Emma Wain is a self-taught web developer who previously worked as a beauty therapist. In this interview she talks through how she learned to code, her tips for beginners and what being a Software Engineer is really like.
Hey, so can you introduce yourself?
Hey! My name is Emma Wain, I'm 31 years old from Manchester, UK and I work for CGI as a Junior Technical Consultant.
Why did you learn to code?
I'd had the dream of being a digital nomad for a number of years and was exploring different careers that would allow me to work remotely. I've always been interested in tech and my friend, who is a developer, encouraged me to learn coding! He was sharing stories of people who had found a job in tech without a CS degree and of women who were breaking into tech and how badly tech needed more women and diversity in tech. This inspired me a lot to pursue this path.
When the pandemic hit, I decided that I would use that time off to reskill. I had done beauty therapy the best part of 10 years and it takes a toll on your body because its such a physical job! This was the main factor for me, I had to put my health first and its just as well that I did because I ended up getting Covid really bad which meant I had to give it up anyway!
How did you learn coding?
I started learning to code with the Web developer path on Codecademy (which I think has been renamed to full stack developer now).
I then started watching tutorials on YouTube and creating projects from them, I particularly liked Ania Kubow's channel, Brad's - Traversy Media and Shaun's - The Net Ninja
