Your Django Story: Meet Becky Smith

This is a post in our Your Django Story series where we highlight awesome ladies who work with Django. Read more about it here.

Becky is a recent convert to programming and currently works for Hogarth as a python developer.  She is the founder of PyLadies Edinburgh and organiser of Django Girls Edinburgh.  In her free time she likes knitting and aerial dance.

How did your story with code start?

Very recently! Unlike many (most) people in this series, I haven’t been coding very long at all.  I did a little bit of coding many years ago when I was doing my doctoral research, but I only started properly learning Python in February this year.  did online courses and worked on some small projects of my own.  A dance school I go to had been let down by the web designer they’d hired, so I made their website (my first foray into Django).  In July I quit my job, went to Europython, founded the Edinburgh chapter of PyLadies and started an internship as a junior Python developer.  

 

What did you do before becoming a programmer?

I have a degree in Psychology and PhD in Neuroscience, and I worked in the pharmaceutical research industry for 12 years before switching careers.  

 

What do you love the most about coding?

I love the fact that I’m making something, and that my job feels like solving puzzles all day! I love that what I do at work now is what I want to do for play too.

 

Why Django?

Django made everything simpler for making my first web app.  I started off planning to make a simple static site, but wanted to do more, and Django had so much built in to help me.

 

What cool projects are you working on at the moment/planning on working on in the near future?

I’m organising Django Girls Edinburgh, which will happen at the end of November.  I also started the Edinburgh chapter of PyLadies, and it’s been awesome to find how much support there is in the local Python community for both.  

 

What are you the most proud of?

Most recently, I’m proud of myself for finally taking the plunge and quitting the secure, well-paid job that I didn’t enjoy to pursue a career as a developer.  It’s been pretty scary, but definitely worth it.  I’ve gone from knowing more-or-less nothing at all about programming, to working as a member of a team of developers and getting code I’ve written into production…in the space of 8 months!

 

What are you curious about?

Most things…as such a new convert to programming, I realise how much more there is to learn. My daughter is 7, and I want to see how she learns to code, and what sort of things keep her interested.

 

What do you like doing in your free time? What’s your hobby?

Circus…I do silks, trapeze, aerial hoop, pole…anything I can hang upside down off, really.  I guess I never really grew out of kids’ playgrounds :)

 

Do you have any advice/tips for programming beginners?

Find a project to do.  There are some really good online resources and tutorials, but you can only get so far with them.  If you have a goal in mind, something you really want to get working, you’ll learn by trial and error as you try to figure out how to do what you want.  Also, get involved with your local community groups.  PyLadies is always a good bet, and in my experience, the local python user groups may be male-dominated, but they’re also friendly and welcoming to beginners (and mostly they want to increase diversity in their group, but don’t quite know how to go about it).  

Thanks Becky! :)

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