About this Episode

Parent Driven Development

Episode 042: Career Switching and Learning to Code After Babies.

Welcome, Bekah!
A content-creator by nature. Bekah is working on websites, coding-related projects, and her blog, but she has also written three screenplays, three pilots, and is finishing up a memoir. Bekah is all about getting creative!

A mom to four young kids (3-10), Bekah has spent the last ten years of her life adjuncting in various university English departments. She is practically doing a 180 learning to code, and is sharing her failures, successes, and everything that falls in between.

Bekah graduated from Flatiron School Software Engineering program, in May 2019. She been working at Sprokets as a frontend dev since July 1, 2019.

01:15 Bekah’s journey in career switching

Trauma after 4th kid
Husband encouraged her to code, and it helped with her PTSD
She realized her passion and continued to tackled the challenges
Bekah was a teacher prior to coding

02:40 Coding became therapeutic

Learning a new skill requires intense focus, gave Bekah excitement and a break from past trauma, because coding required her FULL focus
Constant learning with code
Flow state when you sync into your work
Code provides structure to balance a chaotic life with children
Out of Africa & Into the Cloud: Girls can Code too : coding inspiration

06:28 How to get through the lows of learning to code?

Imposter syndrome
Setting goals week-by-week, month-by-month, quarter-by-quarter
Embracing the learning curve

11:23 How to manage coding and kids?

Community and mentorship
Momscan.co, online co-working, sharing experiences
Embracing natural flow, Bekah codes in the morning, because she’s a morning person

16:08 Conquering difficult births and moving past trauma

Finding a mentor with similar experiences

17:51 Bringing coding methods into the house routine

Sunday ritual for planning for the week ahead
Bekah’s partner codes as well, built in mentor, and key communication

23:10 Experience in women in tech community highlights

Being open and willing for meetups!
Alex Tate - aligned interested to support moms in tech
Moms need more support, especially with younger kids
Childcare at meetups

29:20 Any surprises of the moms in tech community?

The true vulnerability moms offer in support groups

31:47 Genius // fail

Adarsh hired a babysitter for the morning after his wife's birthday bash! #genius
Allison empowers her son's creativity and gives him all the extra boxes and he makes rocketships and more! #genius
Mandy bonds with her daughter watching a classic favorite, Full House #genius
Bekah’s daughter wants to go to Harry Potter land, and is reading all the Harry Potter books to prove it! #genius ...but maybe #fail when Bekah’s daughter decides to cash in on a promise
JC’s bird watching community is growing and growing! But his family lacks consistency to join… #fail