Thanks to GirlDevelopIt and Engine Yard I was able to attend the 2014 GoRuCo conference on June 21st. I took these words to heart;
The power of our community comes more from the relationships amongst programmers than from the programmers themselves. -Avi
Audrey Troutt of Artisan Mobile spoke so passionately about teaching girls to code in Scratch on the Raspberry Pi that she inspired me to create #TheFirstPaycheck series. Here's how she started. Find her lesson plans on Github and start mentoring!
The First Paycheck
I had found Ternary Software by chance in the Fall, which was my last semester of grad school. It was a small consulting company in a distant suburb of Philadelphia. The commute would be long, but it was totally worth it to work with the small group of smart and thoughtful people. They were lean and agile. The company was organized in a system called Holacracy, which is kind of like democracy and has protocols for how meetings are run and how decisions are made. I knew it was the perfect place for me. I remember my interview day—it was several hours long and included a pair programming exercise as part of a simulated client project complete with impatient client. It was like role playing a day in the life of a consultant. I thought the day went well, but I had no idea if I would get the job. When I got my offer letter I still had about three months of grad school left. I was so excited!
I don’t remember my first paycheck from Ternary, but I do remember the feeling of “This is where I belong” and "I can’t believe people pay me to do this!” I love being a programmer. I also remember the feeling of empowerment then too—at 26, I was finally *really* grown up. It all happened so fast, but I still try not to take anything for granted. I have friends who are still struggling to get their careers of the ground a decade after college.
I think that everyone should have an opportunity not only for gainful employment, but also work that doesn’t wear them down. That’s why I spend my time working with kids and girls to change the face of the tech industry, so hopefully more and more women will get their first paychecks in their tech careers and be able to say “This is where I belong!" -Audrey
