Coding with knives (part 2)

Adrienne Lowe @adriennefriend learning to code, teaching to cook

• perspectives from a new coder
• from Atlanta, help run PyLadies Atlanta
• new to coding, but not to cooking - did that for ages
• started blog - http://codingwithkniv.es

Lesson 1: On tutorials

• source learning materials from a wide variety of resources and styles
• don’t worry if one particular tutorial doesn’t work for you - it’s not you, try something else, “get another cookbook”
  • Hello Web App book recommended

Lesson 2: Reach Out

• didn’t want to seem like they don’t know what they are doing
• don’t want to ask basic “stupid” questions - “I should already know the answer”
• but answering helps the answerer as well as the asker

Lesson 3: Let your goal guide you

• having a project you want to do really helps to keep you motivated
• can be easy to walk away if things are too hard

You can help out

• Really helpful friendly community
• eg on cookery sites - ask “how to make macaroons without eggs?”
  • people answer - try this, try that
  • also an ethos in this community - collegiality, sharing knowledge
  • but often not the first experience, learning by themselves, not knowing about the community

Suggestions

• attitude, posture
• bring your full authentic self when helping
• don’t accept lionisation of new people
• we’re just people who have practised this for a while
• this conference has had many examples - owning our own insecurities, sharing with others
• new programmers view experienced ones as on a pedestal, and to shy away from talking to them
• talking to people at dinner, really interesting stories, but resisted wanting to talk on stage
  • lots of people
  • terrified
  • feel the conference is full of accomplished people, can’t talk to them
• Jacob Kaplan - keynote “I am (also) a mediocre programmer” - don’t lionise us
• when teaching cooking - it’s a skill you can learn “a collection of acquired tools/skills” - and coding is the same
• you’re not born with the ability
• thought experiment - go up to person you’re most terrified of, say “I’m thinking about giving a lightning talk, but I’m scared you’ll be disappointed, what do you think?” - the likely response is “go for it”

Carry on being awesome!