Panel: Charles Max Wood

Guest: Sharon DiOrio

This week on My Angular Story, Charles speaks with Sharon DiOrio who is a lead software engineer at Achievement Network (ANet) and lives in Massachusetts! Chuck and Sharon talk about how she got into programming, her education, career highlights, and more! Check it out.

0:00 – Advertisement: Get A Coder Job!

0:41 – Chuck: Say “hello!” You were on episode 2 back in the day!

1:16 – Chuck: Can you tell people what you are up to?

1:19 – Sharon: The Angular landscape has changed quite a bit in the past 4 years. I am still using Angular!

1:37 – Chuck: It’s nice to hear people’s backgrounds and their thought process. Let’s talk about your story. To start out how did you get into programming?

2:03 – Sharon: I have a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts. The web wasn’t a thing, yet, and it wasn’t an option.

4:04 – Chuck: How did you go from there to Angular and JavaScript?

4:12 – Sharon: I have a soft spot in my heart for Code Fusion. I did Code Fusion and PHP and that paid the bills for a long time. In the mid-2000’s that some of this stuff was going away and the idea of “old is new.” What is going to be my evolution of a developer? The frameworks (at this time) were starting to mature.

8:01 – Chuck: You run an Angular Meetup, so how did that get started? 

8:05 – Sharon shares her story.

9:25 – Chuck: I would like to find a group that does this or that – and people find their niche and get together. If it grows great – if not then you begin some great friendships. I would like room for more intimate Meetups.

10:18 – Chuck.

10:23 – Sharon.

10:27 – Chuck: You spoke at NG-Conf in 2014 and what are your tips for people who want to speak at these conferences.

10:50 – Sharon: Get experience talking in front of large audiences before the ACTUAL conference! Also, start with Meetups!

12:29 – Chuck: Just the practice of building good habits and making sure that you are really prepared. Don’t they offer coaching now?

12:45 – Sharon: Yep!

12:53 – Chuck: What other things have you done with Angular?

13:01 – Sharon: I have been mostly in applications. Then I moved into educational technology.

13:55 – Chuck: Yep I identify with that a lot – getting a better career, making a better life for yourself, etc.

14:15 – Sharon: Yep!

15:34 – Chuck: I have seen things like Common Core and seeing what my kids are doing in school.

16:00 – Sharon: Most of the criticisms that people have about Common Core are...

16:35 – Sharon: I have been working in the educational space, too, yes!

I have been here for 3 years now and I have “tenure” in technology.

17:18 – Chuck: What are the things that you are most proud of?

17:21 – Sharon answers the question.

19:37 – Chuck: We have shows on React, Angular and others. It’s interesting to see how people are assessing these things.

19:56 – Sharon: Yeah the landscaping is so different from not that long ago!

20:10 – Chuck.

21:03 – Sharon: Yeah our management is using version 6. I am going to do it and not tell them.

21:35 – Chuck: Anything else that you want to shout-out about?

21:37 – Sharon: How you get answers to questions will shift in your life. Learning how to ask a question well is underestimated – it’s an art. What to provide, so you know exactly what to provide to him/her.

22:21 – Chuck: Yeah my brothers

22:47 – Sharon: My father told me the same thing: you need to speak well and write well. No matter what field you are going into. Also, empathy and soft skills are great skills to have, too.

23:35 – Chuck: It is easy to work on the technology b/c it’s either right or wrong.

23:48 – Sharon: I would love to see people wanting those skills within job posts.

24:20 – Chuck: I agree! It makes a big difference. Let’s do picks!

24:35  – Fresh Books!

END – CacheFly

Chuck

Sharon