MEET THE DEV DAME
Not long ago, I had eight years of studying poetry under my belt, a job in retail, and a seriously restless brain. I decided to find my way out of stagnation, so I tried out some Ruby, headed to Dev Bootcamp and never looked back. I'm still a poet, but now I'm a software engineer as well. The best of both worlds! And, miraculously, I get paid to make things every day. After graduating Dev Bootcamp I taught there as an instructor, worked as a developer at Brad's Deals, and ventured forth to Braintree as a software engineer. I founded, developed, and directed Braintree's very first apprenticeship program, which is still going strong and has even been picked up by PayPal. I also led Braintree's diversity-and-inclusion-focused tech outreach efforts on the Developer Community Team.
I currently work on the back end, and my languages of choice are Ruby and Go (although I've written in many more). Want a full run-down of my skillset? Check out my linkedin.
Outside of work I'm a lead organizer of the Chicago chapter of RailsBridge, a teacher for Girl Develop It, a mentor at Dev Bootcamp, and a member of the Railsbridge Advisory Board. I'm also a public speaker on tech and tech-adjacent issues.
When I'm not programming or community organizing, you can find me playing Dungeons & Dragons, teaching myself the ukulele, speaking out for feminist issues, writing, crafting cosplay, and generally having a fabulous time.