After coming to a few one day workshops and engaging with the She Codes community, Fanny applied for She Codes Plus and was one of the 25 women to be selected. With her tech journey starting again, she has new roles and new goals. Check them out below!
1. How did your tech journey begin?
We always had a computer at home, so I started my favourite games via the DOS command line when I was just 6 years old. Then, as a teenager I loved drawing and I was creating my CD covers on Paint software. From there, studying Graphic Design was the obvious choice to create pretty visuals every day.
However, I didn’t finish my studies, quitting one month before the exam. I was terrified by a feeling I couldn’t explain. Now I know, it was a mixed feeling of imposter syndrome and fear of failure.
For 2 years, I worked as an Adobe Softwares Lecturer and I met my first bunch of Developers. I enjoyed learning HTML & CSS with an amazing team. But I wanted to prove myself I could be a good designer.
So, I worked as a Graphic Designer assistant for Ludovic Buchet, Product Designer. I was fascinated by his creative talent! In 2012, I felt the need to see the world and I travelled in Europe, Asia and Australia for 5 years. I worked as a waitress, receptionist, apple picker, restaurant manager, retail-assistant, kitchen-hand…
During my WHV in Australia, Can Kara, a Developer, helped me to work as a Graphic Designer and Content Manager for a magazine in Port Douglas, QLD. This is where I met Sarah Cullen, Editor of Newsport Magazine, and felt so inspired by her strength and her passion.
I realised this is what I should be doing, a creative and challenging job.
Honestly, it was a tedious task in Australia: English is not my first language, I didn’t have a permanent visa and I lacked confidence. But, I met my partner Alex in Margaret River, WA, 4 years ago who told me: “Australia is my home, you can make it yours too”.
So, it was time for me to settle down and as a good problem-solver, Front-end Developer would be the perfect job for me, mixing design and code.
After 2 years at Tafe on a Student Visa, I graduated with a Diploma in Web Development in December 2019. I went to the DDD Perth event last year and it was eye-opening. She Codes girls were talking about their experience, and I wanted to be one of these strong women helping each other.
Mandy Michael and Amy Kapernick were doing a presentation on stage, they were so confident and knowledgeable. They became my role models. “If you can see her, you can be her.”
So, I enrolled for the She Codes Plus in February and so far, I’m really enjoying this experience!
I have the feeling my tech journey is starting again and again, new roles, new goals.
2. How has/will She Codes Plus impact your career path?
After meeting the She Codes team last year, I noticed I am a Woman in Tech. I found a community I belong to, it gave me a purpose.
Beginning of the year, I participated as a HTML/CSS mentor for the 1 Day Coding Workshop for Women held by She Codes at Spacecubed.
There, I had a chat with some amazing women I met during my tech journey, Michelle Sandford, Ricky Barnes and Holly Keogh. They all recommended me to enrol for the She Codes Plus program.
She Codes Plus has impacted my life as I feel more confident about my skills and I’m learning so much. I know now that I’m not alone in this difficult learning process and with the cohort, we can exchange our knowledge. Helping each other is such a great gift.
Beginning of 2020 was difficult and uncertain, I was looking for my first experience in Tech during COVID times. She Codes Plus gave me a goal to hold on to my Dev career. I found an internship as a Creative Developer one month ago and I’m sure adding She Codes Plus on my curriculum helped me to get this position.
3. What has been your favourite thing about She Codes Plus so far?
My favourite thing about She Codes is being surrounded by so many different women, all committed to learn and grow as a community. It is really inspiring.
Hayley is a great lecturer and she deserves credit as she has to manage Perth and Brisbane cohorts. The amount of content to convey (and assimilate for us) is crazy!
I also love being surrounded by mentors from the Tech industry, women and men, happy to answer our questions during this learning journey.
4. What does success look like for you?
Success is doing something I like and being proud of that. I believe we should celebrate success everyday, being able to swim a little longer, cooking an amazing dinner or solving a coding problem.
My biggest success will be to be proud of myself and be able to talk about it in front of people without panicking.
To stay up to date with our current cohort, in both Perth and Brisbane, follow us on social media! You can find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Or, if you’d like to collaborate on an upcoming project and provide tech programs for your community, reach out to us today.