Nevertheless, Latika Coded
Tags: wecoded
Published: 2020-03-07 06:37:58

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title: Nevertheless, Latika Coded 
published: true
tags: shecoded
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## My journey so far as a woman in tech

Its been a year now since I wrote my first article on #shecoded. But it feels like it was a matter of yesterday. The whole year went by so fast that I cannot believe I'm writing again here after a whole year now.

But more surprising to me when I look back is how far I've come. I'm a frontend developer now, not just a rookie design intern. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm proud of what I've managed to achieve in the past year.

Last year, I worked a lot on my design skills. I took a part in #DribbbleChallenge in my firm. In the challenge, one of my seniors assigned me a Dribbble design daily that I had to replicate through HTML and CSS to the best of my abilities. More on that here:

{% post teamxenox/the-only-way-to-improve-your-css-game-1m2k %}

That was fun, and it helped me improve my skills greatly. My next goal was to designer to a full-fledged frontend engineer, so I decided to learn javascript. This was going to be an even bigger challenge for me, as I had no formal background in the field, and there was much to learn. I had to build my skills up from the basics, and I was clear I don't want to rush this.

Reactjs is the frontend framework we primarily use at my firm, Skynox Tech, so that's what I've been learning for the past few months. When I first started learning, I faced so many difficulties, and there was a time when I really wanted to back out. I was unsure, but I decided to push through and complete the courses anyway. My peers and seniors have been very supportive of me throughout, and they've helped me work on various projects to help me brush up my skills.

I have a long way to go still, but I'm so much more confident in my skills and my ability to learn now. There are many more personal challenges I aim to take, and I'm already excited thinking about where I'll be this time next year. 😁

## My advice for allies to support self-identifying women and non-binary folks who code is...

1. Consciously make an effort to help folks, especially during their difficult times. I believe all of us have a unique set of valuable skills that we bring to the table. My firm has always fostered a strong culture of teamwork and solid work ethics by combining the skillsets of different folks.

w. Support them in developing expertise in their areas of interest, and then actually consult them when discussing topics that fall under their expertise. When our seniors do this in front of our peers, it bolsters our confidence and establishes our credibility.

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So yes, I'm gonna keep working on polishing my current skills as well as picking up new ones. Happy to be here working with a bunch of smart, driven people! Hope my journey can inspire others as well.

Cheers!
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