career support because it's made a lot of difference for me
00:24:22
Speaker
I think that being open-minded about the whole process definitely really helps because I've met some people that are very like, like they say that they've already heard all this advice before and they sound a little closed off. I think those are the people that end up in long-term unemployment, but I think anyone that's open to help is usually not going to be unemployed through very much longer.
00:24:49
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, I also agree. I don't know if this sounds harsh, but I can typically tell when someone does an informational interview with me or if I'm talking to them, I can typically tell if there are the types that are going to do the work and then eventually land a role. I don't know what it is, but there's just a different way that they approach the job hunt and approach life. And I think a lot of it is that constant learning and that constant
00:25:20
Speaker
just talking to people and learning what they did to see how it can apply to them. When I see that kind of personality, I do have more faith that that person will succeed versus somebody who almost feels entitled to a job. Like they just did their bootcamp, checked the box and think, why aren't the jobs coming to me?
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, those are what we call soft skills, the ability to just be easy to work with, easy to train as well, too. And that's not really something that you can teach somebody. So you can always learn a new language. You can learn the new coding skills.
00:26:03
Speaker
South skills are not really something that can be taught, so I think people with good, you know, personal skills are a little bit better off. Another thing to keep in mind for the tech industry, especially for software engineers, remember that it's kind of like a circular span that we go through. It's
00:26:27
Speaker
for the first part it's like it feels like the industry is very saturated so there's a lot of people looking for like a small amount of jobs and then later on in the year it'll be like reversed it'll be like there's a lot of jobs and then they desperately need more software engineers so there's an ebb and flow to the need all the time so i would just
00:26:50
Speaker
urge people that are looking to just continue trying because I promise we still need more help and we definitely do need different skill sets depending on the jobs because it's constantly changing. It's kind of like musical chairs you know especially with it being common in
00:27:09
Speaker
the industry for software engineers to hop around because that's usually how people get bigger salaries is from moving roles after every couple years. So I think there's room for everybody. Certainly. I think there is room for everybody too. I think you hit the nail on the head. Yes, those are soft skills and I do agree. I think we talked to somebody
00:27:37
Speaker
I believe it was Allen. He was saying how soft skills really aren't something that can be taught. And it's true. I think it's very, very hard to look within yourself to understand that, again, this might sound really
Landing the Job: Ashley's Unique Experience with Adlucent
00:27:51
Speaker
harsh. Now I want to be that person. But looking within yourself and realizing like you could be the problem, like Q Taylor Swift, like, is there something that you're maybe doing that could result in something that you don't actually want?
00:28:07
Speaker
So yes, I completely agree with that. But going back to you, because clearly you are doing something right again, I'd love to hear the story about how you got your job. What was that process like? What happened?
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's not a traditional story. Usually the software engineering interviews are like five or six rounds. If you're talking to different team members, maybe you have to do a test and everything. But Adlucent is not really a traditional tech company either. They're pretty progressive. So I guess it kind of is reflective on their interview process as well, too.
00:28:52
Speaker
an interview with my supervisor what was going to be my supervisor and we just had like just to google me where she's asking me the usual questions and then the next interview was with my CTO so like my boss
00:29:08
Speaker
that I have now. He, I was, it was a Google meet, but he was on the phone, like driving to pick up his kids from school. So he was just asking me questions as well too. And then I, I, you know, didn't hear from them for a while. And then I remember there was a
00:29:33
Speaker
I think it was like a Friday afternoon. I'm actually not even at home. I was out at my friend's place on a Friday afternoon and he calls me like on my phone and he asked me like hey we're about to have this
00:29:47
Speaker
Google meeting in a at five o'clock which was in like 10 minutes from that time and I said uh because you know you don't want to like um insult them and I said no I'm sorry I'm not even home right now I'm like not anywhere near my computer and he was like well that's that's totally fine but we're hoping to um
00:30:11
Speaker
by Monday to have like an offer letter for you and everything and get you started soon. And I remember I was just like jumping around. I was so excited because it was a long search that was really grueling. And yeah, it was a great moment. Yeah, after 50 to 100 applications a week over the course of six months of finally getting that or sending you an offer letter,
00:30:41
Speaker
Oh, I feel secondhand relief. Like, that's amazing. And also just really funny how they kind of bombarded you. Like, what is with people calling randomly? I mean, call me randomly if you want to offer me a job. But still, that's that's a lot of pressure. But I'm glad he took it in stride. I know it was
00:31:05
Speaker
It does make a really great story, but it was certainly not a traditional role. I think the other software engineering positions that I was applying for was normally about three or four rounds. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's great. And I remember you said a bit ago that this company is pretty progressive. So I'd love to understand what makes it progressive versus a company that's not. Well, I think they're pretty far ahead of the
00:31:35
Speaker
like remote work culture they don't it's it seems like there's a lot of people that are like are live companies that are forcing people to move back to the office they seem to be pretty big on lgbtq rights they do have a lot of events for
00:31:56
Speaker
they have a lot of events in the Austin community but you know remote people can't really help out with that but it's just that it's not really like a typical tech company where there's a lot of software engineers it'd probably be different if there was more software engineers but
00:32:12
Speaker
For right now, I believe there's there's two dev teams and there's only about 16 software engineers total so maybe that's that's why but It it just seems they seem to be very Concerned with work-life balance at this company more than what I've seen from other companies Certainly I do feel that
00:32:39
Speaker
I was just thinking about this the other day because I was sick in bed for a week and I was alone with my own thoughts. And I was just thinking how like people just don't like being controlled and that parlay is into the you need to work exactly 40 hours a week, maybe more.
00:32:57
Speaker
Wait, you need to go to a doctor's appointment? Well, you need to work late to make up those hours. That just feels awful. So I think, and then when you have that revolving door of people who just don't really care about your company, the product does suffer. And I've seen that at other companies. Verizon is not like that at all, thankfully. And I can see why people really care and show up there because that work-life balance is valuable.
Day in the Life of a Solutions Engineer
00:33:24
Speaker
So I think if you're gonna be really capitalist about it, it makes sense. It's better to invest in someone's health so that they can kind of give back to the company in a really positive and exciting way.
00:33:37
Speaker
Yeah, correct. Yeah, I think their investment into having a lot of work flexibility has really helped them in the long term because there's a lot of employees that have been with Ed Lucent for a long time, like more than 10 years. So I think that's pretty reflective to me that they treat their employees very well.
00:34:00
Speaker
Certainly. Well, again, I know you've been in this role for a bit, but that's very exciting and congrats on getting to that and being in such a great environment. I would love to hear, we already know you have a great work life balance, but when you do have to work, what's that like? What is your day in, day out, your week, your month, what's that like?
00:34:21
Speaker
Well, I do try to stick to the 9 to 5 work schedule, actually. I know it's pretty counterintuitive. You don't think that you might think I want to take advantage of not doing that. But I don't know. That's when my coworkers are in office. So it's easier to just get a hold of people during the normal 9 to 5 schedule. But they are in the Texas time zone. So I guess it's kind of like 10 to 6 for me, I suppose. But because of the nature of my work,
00:34:50
Speaker
Software engineering is very like just whenever you get your work done. And as long as you're making it to all the meetings, then you're good. But normally, I like to stick to that 9 to 5 work schedule. And then I've never had to work on a weekend yet. So that's nice. And then on Fridays, we do have flex Fridays during the summer months. So if you get your work done before noon, then you can take the rest of the day off.
00:35:16
Speaker
kind of things like that. But it's been really nice just being able to, if you're finished with your work for the day, then I guess you're good to go unless they message you. But luckily, it's just a Slack message away. And we're kind of a small team. There's only about, let's see, there's four engineers on my team. So it's very easy to work with a smaller team, I think.
00:35:45
Speaker
Certainly less cooks in the kitchen. And easier to like plan meetings and stuff because then you only need to ask like one or two other people if we can move something. I hear you on that. Trying to get six different people, eight different people, and then two of them are directors and their calendar on Google is just completely maxed out. Oh, yes. Yeah. That may have hit a nerve there. Exactly. Yeah.
00:36:15
Speaker
So I'd love to know, you were saying how your career switch from graphic design to software engineering isn't that different. So what are some of the examples that show that in your current job? Like I know before we were talking about how you do a lot of front-end work and how that's parlayed, but what does that look like at your job now?
00:36:39
Speaker
Right now I do need to create wireframes because we are building a software that's brand new that has never been made before so it's pretty conceptual to like describe how it's supposed to look so I actually create wireframes using a software called Figma and within Figma sometimes there are times that you need some images
00:37:02
Speaker
that I need to kind of modify in Photoshop. So I use that to create wireframes and then there's a lot of meetings about the Figma if we like the way that it's supposed to look and it can be done in code.
00:37:19
Speaker
then I make it on the front end. And then we do have three back end developers that do the back end code for that and all the schemas. And sometimes I help out with the schema and the endpoints and some of the data. So I am trying to learn a little bit more of the back ends because I'm working towards being just a regular full stack developer, hopefully this year.
00:37:44
Speaker
So using wireframes and the Adobe Creative Suite to create images just wherever they're needed with this company is how my past experiences as a graphic designer connects. Certainly. And I was going to ask, were you going to start to learn the back end? And it sounds like that's a goal for this year, as in we're talking in January 2024.
00:38:14
Speaker
So what's that process to get to that goal looking like? Yeah, so my first year, I was pretty much strictly in the front ends. And with me being the only front end developer, and there's a lot of back end work to do, I've slowly been learning about more things that we're doing on the back end. And I've been able to try it out myself, so that way I'm able to help out with some of the tasks that need to be done there.
00:38:43
Speaker
My goal for this coming year is going to be my two-year anniversary working for this company. Every company does their salary evaluations differently, but for my company they do that on your work anniversaries.
Empowering Diversity and Encouraging Women in Tech
00:39:01
Speaker
So it's going to be my two year anniversary so I would like to be able to ask for a title change when that time comes and be able to talk about how I'm able to work in the front end and the back end and hopefully that'll open more doors for maybe a title change, maybe a negotiation and salary so I think that's my goal for this year.
00:39:26
Speaker
That's fantastic. Well, I'm rooting for you. I'm sure you'll get there because I can tell you work very, very hard. So very, very exciting. I hope I get to see that update on LinkedIn. Thank you. Even sooner than the other day here. Yeah, I think it's in this over the summer. That'll be my work anniversary. That's very exciting and rooting for you over here. So with that, I would love to know, um,
00:39:54
Speaker
Is there anything that we haven't really talked about that you wanted to touch upon and share? So I think my advice for other career changers that are going through bootcamps, especially with springboard, it is a very good education.
00:40:09
Speaker
Although I've never been through another like immersive bootcamp but the education that we do get from Springboard is very good and there's a lot of resources out there so if anyone is feeling very lost then always reach out for help because this is a kind of a different culture for people that work in the tech industry. There's a lot of support and there's a lot of imposter syndrome that we
00:40:37
Speaker
all have at some point. So I would just to give advice to the career changers that there is a need for your past skill set as well too. So to not give up and to keep trying. Certainly. And on that note, do you have any more specific advice for women looking to get into software engineering? Because I know you said there aren't many of them.
00:41:05
Speaker
Oh yes, the women, I understand it's very, usually it's more difficult for women to be software engineers because sometimes software engineering can be time consuming, time consuming to learn and to do it sometimes. So it seems like it's more difficult for women to do a lot of times because of their responsibilities in the household. But
00:41:36
Speaker
We're very much needed as well too because we tend to be better at the front end. And we do offer a different set of skills aside from all of the backend developers. Although I did meet quite a few very talented female backend developers, but it's just really important to the industry that there's more diversity
00:42:03
Speaker
in it because right now I think it's still only like 16 or 18 percent female for software engineers. Wow, I didn't realize it was that low considering I mean looking at just a general statistic but there's more women in undergraduate programs now than men. Naturally that doesn't mean it correlates to software engineering but
00:42:29
Speaker
I'm still surprised it's that low. I know. And there's a lot of support that they do give for women. I remember for Springboard, there was a scholarship for females to join the program. I think it was like $1,000 less. So if we signed up during that, when they were offering that, which I did, so I got lucky. But there is definitely a, you can see that there's people that want
00:42:58
Speaker
to include women, you know, it'd be kind of boring to have a team of just all boys all the time. Well, there was that famous issue where Apple came out. I don't quote me, but I believe Apple came out with their Apple health application and it didn't include menstrual cycle tracking because it was built by an all male team. They just didn't consider
00:43:22
Speaker
that that would be important to a lot of their users. So your point has been validated on a very large scale. Yeah, you see, that's the thing. Sometimes you just need a different perspective, especially depending on the job roles.
00:43:41
Speaker
Well, with that being said, are you open to listeners connecting with you on social media? Yes, if you're able to find me on LinkedIn, we can definitely give you my LinkedIn so that way you can reach out to me in case you guys have any more questions.
00:43:58
Speaker
Absolutely. Would you be able to spell your name so that people are adding the correct Ashley? Yes. My first name is Ashley, A-S-H-L-E-Y. And my last name is Dragan, D-R-A-G-A-N. Amazing. Well, Ashley, thank you so much for your time and sharing your story. For anyone listening, if you have questions for Ashley or myself that could be answered on a future episode, please email me at alumnipodcast at springboard.com.