Meet Rob Frelow, Co-founder & Chief AI Officer at The Storygraph. Rob shares how a trip in his friend’s Tesla led him to enroll in his first AI course, how he broke into AI later in his career and his experience truly living the dream waking up each morning excited to dive into AI and his work at Storygraph. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Rob Frelow Rob is the Co-founder and Chief AI Officer at The Storygraph. He is responsible for all of the machine learning and AI that powers The StoryGraph, along with the backend infrastructure for the app and website ..read more

Meet Pau Bajo, Machine Learning Engineer and Educator at Real-World Machine Learning. Pau talks to Saron about transitioning from working daily in Excel to Python, why data is everything, and what skills early developers need to foster if they want a career in machine learning. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Machine Learning Python Pau's GitHub Pau's Instagram Pau's Twitter Pau Labarta Bajo Pau is a Mathematician turned Machine Learning Engineer, turned Machine Learning educator. He creates hands-on content about Real-World Machine Learning and shares it with the wor ..read more

In this week’s episode, we explore the journey of Alejandro Aspinwall, a Frontend Engineer at Amazon. You’ll hear how Alejandro began his career deeply immersed in the world of music and what led him to transition to the world of tech. He emphasizes the importance of adaptability in his career shift and provides insights into how coding bootcamps played a pivotal role in his development. Additionally, Alejandro explores the impact of artificial intelligence in his work, particularly discussing how AI tools have become an integral part of his coding toolkit. His experiences offer valuable persp ..read more

Meet Shawn Charles, Developer Advocate & Community Manager at The Hunt. Shawn shares with Saron how he got into tech solely by building and maintaining websites for local businesses, what inspired him to level up by enrolling in a bootcamp, and his advice on those who might feel overwhelmed in identifying their career path in this new world revolving around AI. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Resilient Coders AWS Services Udemy Shawn's GitHub Shawn's Twitter Shawn Charles Previously an Amazon (Audible) Software Engineer and now building tech communities as a Devel ..read more

Meet Katherine Evans, Lead Engineering Instructor at Actualize Coding Bootcamp and Senior Software Engineer at Neon One. Katherine walks us through her journey from bootcamp student to bootcamp teacher, sharing tips for recent grads looking to land their first role. Saron and Katherine also talk about whether Katherine thinks it’s still worth learning to code given the economic climate and what she would tell others who might be interested in learning to code. Show Links Code Comments (sponsor) IRL (sponsor) Actualize Coding Bootcamp Podium Education CAD PHP Katherine's GitHub Katherine's Web ..read more

Saron speaks with Johnny Proano, Associate Software Engineer at Hilton Grand Vacations. Initially drawn to code while building his personal DJ website, Johnny took the full leap with the support of his family. Johnny discusses his initial belief that a degree was necessary to become a software engineer and his decision to attend a coding bootcamp instead. He reflects on the differences between the bootcamp and college experience and shares his job search process after graduation. Show Links Code Comments (sponsor) IRL (sponsor) SQL Ruby Johnny's GitHub Johnny's Instagram Jonny's Website John ..read more

Saron chats with Ronesha Dennis, Founder and Lead Engineer at Bergeron-Woodley. Ronesha talks about growing up and how tech played a role in her childhood (her first website was a fan site for Lil Bow Wow). She talks about how she ended up in another career for 5 years until she sat down and thought about things she liked doing as a child without being paid for doing those things. This led her to want to get into tech. She decided to leave her job, move back with her parents, and do an 8-week program on Ruby on Rails. She then did a fellowship with Code for Progress. After graduating, she land ..read more

Saron speaks with Shona Chan this week about her experience navigating the world of software following a successful career as a doctor in the field of Anaesthesia. Shona shares her experience working in the medical field for 10 years until she decided she wanted to pivot into tech. Shona talks about how she made the decision to go to a bootcamp to learn to code and how she got her first job in tech. Finally, she talks about transferable skills from her medical career to her newfound tech career and reiterates how there are so many skills career transitioners can take from one career to another ..read more

Saron chats with Laura Thorson, Program Manager at GitHub. Laura talks about how she was always interested in singing, dancing and music growing up which led her to UCLA on a scholarship to play the oboe. She tells us about her experience at UCLA and her decision to go to a coding bootcamp after graduation as opposed to searching for a job with her English Lit degree. Laura then describes the jobs she landed after bootcamp at Salesforce, Twitter, Meta and now GitHub and how LinkedIn played a huge role in helping her land these opportunities. Show Links Code Comments (sponsor) IRL (sponsor) ST ..read more

In this week’s episode, Saron chats with Beau Carnes, Director of Technology Education at freeCodeCamp. Beau shares insights into his career trajectory, which began in television and digital media production. After gaining initial experience in this industry, he transitioned to work in education as a teacher. Beau speaks on his experiences within both these professions and speaks on his decision to venture into technology, establishing himself as a proficient software developer. During this conversation, Beau shares his reasoning for getting three degrees, finding the motivation to learn to co ..read more