I decided to to begin my journey as a front end web developer in in 2018. Fast-forward 6 years later, and I am a software engineer 2 for one of the largest publication companies in America.
2018: Learning the Basics of Front End Development
Before web development, I was working as a QC Associate 2 for Roche Genentech and had been in the biotechnology field for 8 years. I wanted to shift into a new career path, and front end development was the choice for me as I always enjoyed computers and visual aspects of websites always intrigued me. In 2018, I began slowly exploring basic HTML, CSS, and Javascript through Youtube and Udemy courses.
2020: Completing Team Treehouse Techdegrees
In late 2019, I began taking online coding bootcamps through Team Treehouse. I first completed the Front End Web Development bootcamp where I learned to build the UI of sites and applications using HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
Shortly after completing the front end bootcamp, I also completed the Full Stack Javascript Techdegree program. Through the bootcamp, I learned technologies and skills that I could utilize both client-side and server-side. By July 2021, I had completed two bootcamps and was ready to pursue a career in front end web development.
2020-2021: Landing an Internship and a Contract Role
November 2020, I landed an internship with a company called 42Growth, a social media marketing company. During the internship, I gained experience building the front end for client web pages. I translated high fidelity wireframes into clean and organized code using HTML, CSS, Sass, Bootstrap, JavaScript, React, and Next. In addition, I was exposed to managing web content using WordPress and performing code reviews.
From February 2021 to May 2021, I worked as a contract developer with Zacks Investment Research. With Zacks, I helped build visual graphs and charts for online portfolios using HTML, CSS, Javascript and Highcharts.
2021: First Junior Front End Developer Role
In May 2021, I landed a junior front end developer role with Dotdash Meredith, an IAC web and print publishing company. In the first year in this role, I worked with technologies such as HTML, Sass, Javascript, Typescript, Vue, Nuxt, and Prismic to build sponsored pages for clients. The role involved maintaining user interfaces as well as styling existing components for all of Dotdash Meredith's brands.
2022 - Present: Current Work as a Software Engineer
After almost a year of front end developing and styling, I transitioned into a web/software engineer. In this role, I have been exposed to not only working with client-side aspects of our software, but server-side as well.
I have gained more experience managing data that our software consumes by getting exposure working with our Prismic CMS repository, such as creating templates with appropriate data fields for our different page types. In addition, I work on ensuring our software consumes data appropriately through the Prismic API and Vue's Options API and Composition API.
Furthermore, I have gained experience in other aspects of web development, such as accessibility, URL routing, Vuex store management, data back-up to AWS S3 buckets, and improving code with Typescript. I have grown tremendously in my current role with Dotdash Meredith, and I strive to continue growing in other aspects of web development.
Web Development Skills
From web development bootcamp to my current role as web engineer, I have been able to gain exposure and experience in many areas of web development. Listed below are technologies I have worked with and am comfortable utilizing.
Web Development
- HTML5
- CSS
- Sass
- Bootstrap
- JavaScript
- Vue
- Vuex
- Highcharts
- GSAP
- TypeScript
- Accessibility
- Figma
Data Handling
- Node.js
- Express.js
- JSON
- graphQL
- Consuming API's
- Sequelize ORM
- SQLite
- Postman
- AWS
- Prismic API
Tooling Skills
- Visual Studio Code
- Github
- Bitbucket
- MeteorJS
- Next
- Nuxt
- WordPress
- Prismic