5 years ago I taught myself how to write my first “Hello World” app. Earlier this year I led and completed a major, international data engineering project. And now I’m ending 2019 with an acceptance letter to MIT’s MBA and Masters of Engineering dual degree program. 👏🏽🙌🏽
Prior to MIT, every tech job that I applied to either ghosted or rejected me.
After I was accepted to my program and updated my LinkedIn (mind you, haven’t even started classes yet), the same recruiters bombarded my inboxes.
The game sucks. But until it’s fixed, play it.
I’m reading Extra Focus by
@adhdjesse
, and I can’t put it down. I’ve finally found someone that explains exactly what’s going on in this ADHD brain of mine. Highly recommend to people with ADHD and partners of people with ADHD.
Hiring a Chief Diversity officer just to say that you have a Black or Brown person in the C-Suite but not giving them the budget, headcount, and power to actually impact the business.
I actually lied on my resume so that I could get into a summer program in Cali my sophomore year (didnt want to go home). When I actually got there, I had to learn as much Python as possible over a weekend. 2.5 months later I gave my first presentation on Social Network Analysis.
I didn’t study CS in undergrad. In fact, I learned coding through online courses, YouTube videos, medium articles, etc.
Every. Single. Course. Or. Post. Mentions. Git
This shouldn’t be controversial.
Hey everyone. These past few months I’ve been learning React for a project. Today I just gave a demo of that project for the first time. Everything worked. No bugs, no error messages, no red. Excuse me while I go find some Champaign.
If you’re a VC that only wants to invest in diverse founders through a “special fund” and not your main fund... then you’re still a part of the problem.
If y’all could use your super powers to send some positive energy my way, I would greatly appreciate it. I applied for something that I *really* hope to get.
The love and support from everyone has been amazing. To all of my new followers, 👋🏽 Hi! My name is Taylor. I tweet about my tech journey, cool developments in the world of AI, world events, and how Prince Zuko has the best arc of any animated character of all time.
First week of grad school - Ok, this is fun and totally doable
Second week - So... you mean to tell me all 7 assignments and readings are due on the same day... and that day is tomorrow?
Every year, I publicly whine about how
@RenderATL
doesn’t have any talks that us data nerds could enjoy.
This year, they exceeded my expectations by having a full selection of data talks that even I can take some nuggets from.
So I want to publicly say, thank you so much!
Hi everyone. My side project
@FintaApp
recently hit a fun MRR milestone.
This project is special because I started it a few years ago as a way to learn how to code, and now I have an app that people across the world depend on.
#buildinpublic
Thanks for the responses everyone! I'm specifically looking for 1 on 1 coaching for:
- Being effective at a high growth tech company
- Professional branding
- Help with identifying weaknesses and finding opportunities for growth
- Career game planning
Y’all... please stop associating college with debt. No, not everyone can and wants to go the bootcamp / alternative route. Scholarships and grants exist. Just because YOU only saw debt as the only option to pay for school doesn’t mean that it’s everyone’s only option.
Also
#BlackTechTwitter
, maybe we could offer services (e.g. website building, process automation, tech strategy consulting, tech training, etc.) to help support businesses that have been affected. Together, we can walk out this stronger.
Is your New Year's resolution to speak at more conferences? Or maybe you want to show off your favorite language or framework? Well, the Black Women in Tech Conference in NYC is looking for panelists and workshop leaders! Come show us your
#BlackGirlMagic
Here’s today’s reminder that Python is the best language ever, and that is a hill that I would PROUDLY die on.
for animal in [“ant”, “bat”, “cat”]:
print(animal)
Difference between JS vs Ruby:
JS
["ant", "bat", "cat", 42].forEach(function(element) {
console.log(element);
});
Ruby:
["ant", "bat", "cat", 42].each do |element|
puts element
end
Which looks better? LOL
For 4 years I took on unpaid DEI work at my job. I did everything from college recruiting to planning large-scale DEI events. Absolutely none of that was ever mentioned in my performance reviews.
Underrepresented folks in tech - I am saying this with love. Don't take on unpaid DEI work at your company out of obligation. 💜
Don't bear this burden on top of work and your own struggles. Point them to folks who are experts in DEI instead.
Random thought: Before the panny, a lot of remote job descriptions for really cool companies and teams had the requirement “Must have experience working remotely”. Now that we’re all working from home, I hope that more people will get access to these kind of roles.
Current life update
- Got all As and 1 B last semester
- Currently building an app for my MIT LGO program
- Also building my first ever incorporated startup
- Venture internship starts on Tuesday
- Helping my last company with some tech
- Made some awesome tea this morning
“You have fewer problems when you have B next to your name. You can just say ‘F*** it’” - Mark Cuban at
@AfroTech
Favorite quote of the conference so far.
I’m brushing up on linear algebra to get ready for the week. Even though I majored in math and got As in these classes in school, topics like orthogonality and eigenvalues are JUST NOW making sense because I actually need to learn it to be a better data scientist.
My new favorite thing now is to write down pseudo code and create a flowchart BEFORE writing any code for a new project. Lately it’s been saving major headaches.
I praise God for the fact that yesterday was pay day and I didn’t even notice. I wasn’t counting down the days, I didn’t stay up to 4 am to see my check hit my account, i don’t have anyone to pay back. I just woke up and went about my day. I pray that each of you find this peace.
@mickstevens
To be honest, up until now, it never occurred to me that someone would want to read my story. Looks like I’ll be adding this to my list of 2020 blog posts.
It's time for the
#WomenMakeChallenge
! Last year I made an Interview Coach bot, and this year I'm going to work on my product management skills by building and launching a scheduling app.
Hey
#buildinpublic
fam,
Earlier this year, I built an app that syncs your account balances and transactions to Airtable for easy budgeting. As of today, it’s made $155 (not including my own accidental stripe charges). I’ve made my first $1 on the internet, and now I’m hooked.
@briahardinboyer
@hinge
We met in Boston during the peak of the pandemic (pre-vaccine). He worked in investment banking and I was in grad school, so we never would have met without Hinge. Over a year and a half later, and I can truly say I’ve found my life partner.
And as an extra bonus, implementing more server components and completely moving to NextJs app directory improved performance. Still need to work on accessibility though.
Psst. Hey you. Turn off all notifications. Slack, email, Twitter... yes all of it. In 2020, you’re in control of your time and your attention. I promise it’ll be worth it.
Me on Friday: Yay I just bought a new MacBook! Peak happiness.
Me today: Wait, where’s npm? git command not found? I need to re-clone all of my repos??? Nope. I’m taking this back to the store.
I, a former math major and a current MIT grad student had to google "what is a vertical intercept" just now. To all those currently feeling like an imposter wherever you are, you'll be fine lol.
It’s awesome that a lot of sites are offering discounts on their programming lessons. If you’re learning to code for the first time, here are some tips on how to stay focused and not get overwhelmed.
I just got a call that my great aunt (98 years) passed away, and I’m hundreds of miles away from my family right now. Here’s your daily reminder to love on people as much as you possibly can. One call a month, send a postcard every now and again, something.
It’s about 100 days left in the year! Might as well try one last
#100DaysOfCode
attempt for 2019. This time, I’m going to step away from my comfort zone (back end / data) and work on my front end skills as well!
@mymomcalsmekris
Thank you! Don’t ask questions you know the answer to. That’s like Lawrence asking her “Would you still be with your husband if he didn’t leave you?”
Exhibit A:
I’m featured as one of Poets and Quants best and brightest MBAs! This MBA + Masters journey has been *exhausting*. However, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything else.
My roommate and I are watching Avatar Last Airbender from the beginning. This show has been dropping gems that are hitting me more now that I’m an adult.
Day 0 of
@RenderATL
was a success. Travel was smooth, I got to meet the lovely
@iamKierraD
, we ate some amazing food with an amazing view, and now I’m watching a shark tank marathon on TV.
My social battery is ready for the week now.
To all my fellow coders out there with iPads,
@Codeanywhere
gives you a full IDE online. I’ve been working of my iPad for awhile now, and it’s been amazing so far.
Just F*ing Ship It - Day 1: I have my entire project mapped out for the rest of the month. Since it’s application season, I’m building a bot that anyone can use to practice their interviewing skills. For this app, I’ll be using Python, Flask,
@twilio
, and
@SendGrid
#WomenMake
April Ryan screaming “Mr. President are you a racist?” After 45 pretended to honor Dr. Martin Luther King was everything I needed today. Black women will always hold it down.