Welcome to the "CodeNewbie Community Spotlight" — a series where we interview an individual from our community and highlight all that they've accomplished. We can't wait to celebrate our CodeNewbie community in a new and different way each month!
Name: Cristina Padilla
Pronouns: She/Her
Location: Germany
What got you into coding?
I have worked in digital marketing for several years and had the chance to collaborate on projects with product managers and software engineers, although I never really knew what their day-to-day looked like. One day I participated in a front-end development workshop where I learned how to build a landing page. It was a lot of fun and I realized at that moment that I had to move into that direction. So I started to research programming languages and researched how and where to start learning how to code.
What's your dream role?
A role that allows me to stay passionate and motivated, where I can keep growing everyday, where I can collaborate and learn from other professionals, where I can work on projects that have a meaningful impact and I can use technology to help other people.
What made you decide to join a community as part of your coding journey?
I am a self-taught coder and as everyone during their coding journey, everyday I find a lot of little stones on my way. One day you feel great and proud of what you have achieved and the day after you just want to give up.
In order to get rid of those negative thoughts, I started to look for a community where I could find other newbies going through the same situation and where I could also share my learnings, not only about technology, but also about everything happening on my coding journey that could help, support, and motivate others out there.
What is something you're particularly proud of?
I am proud of my career switch decision, but also of struggling, failing, standing up and continuing my learning journey. When I look back on the beginning of last year, I can see how much I have accomplished. That really makes me proud of myself!
"I am proud of my career switch decision, but also of struggling, failing, standing up and continuing my learning journey."
Tell us about a struggle you've overcome.
Procrastination and getting out of my comfort zone. I am still going through both, but when I started to learn to code it was really tough. I used to think: “I am a woman and won’t have any chance, or it is already too late to do a career switch”. I decided to change my thinking one day, so I convinced myself that I should start, take all the time I needed, and avoid putting any kind of pressure on myself. I remember a tweet that I read once which really pushed me to go forward — it said something like: “Programming is hard to learn but it is made by humans. For humans. Anyone can learn it if they really want. Start small, take your time and it will catch on, sooner or later”.
What is one fun fact about you?
I used to consider software engineers nerds who spent the whole day in front of their computers. I never considered how interesting and fascinating their work was. Fun fact: I now want to become one of those nerds and feel like a child, who wants to play with technology all the time and find out more and more things.
To read more about Crispitipina's coding journey, you can follow her here on CodeNewbie Community and DEV @crispitipina.
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