Collaboration Code Radio

One of the programs we've been supporting is the VET TEC program. We have had such a positive experience working with veterans as they expand their knowledge base into full-stack development, and we've also loved connecting with other like-minded community groups, like the Veterans Beer Club. William Lu joined us to share more about his journey as a Veteran in tech and his involvement with the VBC. Special Guest: William Lu.

Shazeen thought she knew she wanted to work in the field of psychology, and pursued it single-mindedly until she took a step back and considered that she might want to focus somewhere else! Once she dipped her toe into the world of coding, she knew she was engaged and interested in learning more. We love how candidly she shared the steps in her journey that led her to her current work as a Software Engineer at Measurabl. Special Guest: Shazeen Fabius.

Josh always knew he wanted to have a technical career, but it took him some time to land in software engineering. We loved getting to delve deeper into his journey, as he shared his history as a veteran, taproom brewmaster to eventually utilizing the Vet Tec program to make his transition into tech. One of our strengths is how widely varied our students backgrounds are. Everyone brings useful skills from their previous careers and it's fascinating to see where that benefits them in the wide world of tech! Special Guest: Joshua Maurer.

Pua Amano was able to utilize the Vet Tec program to attend the LEARN academy full stack program. As a Veteran, Pua got to live in many places but she knew she wanted to return to her home state of Hawai'i. She's now proudly contributing to the local tech community, and was kind enough to come on Collaboration Code Radio to share more about her path with us all. Special Guest: Pua Amano.

Elijah shares his journey into the wild world of web development: where he started as an active duty service member, through debt collecting, parenting and eventually deciding to take the leap into attending the LEARN academy full-stack bootcamp. Special Guest: Elijah Barreto.

Renita Gidlund was kind enough to sit down for a chat with Adam Cuppy, President of LEARN academy. Sharing stories of career transitions like hers (Board Certified Behavioral Analyst to Software Developer!) is one of our favorite things to do! How else would we get introduced to the world of competitive jigsaw puzzling?! Special Guest: Renita Gidlund.

Get ready to tune in to Collaboration Code Radio! We're back with a fresh take and inspiring stories. Join us on our journey, where we explore career shifts: the challenges and the triumphs. These shared experiences unite our LEARN community, a tribe of career changers who've navigated through similar worthwhile quests. Their stories are your stories. Stay connected for upcoming episodes on Youtube and wherever you get your podcasts.

Making the San Diego tech community, and the entire tech community, a more inclusive and equitable place for everyone is a huge focus for many, but few are acting. In this episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we speak with Kristen Mulder and Ben Stiefel from Measurabl, a company that is making huge efforts to address these important challenges. During the episode we learn more about how Kristen, a LEARN alumni and Back-End Developer at Measurabl, and Ben, the Development Manager at Measurabl, got their starts into coding, then, we dive into more about what Measurabl does and the culture at this fantastic organization. We also highlight our current scholarship campaign with Measurabl where we are continuing to advance our initiatives to promote more growth and diversity in the San Diego tech community. Special Guests: Ben Stiefel and Kristen Mulder.

Networking is so much more than meeting people and collecting contacts. It's about connecting with people and finding ways to help them before seeing what you can get out of it. Planting the seeds of compassion into these small connections can help them blossom into bigger relationships down the line. In our 14th episode of Collaboration Code Radio, LEARN academy alumni Kate Kassab talks about her journey from playing with Photoshop at age 10, to coming through LEARN and now live streaming with Adobe. She explains how these exciting opportunities didn't come to fruition without the endless dedication and hard work happening behind the scenes. Kate talks about how the small connections she has made selflessly networking have grown into positions and exciting career opportunities. Kate also talks about she leveraged her design and coding skills to take her where she is now and the new projects she is working on. Special Guest: Kate Kasaab.

Many people crave a career that challenges them every day. A profession that requires you to be creative, intuitive, and willing to think outside the box at any given time. The fact that you must be ready to learn something new every day is one of the exciting aspects of becoming a professional developer. For our next episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we talk with LEARN academy alumni and Web Developer Kyle Simmons. We talk about what life is like working remotely in Spain for a company based in the United Kingdom, how Kyle pivoted from selling Insurance to coding, and some tips for people looking to get started. Special Guest: Kyle Simmins.

As new developers enter the industry, it’s essential to learn from past mistakes. Treating people with respect is necessary, and breaking the “jerk programmer” mindset is an integral part of building a better future in tech. At the core, we are all human beings, and we must be bringing out the human side of developers. For episode 12 of our podcast, we speak with April Wensel of Compassionate Coding. April has been a regular guest speaker in our classes, and we are delighted to talk to her on the podcast. From her first programming class in high school, through working at Sony, and starting her own company Compassionate Coding, we talk with April about how she created her path in the technology world. Chelsea and April also dive into how April launched Compassionate Coding to help developers understand emotional intelligence, ethics, and compassion for other people. While we are nowhere near the change that needs to be made, it’s been rewarding for her to see the growth that has been taking place and the conversations that are happening.

The current situation we all find ourselves in is something we have never experienced in our lifetimes. We are in the midst of a global pandemic, everyone’s lives across the globe have been completely turned upside down. But we must take it upon ourselves to continue growing, learning, and making the most of what real-life is right now. During our first remote episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we talk with three current students in our Alpha 2020 cohort. Rudy, Andee, and Tsz share their backgrounds and experiences in getting into coding and joining LEARN academy. They share that special moment when the code got tremendously exciting and they knew they discovered something powerful. We also talk about their first day at LEARN. That first day at Coding Bootcamp can be pretty scary and exciting, all at the same time. Our biggest conversation dives into the transition of taking the classroom remote. The feelings and emotions that everyone is feeling are powerful. While the transition to a remote classroom wasn’t something they entirely expected, these 3 students took the challenge head on and are making the best of the situation at hand. Special Guests: Andee Isaacs, Rudy Becker, and TszDick Li.

Telling stories is a part of human nature. From connecting with loved ones and friends and reminiscing memories, or connecting with like-minded people in your community, the power of storytelling is powerful. Gina Verrastro, LEARN academy alumni, sits down with us for Episode 10 of Collaboration Code Radio. Gina shares about her passion for writing an English and how she once thought she was going to be a college English professor. She talks about how she got started into coding and how it helped her unlock her creativity within code. She shares how she used Instagram and Twitter to share her story and journey to connect with people. We also dive into her strong connection with Girls in Tech San Diego! Special Guest: Gina Verrastro.

Track-and-Field and writing code have their similarities. While not apparent, working with web developer teams is a collection of individuals working across several different tickets (events), using their knowledge and skills to perform their best on their tickets for the greater good of the team and company. For this next episode with sit down with LEARN academy alumni, and Galley Software Developer, Mike LaRocca. We dive into his early years, his passion for track-and-field. Mike also discusses how one of his jobs at a BioTech company helped push his interest in learning some SQL and then fully driving him into web development. Mike will also share some great advice current and future coding bootcamp students can take to heart to help them on their journey. Plus, we will talk about the rapid success Mike is being a part of at the local San Diego startup Galley, a platform for restaurant chefs to better manage their kitchen and data. Special Guest: Mike LaRocca.

For this next episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we sit down with our new Lead Instructor at LEARN academy, Harrison Schaen. Harrison has lived all over the world and has been a part of the development community for a long time. We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to have him talk about his background and why we are so excited to have him a part of our team. During this episode we chat with Harrison about how he discovered his passion for coding at the young age of 12 and started his own business by 16. Harrison attended Princeton University on a Basketball Scholarship and helped establish many media programs. After graduation, Harrison worked his way through the ranks as a developer and helped build many companies along the and gathering knowledge and insight wherever it may have been. After moving to San Diego, Harrison discovered another passion he truly believes in, teaching. Through the course of the episode Harrison talks about his vision for being a part of the LEARN team and how LEARN and the students can grow into an even bigger part of the San Diego tech community. Special Guest: Harrison Schaen.

Software Developers are often in a state of being uncomfortable. From your job search to error messages, and deep dives in StackOverflow it can be a constant struggle. Having a support group around you so you can grow and flourish is a huge key. For our next episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we sat down with Dante Moore, who graduated from the program in 2019 and currently is a software developer. During this episode, Dante touches on his experience growing up in Japan and the United States and his background as a Marketing/Project Manager. Then one day, he knew the time was right and he needed to make a change. He touches on how he found his passion for web development and his experience at LEARN academy. Following graduation, Dante goes over how his new tech skills gave him the freedom to find the career that he wanted. Special Guest: Dante Moore.

Family, Work, Coding, Life...is it possible to maintain a balance between all these factors? While going through a coding bootcamp it's hard enough to keep yourself balanced and sane, but the party doesn't stop after graduation. Maintaining a balance between your work, your family, and your continued growth is imperative to your success in any career path. For the next episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we sat down with LEARN academy (https://www.learnacademy.org) alumni Jenny and Emma who were in one of our very first cohorts. Both coming from career changes, we dive into what life was like during the early years at LEARN, and what it's like to grow from Junior Developer to Mid and Senior level. We'll also dive into the awesome things Emma and Jenny are doing at Gap Intelligence (https://www.gapintelligence.com/), a market research firm based in San Diego. Special Guests: Emma Castor and Jenny Pletner.

Finding your voice and your own value can be a long and sometimes stressful process. It can take years building up the courage to finally have your moment of clarity and make the jump. For this episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we sit down with Jess Guttenburg. Jess is a LEARN academy alumni and is currently a Jr Developer at Q-Centrix in San Diego. During this episode, we talk with Jess about how she found her passion and value through coding. Jess dives into how she took ownership of her own life and challenged herself to find a career that allowed her to achieve the work/life balance she was looking for. Special Guest: Jess Guttenberg.

It's seems like an impossible feat for a company to make a difference in their local community and on a global scale. Sometimes a company might even be forced to choose one over the other. For this next episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we sit down with Dana Arnold, the COO of Measurabl and talk about how they are making a difference for our local San Diego community and helping to address the impact of global climate change. Measurabl is a San Diego based startup that specializes in sustainability and data management. Recently, Measurabl has made a commitment to help diversify their team. During the podcast we will talk with Dana about their new partnership with Girls in Tech San Diego and some of the events they are sponsoring through the rest of 2020. We will also dive into who Measurabl is and how the software they build is helping to solve some of the problems around global climate change, Finally, we wilk touch on our new partership with Measurabl plus the Diversity Scholarship and 3-Month Paid Internship. The goal of this scholarship is to provide individuals from underrepresented communities with a chance to start their tech careers. Special Guest: Dana Arnold.

“Success is no accident.” And learning to code is hard. But hard in a good way. It’s always a learning process, and in order to be successful, you need to like challenges and overcoming them. When you decide to go all-in and get through the challenges, the reward is huge. Plus, the rewards keep coming. For this episode of Collaboration Code Radio, we sit down with LEARN academy alumni and Jr. Software Developer at Q-Centrix, Tucker Mullen. Join us for a discussion on his journey from Real-Estate in Seattle, WA to Software Developer in San Diego, CA. We touch on the benefits and struggles of going through an Online Coding Bootcamp and the differences between an In-Person Coding Bootcamp. Also, we get some insight from Tucker on how he turned his internship at Q-Centrix into a full-time role as a Jr. Software Engineer. Special Guest: Tukcker Mullen.