Panel: Charles Max Wood

This week on My Angular Story, Charles speaks with Rae Krantz (Akron, OH) who works remotely with the Toll Wave company (Phoenix, AZ). She does Angular work there with a small team. She specializes in information technology and services. Rachel (Rae) and Chuck talk about Angular and how she got her amazing job through a Twitter connection!

In particular, we dive pretty deep on:

1:30 – Hello!

1:35 – Rae, please give us your background.

2:25 – Chuck: Tina’s interview will go live later on another episode. It’s interesting

How did you get into coding?

2:50 – Rae: I started on a course 4 or 5 years ago. I moved to Akron, Ohio with the WOMEN and TECH group here, and got involved with the group. Free code camp and so on. Through meeting this Meetup I found a new position. This led to Angular development. I enjoyed the DevOps, but this Toll Wave is awesome! I have been working there for 9-10 months.

4:45 – Chuck: Why Angular and not Vue or Java?

4:52 – Rae: I started a side project with Angular with friends. They had a strong view with Angular, because Angular dealt with a lot of security issues. Since then I am pretty solid on the Angular side. The React side, I guess, is cool.

5:53 – Chuck: People tend to go towards technologies that they can get help with. It makes sense why you went with Angular. Is there anyone specific that got you into Angular?

6:23 – Rae: I didn’t have a network at the time. The 2 people that got me into Angular actually weren’t developers. I started with Docs and the Heroes actually were a great resource. It covers these pieces that are necessary to know how it works. I used early on NG docs, too.

7:24 – Chuck: Actually that is organized by...

7:42 – Chuck: Getting your job is very interesting. I a m writing a book on how to find a job as a software developer. I see that people are struggling with this. What did you have in place to show them that you were capable for the job?

8:18 – Rae: The interview was very conversational. It wasn’t algorithm tests; nothing super fancy. It really got into the work I’ve done and my thought process. I appreciated that the interview was realistic. I can go back to other traditionally other interview were “tougher.” I had to do an algorithm test. I sat down and I was terrified for that. It was more “simple” for the entry-level people. The saving grace is if you are frozen – just talk about the process. They want to see how you would talk through the process – they want to see that. You just have to know people. This Twitter job happened because of a network effect.

10:19 – Chuck: Yes, very true. It is a lot easier to get a job that someone can just introduce you to the company then trying to do it all yourself. Creating those opportunities through the people you know.

10:56 – Chuck: What are you doing now?

11:01 – Rae: Financial management application. It’s secret right now.

In my free time, it is very hard to push through one thing. The latest thing I have been doing lately is the Rust Programming Book. I have talked with my director that I enjoy Angular but I don’t want to do just frontend. He’s been really great about it. He’s talking with other program managers to get involved with other projects that are coming in. I have tried to look at React. I cannot make myself do it. If you are good at one, then why would you learn the other one? Only reason to learn React is if I want a React job.

13:12 – Chuck: People say to me that they want to stay current and also job availability. If my current situation changes then I can adopt any technology that they change to.

13:58 – Rae: I have been wanting to look at Vue. I don’t know anything about Vue other than the inventor of it. It would be fun to play with the differences.

14:42 – Chuck adds his comments.

14:50 – Rae: There are so many different things out there to learn!

Different languages – it’s hard to limit myself to limited languages within a 40-minute talk.

I spoke at the following conferences recently:

1.) Codemash in Ohio

2.) Meetups in Grand Rapids (Software Craftsmanship)

3.) Self Conference in Detroit (no recordings)

4.) Full Stack Fest in Barcelona – the best conference ever because it was so well organized. The attention to detail was amazing.

17:09 – Chuck adds his comments.

Yeah we will encourage people to look into your talks!

17:24 – Rae: Neat!

Rae talks about workshops and typical Meetups.

Cleveland area – October 6th – learn how to code – it will be fun!

18:25 – Chuck: ngGirls.org

18:40 – Chuck: Any advice for someone getting into tech?

18:50 – Rae: Do it before you have kids. Your energy is at a low when you have kids and you don’t have the energy to work on the things you want to work on.

If you don’t have kids then use your Netflix time now and STUDY!

If I can get through a chapter a day – that is fantastic – with life with kids. I work through lunches a lot. I try to use my day care time with care.

It’s great to be at a conference without a kid.

22:06 – Chuck: I have 5 kids. My oldest is 12 – so that is fine, but my youngest is 3.

The way we do it is I travel more than my wife. She’s a trooper to take care of the kids. I send her on a trip to see her best friend in North Carolina.

22:52 – Chuck: People are paying attention to people have different circumstances.

23:06 – Chuck: The last thing I want to ask is anything you are looking forward to in the future? Where do you want to wind-up?

23:25 – Rae talks about her hopes and dreams.

Rae: The puzzle aspect, I like. I like making things work together. The larger scope is what I like. In terms of the languages I take as they come. Rust, yes, I would like to use that a few years down the line. It’s funny – I would learn React if I had to use it.

I want to get in-depth in a few areas of Angular.

24:43 – Chuck: Check out these technologies through these podcasts. I echo what you are saying on these 3 frameworks. I am having fun with Vue right now. It really depends on what you want and what you need. Go play with them all!

Chuck talks about Vue, Angular and Java.

25:31 – Chuck: Picks!