Longhorn PHP 2019: "Beer, bylines & booleans"

@hilarysk
Beer, Bylines & Booleans
Exploring the secret superpowers
of non-CS techies

@hilarysk
Hilary Stohs-Krause
Full-stack developer at Ten Forward
Consulting in Madison, WI
Tweet intersectional feminism, puns
and tech at @hilarysk
Read the second book of the
Stormlight Archive in one day
@hilarysk

@hilarysk
Why am I qualified to talk about this?

@hilarysk
I’ve had a lot of jobs.

@hilarysk
Relevant
Bartender, server
Journalist
Less relevant
Kite repairer
Movie theater
concessions

@hilarysk
Why did I move to tech?
Better wages
Flexibility
In-demand industry

@hilarysk
THE PROBLEM
There are not enough
tech workers.

@hilarysk
80,000
Unﬁlled tech jobs through
2022 (U.S.)6

@hilarysk
7%
Level of optimism for ﬁnding
skilled tech workers10

@hilarysk
Even if we wanted to, we
couldn’t hire only computer
science grads anyway.

@hilarysk
THE SOLUTION
Bootcamp grads and
self-taught coders

@hilarysk
930%
bootcamp growth from 20128

@hilarysk
20,000+
bootcamp grads in 20189

@hilarysk
20
bootcamps in Texas in 20189

@hilarysk
84%
Employers who say
bootcampers are as or more
prepared3

@hilarysk
THE PEOPLE
Who are bootcamp
grads?

@hilarysk
30 years old 6 years’ work
experience
Bachelor of
arts

@hilarysk
While only 18% of C.S.
graduates are women ...
… 43% of bootcamp grads
are women or gender nb.1

@hilarysk
Bootcamp != C.S. degree

@hilarysk
LESSON 1
Your perspective has
value

@hilarysk
Alexandra Millatmal
WEB APPLICATION DEVELOPER
Former journalist; studied political
science, gender studies & religion
Something that I strongly believe, and I think lots
of companies are coming around to, is that there is
value in the person who is programming.
“

@hilarysk
Our experience matters
Journalism
▧ Identify problems and solutions
▧ Access to different resources
▧ Understand needs of distinct
communities

@hilarysk
▧ Exposed to wide variety of cultures
and viewpoints
Our experience matters
Liberal arts
▧ Critical thinking skills
▧ Creative approaches to
problem-solving

@hilarysk
LESSON 2
Everything is a draft

@hilarysk
Charielle McMullan
WEB DEVELOPER
Graduated with a degree in Chinese
Language & Literature
My experience learning Chinese taught me that …
sometimes you have to be comfortable being
uncomfortable, and most importantly, not give up
when the code or the character doesn't quite ﬁt.
“

@hilarysk
Liberal arts
The art of refactoring
Service sector
Table of seven
Out of special
Not vegan
Overcooked
Kid spills soda
Restaurant on ﬁre
Papers, anyone?

@hilarysk
Service (and retail)
are basically
constant refactoring.

@hilarysk
LESSON 3
Delegate to meet
deadlines

@hilarysk
Andrew Ek
SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Former English teacher and nonproﬁt
administrator
Being a teacher makes it much easier for me to talk with
other people, particularly the non-technical folks.
“
I do a lot of teaching and coaching around how to use
our product … and I try to do it in a way that leaves
everyone feeling competent, conﬁdent, and cared for.

@hilarysk
Service sector
Delegation
Educator
▧ Administrators
▧ Bartender
▧ Cook
▧ Busser
▧ Student teachers
▧ Unruly pupils
▧ Parents
▧ Host

@hilarysk
Delegation
Tech
▧ Project manager
▧ Designer
▧ Other coders
▧ QA

@hilarysk
Not always a ton that juniors
can do by themselves

@hilarysk
LESSON 4
Feedback is a feature
(not a bug)

@hilarysk
Jacob K.
SENIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Ph.D in philosophy
Most of the [philosophy] courses that I took and
taught focused heavily on group discussion.“
These communication skills have been essential to
my work as a developer. Without them, I would
have missed countless opportunities to learn and
grow from the feedback of my coworkers.

@hilarysk
Learning to navigate
and be receptive to
critical feedback is
crucial for
programming.

@hilarysk
Feedback loops
Service sectorLiberal arts
▧ Papers
▧ Pretty much all
the time
▧ Group discussion
▧ Pretty much
everyone

@hilarysk
Feedback loops
Tech
▧ Code review
▧ Demo
▧ QA analysis
▧ User response

@hilarysk
LESSON 5
Empathy is everything

@hilarysk
We are not our users.
Bootcamp grads are more likely to
already grasp this concept.

@hilarysk
43%
women and nonbinary
6 years
Non-programming work experience1
38%people of color

@hilarysk
Some best practices
Mentorship Structure
Hire in
pairs

@hilarysk
Set clear expectations.
(See tinyurl.com/ten-forward-ranks for how
we did this at Ten Forward.)

@hilarysk
Be patient.
Foster environment where
questions are encouraged.

@hilarysk
And, because it bears
frequent repeating ...

@hilarysk
Empathy is everything.
Help the folks you work with (or hire!)
to help you.

@hilarysk
Citations
1. https://www.coursereport.com/reports/2017-coding-bootcamp-marke
t-size-research
2. https://www.nap.edu/read/24926/chapter/1
3. http://blog.indeed.com/2017/05/02/what-employers-think-about-codi
ng-bootcamp/
4. https://danwang.co/why-so-few-computer-science-majors/
5. https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/180053-computing-is-the-safe
-stem-career-choice-today/fulltext
6. https://www.appliancedesign.com/articles/96020-study-us-demand-fo
r-skilled-tech-workers-rises-while-optimism-for-finding-talent-shrinks
7. https://business.financialpost.com/technology/the-digital-economy-ha
s-created-a-demand-for-216000-more-tech-workers-report-finds
8. https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/11/21/1655160/0/en/
Survey-of-tech-professionals-shows-new-forms-of-education-are-helpi
ng-address-Canada-s-skills-gap.html
9. https://www.coursereport.com/reports/2018-coding-bootcamp-marke
t-size-research
10. https://www.cta.tech/News/Press-Releases/2018/October/U-S-Deman
d-for-Skilled-Tech-Workers-Rises-While-O.aspx

@hilarysk
Thanks!
@hilarysk
hilarysk@tenforward.consulting

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