I mentor Ingrid through Hackbright, and she's great to work with.<p>In general I find it really inspiring to be involved with an organization that introduces so many smart and motivated women to the field of software.<p>Think back to the first time you tried coding, how that happened, how you felt about it, who encouraged you or discouraged you, etc. Unfortunately it happens less for non-white, lower-class, or non-male people. Yes, there is still curiousity, determination, and hard work to succeed in the field, but it starts with that moment where you first believed you might master this skill.<p>What can you do to make that moment more likely to happen for more people?
I kind of feel the same way- I'm a year into learning Ruby and Rails right now and I know for a fact I don't "dream in code" the way other "natural programmers" seem to. But I'm friendly as fuck and work my ass off, and can usually google or Stack Overflow my way out of a situation, and I'm picking up the Ruby and Rails as I go. Still hoping to get a job as a Jr Rails dev somewhere and pass the technical test but fuck it. Not gunna lose sleep over it.