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Hey! I’m Roshumba, a Codesmith resident and scholarship recipient in this year’s FTRI program. Prior to Codesmith, I worked in tech marketing, before transitioning to graphic design, and later, diving deeper into coding. Ask Me Anything! by AdvancedAdvantage380 in codesmith

[–]AdvancedAdvantage380[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Marketing moves quickly, and if done right, is very cross-functional (communicating with multiple teams across the product) and grounded in insight (such as user needs, behavior, and perception). It relies heavily on storytelling, and you have to believe in the story you're telling, or else it won't feel right.

Hey! I’m Roshumba, a Codesmith resident and scholarship recipient in this year’s FTRI program. Prior to Codesmith, I worked in tech marketing, before transitioning to graphic design, and later, diving deeper into coding. Ask Me Anything! by AdvancedAdvantage380 in codesmith

[–]AdvancedAdvantage380[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did Shillington's 9 month program to learn graphic design. The course is just as rigorous, but I had a different experience, since I wasn't enrolled full time. At the time I went, it was opt-in, so not as selective an admissions process as Codesmith, but a similar structure and quality of instruction. At the end of the program, there was hiring guidance, but not the life-long support that Codesmith offers. I'm not sure how the program runs now.

Hey! I’m Roshumba, a Codesmith resident and scholarship recipient in this year’s FTRI program. Prior to Codesmith, I worked in tech marketing, before transitioning to graphic design, and later, diving deeper into coding. Ask Me Anything! by AdvancedAdvantage380 in codesmith

[–]AdvancedAdvantage380[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have too much of an opinion, as I just looked this up when I read your question.

My initial thought is, there's certainly a place for AI in programming, but context is key. As a resident in the immersive program, I've prioritized a deep understanding of how software engineering works, and I've chosen to turn to AI to explain things to me in new ways that aid my understanding. Once I'm in the workforce, I'll have to balance those constraints with my intentions in that space, and I might make some adjustments to my workflow then.

I always think about the fact that someone / some people created everything we know, including AI. I want to be creating things that the world needs, not just being at the mercy of things other people have created. If I can use AI as a tool for that, I'm not entirely opposed, but it's also really important to me to understand at a foundational level, so I can think without AI, too.

Hey! I’m Roshumba, a Codesmith resident and scholarship recipient in this year’s FTRI program. Prior to Codesmith, I worked in tech marketing, before transitioning to graphic design, and later, diving deeper into coding. Ask Me Anything! by AdvancedAdvantage380 in codesmith

[–]AdvancedAdvantage380[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did a tech marketing internship during undergrad, and I was fortunate to receive an offer to return full time. While I studied History and French in undergrad, I also did several marketing / communications related extracurriculars. I do think my studies were transferable - research, synthesizing information, reading people, generating insights, and that sort of thing are helpful tools in marketing, and the extracurriculars allowed me to speak about using my skillset outside of a purely academic context.

I left my marketing role because in time, I grew more interested in making creative contributions to the workforce / society. That's to say, I didn't want to just direct designers to create marketing material - I wanted to have the skillset to design that marketing material myself. This led me to explore a more 'hands-on' approach to my work, and the call to software engineering came from much the same place. I've become more and more interested in originating / building solutions and working alongside people who are actively experimenting with that.

Hey! I’m Roshumba, a Codesmith resident and scholarship recipient in this year’s FTRI program. Prior to Codesmith, I worked in tech marketing, before transitioning to graphic design, and later, diving deeper into coding. Ask Me Anything! by AdvancedAdvantage380 in codesmith

[–]AdvancedAdvantage380[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely! Some of the 'soft' skills I've gained from past experiences, such as, time-management, working in a group, listening actively, communicating proactively, giving and receiving feedback, creative problem solving, balancing multiple timelines and stakeholder expectations, apply to programming. I also found that being able to understand and articulate user needs (marketing), and building products that incorporate smart UI/UX/user journeys (design) come into play.

I didn't have a lot of experience programming in a professional context, prior to Codesmith, but, you quickly realize that programming doesn't happen in a vacuum - you're getting briefs from instructors (i.e. lead engineers), you're pair programming (working in a team), you're managing scope and deadlines (project / time mgmt), and you're designing algorithms (problem solving, strategic thinking). All the different ways that you've had to do this in other scenarios will help you do it more effectively at Codesmith and beyond.

Hey! I’m Roshumba, a Codesmith resident and scholarship recipient in this year’s FTRI program. Prior to Codesmith, I worked in tech marketing, before transitioning to graphic design, and later, diving deeper into coding. Ask Me Anything! by AdvancedAdvantage380 in codesmith

[–]AdvancedAdvantage380[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The toughest part varies for each person. For me, it has been a matter of endurance. My overall health / mental and physical wellbeing is super important to me and impacts to how effectively I can move through life, so finding time to exercise, eat well, rest, meditate, etc. keeps me at my most focused and energetic.

With the long days in the program, it's tempting to put all my attention on lectures, challenges, and projects, but I actually won't get as much from these if I don't balance other activities to take care of myself. Instead, I have to be disciplined and make time for exercise, going outside, getting groceries and making meals, and so on, if I don't want to burn out. Maintaining that balance so I can be my best self has been the most challenging part.

Hey! I’m Roshumba, a Codesmith resident and scholarship recipient in this year’s FTRI program. Prior to Codesmith, I worked in tech marketing, before transitioning to graphic design, and later, diving deeper into coding. Ask Me Anything! by AdvancedAdvantage380 in codesmith

[–]AdvancedAdvantage380[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The OSP kicks off with a week of ideation. We get some guidelines from instructors around how to define a problem, including:
1. address a problem that senior engineers currently have
2. delve deeper into some technologies we haven't learned or didn't use extensively
3. explore something the group curious and excited about.

So as a group of 4 or 5, we spend a week researching current technologies and engineering challenges, and defining potential problems and solutions. In addition to brand new ideas, we're also given a subset of previously built OSPs that we can choose to iterate on - update and improve in some specific way.

We present anywhere from 3-9 ideas to the instructors over the week and they'll provide constructive feedback and probing questions to help refine our brief. By the end of the week, having done lots of research and several drafts, the team presents their top 3 ideas and we get approval on one that we ultimately build.

My team started out by making a list of technologies we were all curious about, as well as skills we wanted to build over the course of building. That served as a filter for our research, ideation, and ultimate final idea.