she's not a developer yet but nevertheless, natalie coded
Tags: wecoded
Published: 2019-03-14 15:22:42

---
title: she's not a developer yet but nevertheless, natalie coded 
published: true
tags: shecoded
---

Welcome to my first post! 

Yes, I know IWD was days ago. I have some major imposter syndrome right now writing this and I may have had the self-deprecating thought that I didn't deserve praise that day. 

I'm not a developer. At least, not yet. I first met my friend 'Code' I'd say in 2004 or 2005 on this cute little site called Neopets. All I knew was HTML. CSS and I hadn't become friends yet and I'm still meeting JavaScript. I keep hearing things about React and Node and Vue and the list goes on. 

But when I wasn't playing Sims, I was on Neopets. I'd mistaken PaintShop Pro for Photoshop (it still did the trick if you knew how to alter the tutorial. Or if the tutorial writer altered it for you). I was obsessed with the Jonas Brothers (THEY'RE BAAAAAAACK!) I joined these things called "Guilds" and created my own. My dad was a Systems Administrator and had taken computer science courses. He had this nice red binder with all these printouts about HTML he had received from one course.

So I sat in the corner of my room - my nice little JoBros guild layout with boxes and dropping in text. Before all of this I just played around with Notepad. Copying and pasting HTML. Becoming amazed when something popped up in Internet Explorer as if I had written the code myself. 

Fast forward to today - I can't tell you the last time I was on Neopets, I <i>still</i> love the Jonas Brothers, and I'm writing post numero uno on dev.to. I feel unworthy of this. I graduated with a Bachelor's in 'Media Informatics' which was geared towards all kinds of design. Game design, web design, UX design, graphic design, you name it. But at my school we also had a design major too. 
I'm a project administrator as well. I love my job but in my spare time I find myself coding. And coding. And coding. Albeit 9 times out of 10 it started out with HTML as if I'd been missing something all these years.

I struggled in college with what I wanted to do. I hadn't touched HTML in years or even kept up to date with it. My degree focused plenty on Adobe Creative Suite which I loved and I still love today. But again, I felt like an imposter. I don't feel like a designer but I love design. I don't feel like an artist but I love art. I don't feel like a developer but I love code.

My job has been a wonderful stepping stone right out of college. But I know I've always wanted a career in tech. In design. In coding. <b>SOMETHING</b>. As of late I've been searching for that next step to launch me into my career. A way to tie all of these loose strings I have together. I've updated LinkedIn, applied for jobs, updated my resume, my portfolio and it hasn't been the trick. Recently I applied to be in a coding bootcamp but I'd been so weary. The extra cost, the 2 hour drive to the city. Would I be able to do this with work and taking care of my mom plus any outside activities? What if I failed? Never got the job? Wasted all of that money? I never heard back from admissions after my readiness test and just assumed I didn't make it to the next chapter. Days later I stumbled upon a sale that Udemy was having and now I'm taking Colt Steele's Complete Web Dev Bootcamp.

So here I am. Imposter Syndrome and all. My name is Natalie. I'm a Project Administrator. I co-organize events for 'Ladies That UX'. I'm self-taught, since I was 10 years old. I love the Jonas Brothers (and music in general!). I love this community of women in tech I've recently stumbled upon. I'm a Google (Early) Women Techmaker. I love HTML. I'm loving CSS. I hope to love JavaScript and the plethora of languages I pick up along the way. But most of all I'm an aspiring developer.

<i>she's not a developer yet but nevertheless, natalie coded.</i>

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<i>small note: thank you to anyone reading this that made it this far. I've been going back and forth about even writing this since I'm such a newbie. a big thanks to the Google Women Techmaker community that I recently joined. I meet someone new everyday and the questions, the stories, they all inspire me to keep pushing. thank you all of the #shecoded stories too! written and unwritten.</i>