042: Career Switching

Parent Driven Development Episode 042: Career Switching and Learning to Code After Babies. Welcome, Bekah! A content-creator by nature. Bekah is working on websites, coding-related projects, and her blog, but she has also written three screenplays, three pilots, and is finishing up a memoir. Bekah is all about getting creative! A mom to four young kids (3-10), Bekah has spent the last ten years of her life adjuncting in various university English departments. She is practically doing a 180 learning to code, and is sharing her failures, successes, and everything that falls in between. Bekah graduated from Flatiron School Software Engineering program, in May 2019. She been working at Sprokets as a frontend dev since July 1, 2019. 01:15 Bekah’s journey in career switching Trauma after 4th kid Husband encouraged her to code, and it helped with her PTSD She realized her passion and continued to tackled the challenges Bekah was a teacher prior to coding 02:40 Coding became therapeutic Learning a new skill requires intense focus, gave Bekah excitement and a break from past trauma, because coding required her FULL focus Constant learning with code Flow state when you sync into your work Code provides structure to balance a chaotic life with children Out of Africa & Into the Cloud: Girls can Code too : coding inspiration 06:28 How to get through the lows of learning to code? Imposter syndrome Setting goals week-by-week, month-by-month, quarter-by-quarter Embracing the learning curve 11:23 How to manage coding and kids? Community and mentorship Momscan.co, online co-working, sharing experiences Embracing natural flow, Bekah codes in the morning, because she’s a morning person 16:08 Conquering difficult births and moving past trauma Finding a mentor with similar experiences 17:51 Bringing coding methods into the house routine Sunday ritual for planning for the week ahead Bekah’s partner codes as well, built in mentor, and key communication 23:10 Experience in women in tech community highlights Being open and willing for meetups! Alex Tate - aligned interested to support moms in tech Moms need more support, especially with younger kids Childcare at meetups 29:20 Any surprises of the moms in tech community? The true vulnerability moms offer in support groups 31:47 Genius // fail Adarsh hired a babysitter for the morning after his wife's birthday bash! #genius Allison empowers her son's creativity and gives him all the extra boxes and he makes rocketships and more! #genius Mandy bonds with her daughter watching a classic favorite, Full House #genius Bekah’s daughter wants to go to Harry Potter land, and is reading all the Harry Potter books to prove it! #genius ...but maybe #fail when Bekah’s daughter decides to cash in on a promise JC’s bird watching community is growing and growing! But his family lacks consistency to join… #fail Follow & Support Please follow us @parentdrivendev on Twitter or email us at [email protected]. Our website is at ParentDrivenDevelopment.com. Support us via Patreon and get access to our our Slack Community. *As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Panel Allison McMillan Adarsh Pandit JC Avena Mandy MooreSpecial Guest: Bekah Hawrot Weigel.Sponsored By:Nurture Life: Parents everywhere are going through so much stress and uncertainty right now. It’s hard to find sources of relief nowadays. This is why we are Parent Driven Development love Nurture Life. Nurture Life provides nutritious, ready-to-eat meals for babies starting at 10 months old, toddlers, kids, and teens, delivered fresh right to your door. Meals are designed to meet the nutrient and portion needs for each age group, and are developed by Nurture Life’s registered dietitians and chefs. Meals are focused on organic produce, antibiotic- and hormone-free proteins and whole grains, and offer a FULL serving of veggies in every meal. Nurture Life has recently launched new and exciting meals, such as the Chicken, sweet potato, & waffle finger food for babies and the Butter Chicken with Peas, Rice, & Mini Naan for toddlers, kids, & Teens. In addition to these new offerings, there will also be additional meals that will be available on the menu for a limited time period to continue to provide innovative, flavorful and unique meals options for families. Nurture Life easy subscription model allows you to sign up for weekly deliveries, skip weeks, or pause your subscription whenever you want. You can build your own box to select the right mix of meals for your family by age group, dietary restrictions, and allergies. Get the best meals for your kids and family delivered right to your door—available for every zip code across the contiguous United States. Get 30% off your first TWO Nurture Life orders with code PARENTDRIVEN30. Visit nurturelife.com to redeem and find a moment of relief when it comes to meal time. Promo Code: PARENTDRIVEN30