- Speaker : Tracy Abrahms
- Email: [email protected]
- Github: http://github.com/hackygolucky
- the Twitters: http://twitter.com/hackygolucky
- Blog: http://www.hackygolucky.com
A funny thing happened at the rock gym... I kept running into programmers. Rock climbing is a constant challenge. Physical? Hardly. Tired muscles is a concern once you're two pitches up and can't figure out the next move. I'm afraid of heights! The psychological and mental tenacity required to complete a wall feels eerily similar to the daily challenges of the Programmer. You will commit yourself to situations that you pretty much HAVE to find a way out of. Sound familiar?
How are people learning to program nowadays? MOOCs, tutorials, workshops, communities, books, degrees, internships, apprenticeships, code schools. What am I doing? What have I done? How many callouses have I built in the process?
Experiences shared from my own perspective and others I have met on my journey have shown me a number of great ways to help move forward those willing to take up the challenge. Finally, what can I do, along with sharp and helpful Node.js and JavaScript developers, to build the knowledge base and accessibility into the community? How do I get programmers hooked?
And how can I convince all of these brainiacs to get out and punch a few rocks?
Prior work in advertising, healthcare/addictions administration short-circuited Tracy's brain and her ability to make sound decisions, so she quit her job and insanely chose to focus on programming and the anthropological study of the Hacker. When she isn't monkeying up rocks/trees, bicycling to and from the glorious amount of tech meetups in Portland she doesn't already organize, or surviving Nerf gun wars in Web at Urban Airship, she's talking your ear off about them(or anything else she's read about that day). You have been warned.
And if you're ever in the amazing town of PDX, stop into a PDXnode meetup!