What made you decide to work in the tech industry? I was initially in an administrative/office management roles. It wasn’t planned. I started a blog, and I became interested in learning how to code and started looking into boot camp programs. A lot of people who I knew had changed their careers and I thought maybe I could do the same since I wasn’t very happy doing what I was doing. I was eventually accepted into a program at a nonprofit called the Coalition for Queens. They were running a
What made you decide to work in the tech industry? Initially, I was pursuing a career in accounting. I declared it my major at college. After an accounting internship, I decided it was not for me, but I had done it for so long I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. So, I decided to do a second internship, with the hope of getting a full-time offer. It didn’t happen. I was devastated at the time and had no idea what I was going to do next. I was counting
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do? My name is Karla Mickens, and I’m a product designer at Facebook. Originally born and raised in North Carolina, and went to college at Virginia Commonwealth University. After that, I moved to New York where I pretty much started my career in design. I gradually got into more of the tech side of it, and haven’t a looked back since, now for six-seven years I think, maybe more. How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t know what
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do? My name is Fadumo. I’m going to be a third-year student at NYU, New York University. I study computer science and politics. This past summer I was at Facebook working with a product marketing manager as well as a civic engagement team. What I eventually want to do is work at the intersection of programming and government, making government more efficient. What interested you in technology as a [vehicle] for you wanted to do? I started college two years
Co-Founder of Nuanced/ Hustle Crew, Groupon & Amazon Alumni Tell us a little bit about yourself? I was born in DC originally. My dad’s from Nigeria and my mom is from the Philippines. My father who’s retired now was an economist for the IMF, and their HQ is in DC. Since he was a diplomat, I spent a lot of my childhood moving around. When I was in year nine, I came to boarding school in the UK, and that’s how I met my co-founder, Natalie [episode 43]. How long have
I never grew up ‘technical’. I remember an exasperated friend having to explain the concept of MSN instant messenger [I feel old] to me around the mid-00s. Long story short, I didn’t have a clue. Computers were something I used like everyone but barely understood. I just wasn’t that ‘computer guy’ growing up. So how was it that I’ve ended up as a software engineer at a venture-backed tech startup, then as lead developer/founder at POCIT? It all started with an idea for a website I had back during my
Why don’t you tell us about yourself? I’m Nafisa; I graduated from UCL two years ago. I studied natural sciences but realized I wanted to do something I loved and pushed me to reach my potential [whatever that was]. I got involved with a lot of social enterprise initiatives during and post my time at University, as I knew I didn’t want to jump into the corporate world straight away. I just wanted a better time to keep my mind open. I then left to start my venture which is
Co-Founder & CEO of ScanBite What made you decide to work in tech/get involved in tech? I’ve also wanted to run a business, and I’ve always loved health & fitness. As I learned more about business and successful entrepreneurs, I learned that staying ahead of the times is key. I also want to create something substantial or something much bigger than myself that can impact millions of lives. I knew it had to be tech and so that was that, I decided I wanted to become tech founder. What was an obstacle
I first came across Ruben on Twitter via a series of fantastic articles on medium on breaking into startups. I highly recommend you all check out [if you haven’t already]. You’ve got an incredible backstory, which includes being a cellist. How has learning and playing an instrument influenced you? I used to tell my cello students, the ability to learn an instrument well is a by-product of the life skills you are learning Essentially you are setting a goal to push yourself every week; you learn how to perform. For
How did you get involved in technology? When I was thirteen years old I was extremely obsessed with documentary films. I ended up watching a documentary about the history of computers. Everything from the first computers in the 40s/50s, to Microsoft and then the internet as it is today. I was like ‘this is so cool I’d like to learn about all this stuff’. So, I just self-taught myself programming from high school, and my interests were in artificial intelligence and machine learning. So, I come in from a sort
