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+---
+title: "A Day in the Life: Curriculum Intern @ Codédex"
+description: Welcome to the "A Day in the Life" series! In the second issue, we are spotlighting Ellie Popoca, an Information Science and Game Design major at the University of Illinoise Urbana-Champaign and an ex-Major League Hacking (MLH) coach, and our wonderful Curriculum Intern at Codédex this summer. ✨
+author: Lillian McVeigh
+seoImageLink: https://imgur.com/QYS6464.png
+dateCreated: 2023-08-21
+published: false
+tags:
+  - Community
+---
+
+##### Howdy Ellie! Tell us a little about yourself.
+
+Hello! My name is Ellie, and I attend the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (the midwest of the U.S. and lots and lots of 🌽)! I study Information Science, which is the interdisciplinary study of data, human computer interaction, and web culture! I also study game design because of my interest in video games! During my free time I like drawing, watching video essays, and rock climbing! 
+
+##### What do you do at Codédex?
+
+At Codédex, I am a part of the Curriculum team! I have written a couple of project tutorials such as [Build a Soundboard with p5.js](https://www.codedex.io/projects/build-an-interactive-soundboard-with-p5js) and Deploy a Web Page with Vercel. I also help with reviewing course lessons and bonus articles that everyone sees on Codédex, plus some fun side projects that I get to collaborate with the community and engineering team on.
+
+##### How did you end up working for Codédex?
+
+I met Sonny through FreyHacks, a hackathon I was an MLH (Major League Hacking) Coach for! There, I learned about Codédex, the team, and their mission! I followed Codédex for a while until I was reached out to by Sonny earlier this year to potentially be an intern, and I immediately was so excited to join when meeting the team. ✨
+
+##### What are the best aspects of working as a curriculum intern?
+
+Some of the best aspects of working as a Curriculum Intern here at Codédex is getting to work with all the really great people who started it! Getting to understand and review curriculum from past educators is really interesting to me, and I couldn’t have imagined getting to work with both the gaming and education side of tech! Also, I love talking to everyone in our Discord community, it’s been a fun time! 😌
+
+##### What does a typical day look like for you?
+
+I start my day writing my agenda, and a standup meeting with the rest of the team! I then usually go out to a cafe near the UIUC campus! My favorite orders have usually been matcha lattes and fruit smoothies! I work on curriculum reviews, the current project tutorial I’m writing, and of course getting ready for some new initiatives for the upcoming months! I like to get some fun exercise by going rock climbing or running after work as well. 
+
+##### Do you have any advice for high school and college students trying to get an internship in tech?
+One of my biggest tips is choosing your concentration early on! I think it's fun to experiment with different areas of tech that you might be interested in whether that be software engineering, web development, data science, or even stuff like product or project management! Getting to know what you like and REALLY getting good at those skills in that particular area will help a ton when you’re trying to get your desired internship! Also, always realize that what is meant for you _will_ come! I’ve gone through several rejections that have made me question my place in tech, but it’s about right place right times for many. Don’t let that bring you down! 
+
+##### If you could make one piece of fictional technology, what would it be?
+Internal body headphones? Something about automating the process of putting on headphones to listen to my favorite music and picking out a playlist for my specific mood sounds really awesome and would save me _SO_ much time! 
+
+##### What’s a personal project or achievement that you are really proud of?
+Getting into college! I know it’s really typical, but as a first generation college student, the idea of going to college is a big step for me in my life! I know a lot of close people in my life who are incredibly proud of me, and I myself am so thankful for the opportunity to study what I want while getting to know new people and experiences! 🎒💖
+
+##### What’s your dream job? (besides Codédex of course ;)
+
+BESIDES Codédex, my dream job would be to be a PM (Product Manager) for Duolingo or Electronic Arts! Working on a game would be a super awesome experience getting to work with incredibly talented people and engineers. Completely unrelated, something about a dream job in a more unrealistic sense is getting to work with innovating over with the folks at The Browser Company making Arc Browser! I’d love to explore the different ways in which people use and interact with browsers, and what potential it could reach! Something about the upbringing of the Internet Computer is incredibly inspiring me and gets me excited to work on tech in the next 10 years. 🚀
+
+##### Who or what inspired you to get into coding / computer science/ game design?
+
+Since I was little, I always loved technology and cool internet design and of course, video games! Growing up, I always wanted to be some sort of engineer. It was my biggest passion for so long. In high school, I did robotics throughout my entire time there, and it wasn’t until 12th grade that I discovered hackathons! I didn’t know how to code websites or anything, but I was super excited to learn! Luckily, I joined a team of other beginners, and we ended up winning best visual design! I think being validated at that time made me feel like despite being a beginner, I could still contribute to the tech space. Ever since then, I attended more digital hackathons, and learned more and more about web design! Starting college was a great way for me to also meet like minded people that shared the same passions as me! 
+
+##### What's been your biggest challenge in getting to where you are today?
+I believe confidence is a really complicated feeling to have. The confidence I have telling anyone about my special interest is very different than the confidence I have if you tell me to explain neural networks 😵‍💫. I think the varying change in confidence that I felt for a long time has been a big challenge for me in the way I found myself doubting and double guessing my decisions when it comes to how I feel about the contributions I make. It has been a big journey to validate myself in this way! 
+
+##### Any final words?
+
+Thanks for reading about my internship at Codédex and a little bit about me! I run a blog about my creative endeavors in tech if that’s interesting to you over at [the sea depths of the creative internet](https://jelliefish.substack.com/) on Substack where I talk about my favorite browser and what student life looks like studying game design and information science! You can always feel free to reach out to me on the Codédex Community Discord or on social media to chat! 
+
++ share fave emoji & pic(s) of yourself in your element!
+
+As you might have noticed, the ✨ emoji is my favorite to add to just about any sentence! I’ve been doing BeReal’s all of summer, you’ll notice some go off during my Codédex working hours! 😎My friends and I from UIUC love to rock climb, and I also occasionally go to fun conferences and events!! I’m never found without my matcha.