Lee Warrick and Edwin Otero explore what it's like to break into the Tech field as junior developers as well as how to stay up-to-date on new technology.
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Aisha Blake talks juniors, conferences, and diversity in the tech industry

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Detroit Labs developer Aisha Blake joins us on the show this week!

Aisha attends and speaks at a lot of conferences as a junior developer. Out of 20 conferences she attended last year, she spoke at FOURTEEN (14!) of them!

We ask Aisha about her secret sauce for speaking at conferences as well as how to overcome any doubts about being "too junior" to give a talk.

We also dig into a little of tech's diversity problem and try to describe the challenge we all face. We talk about dealing with deniers, racism, and also some wins Aisha has seen through her own community involvement.


Show Notes:

  • 2:05 - Aisha's story and how she got into code

  • 7:55 - Freelancing with Fiverr
  • 11:00 - Getting up-to-speed as a developer after college
  • 16:15 - Getting hired at Detroit Labs
  • 17:30 - Aisha's Tech stack!

    • React ⚛️
    • Typescript 😱
    • Python 🐍
  • 22:57 - How Aisha got started attending and speaking at conferences

    • Follow CFP announcements: twitter
  • 27:35 - Aisha's first talk

    • "Diversity and Inclusion in Tech"
    • Dealing with doubts and nerves before a talk
    • How Aisha attends so many conferences
  • 33:44 - Advice for juniors on speaking
  • 39:47 - Tips on writing a conference talk proposal
  • 43:32 - Choosing a topic
  • 48:36 - The Diversity Challenge in Tech
  • 55:03 - Seeing wins through community involvement
  • 57:22 - Dealing with deniers, ignorance and worse
  • 1:01:15 - "Code switching"
  • 1:06:59 - Where to find Aisha and upcoming conferences

  • 1:08:55 - Nerd Minute!

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Wed, July 31, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC