I'm a hard-working, sooth-seeking software developer in training. I'm interested in learning all that I can about web development from end to end. I'm intent on making development my full-time gig, and am currently on the road to making it happen. Take a look at my journey so far:
My path to software development began early on in life. As a kid I was curious and inquisitive--always wanting to try new things and determined to do everything for myself. I asked too many questions and often got in trouble for it. A toddler can only ask "why?" so many times before the answer becomes "because I said so!"
I developed an interest in art and math in elementary school. I enjoyed the creativity and problem solving involved and those aspects became the focus of my hobbies outside of school. My interests later extended to science and then to philosophy, as I continued to ask questions and considered how things could be made better. This handful of characteristics--curiosity, independence, creativity and problem solving, is still what motivates me today.
Development first caught my attention when a departmental project at work got me collaborating with the engineering team. I had been hired on to manage customer invoicing via an internal proprietary billing application. As I worked together with the engineers on bug fixes and upkeep, I began to understand a little more about the work they were doing. The billing app proved to be clunky and inefficient, making long and tedious work of something that could potentially be fully-automated. I worked directly with the developers and product management to plan out a complete redesign of the app from end to end.
Radmin (Radiate Admin) was intended to be an all-in-one internal solution for managing our clients' accounts, but the project was put on hiatus when business priorities shifted and development time was redirected elsewere. This got me thinking that if the engineers didn't have the time for Radmin, I could learn to build the billing parts that I needed myself.
After the Radmin project was shelved, I began learning a handful of programming languages via books and online resources--primarily HTML and CSS through Codecademy, along with some JavaScript and Ruby. I was accepted to the Rails Girls conference in March of 2014, which furthered my motivation and excitement about becoming a part of the development industry.
The engineering team at my work created an internal program for employees to learn software development--I spent an hour on most days pairing with them as I built my own Rails app. Outside of work, I've continued to make my way through more online resources as well--improving my HTML and CSS skills, building my first video game in JavaScript and dabbling a tiny bit in Phaser. I am currently working on a couple of small personal projects in an effort to solidify and fine tune the skills I have learned so far, and also just for the fun of it.
I recently wrapped up my first paying freelance web design project. Working with a client to apply their vision to an already-existing site on a CMS platform afforded me many new learning opportunities. It feels good to have my first paid gig under my belt and project in my portfolio--I'm already looking forward to the next one.
I am currently collaborating on a reincarnated version of Radmin--the billing app that got me started down the road to development in the first place. Right now this new invoicer is up and running as a series of Ruby scripts that are executed via the command line, but it will soon be made into a desktop application using Shoes.
When deciding what I wanted to "do" when I grew up, I used to think I'd have to pick either creativity or logic. Right brain or left brain. Artist or astronaut. Turns out development is the best of both.
My need to understand why something is the way it is means i'm always investigating its context. I'm interested in the big picture as well as the small pieces, and strive to understand how each part of a project interacts with the others.
There is nothing better than building something with your own two hands. And then when that something breaks, finding a way to fix it.
A lifetime of learning is what I'm looking for and is exactly what this industry provides. The development community values education and in my experience is very welcoming to newcomers. Mentorship has been essential to my progress and I want to be a similar sort of resource to others in the future.
The more I learn about software development, the more I am convinced that it's exactly the sort of thing I'm built for. I'm determined to keep moving forward on the road to becoming a full-time developer and am excited at the possibility that my next stop may be MX.
Dani has those untrainable qualities that exist in all the best team members, a strong focus on the goals of the team, a desire to constantly improve herself and a willingness to take on any task. She cares about her work and it shows. She has shown real dedication and natural talent for development and problem solving.
Her work ethic, thirst for knowledge, and natural aptitude already make her a great developer to work with. I can't think of a more ideal candidate for an apprenticeship opportunity.
As head of the engineering department at Sole Solution, I have worked with Ms. Hunter for several years. When our company created an internal program for employees to learn software development with the engineering team, Dani was the first to join and consistently the most dedicated. She frequently sacrificed her lunch break to have more time to build her skills.
Ms. Hunter has a tremendous hunger to learn and expand her experience, which has been central to her roles within Sole Solution, allowing her to streamline processes and do the work that previously required several other employees. She has also learned web software development outside of work hours, pairing with various mentors and working on several outside projects.
She is exactly the sort of person I would look for to hire onto my team, as she has the self-motivation, drive, and intelligence to take a task to completion.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to offer my glowing recommendation of Danielle Hunter for the intern position at MX.
Danielle slept through the night almost immediately as a baby and had hair so beautiful that perfect strangers would stop us to compliment her. She tenaciously competed to win the "Math around the World" competition in her first grade classroom. And although she barely weighs 100 lbs as a full-grown adult, she is still Dad's number one choice for lifting the heaviest furniture in the house. He brags about that as often as he brags about her almost perfect ACT score and her winning a competitive Honors' Scholarship at Arkansas State University.
She will eat almost anything (everything!), and is a loyal and dedicated young woman with a bright future. You will quickly find that Danielle can solve almost any problem.
Best regards,