My aim is to successfully transition careers to become a Junior Software Engineer. I have been encouraged to document my journey, so here it goes....

First, I want to establish my 'why' to be consistent with my learning:

• My first degree @ University was in Computer Science and I was excited about the prospect of studying it. However, I quit after my first year. I did not receive the support to successfully complete the degree; the gender imbalance was unreal for 18 year old me and I was the only black girl on the degree programme, so I felt out of place. Furthermore, I was struggling - most of my fellow students had prior knowledge and were miles ahead of me. As the first in my family to attend university, I opted to change degrees as I did not have the heart to fail miserably. I have no regrets changing my academic path - life is full of curveballs and now I am back on the path I believe is for me.
• You have one life to live - You have the power to change the trajectory of your life. This process of changing my career has given me a new lease after losing my father, who dedicated his life to his family. He believed in everything I did and was proud of me regardless. He lived life to the fullest he could, I promise to do the same.
• Love learning new things - Learning new things so far in my journey has stretched my knowledge and capabilities, which has been rewarding and satisfying. I would to become more acquainted in both front end and back end software development to decide on the areas I would like to specialise in.
• The skills gained from my current career in Higher Education are transferable - I believe I am a good communicator, collaborative, willingness to learn new things and have a keen eye for detail.
• Ability to be a role model to young girls, in particular BAME girls who want to go into software engineering or other tech roles. Traditional professions such as Accountancy, Law and Teaching are still advocated to young BAME girls as the subjects to select vocationally or academically. I would like to be able to support young BAME girls to choose their passion over the profession.
• I love the Tech Community - Why wouldn't I want to part of a community that has been so encouraging in both physical and virtual spaces. If this community existed whilst I'd studied at university, I do not think I would've quit.

As I am pursuing the self-taught route into Software Development, I have given myself 12 months (August 2020) to fulfil my goal to obtain a role as a Junior Software Engineer or Associate Software Engineer.

I have been inspired by @Nirvikalpa108's learning plan outlined in sprints. So, I will be adopting this type of agile process.

I need to be realistic with my learning objectives to remain balanced with life and work. Life without balance = chaos!

So, I will be committing to 1 hour each week day and 2 hours on the weekend.

In the order of priority, I will be undertaking/participating in the following tasks/events –

1 September – 19 September 2019

• Codebar Tutorial - HTML and CSS
• Codeacademy – Ruby
• Codebar Tutorial – Ruby
• Attend Codebar’s uncoderbar conference (14 September 2019)

20 September – 26 September 2019

• Anything on the above I have not completed
• Ruby Exercism Hello World and 1 more challenge
• Codewars Ruby 1 challenge
• Explore open source using the resources obtained at Codebar.

Future learning for next sprint:

• Learn JavaScript – I had the opportunity to attend Node Girls Beginners JavaScript workshop in August 2019, where I experienced the wonders of JavaScript and would like to pursue this further.
• Flatiron School prep course bootcamp online - This will allow me to reiterate what I have learnt in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Ruby skills.
• Blog Website - To utilise my skills obtained from Code First: Girls to create a responsive, dynamic blog from scratch via Github pages.
• Contribute to one of codebar's open source documents.

Q3 in 2019: July 2019 - Completed Code First: Girls web developmnent programme @ NewDay, August 2019 - Attended and Spoke about my CF:Girls experience at Coding Black Females meetup. Undertook Node Girls Beginners JavaScript workshop in August 2019.

Q2 in 2019: April 2019 - Attended women tech meetup: Women in Tech Meetup (Salesforce). Started my programming journey learning Javascript from freeCodeCamp. June 2019 - Went to my first tech conference: Wonder Woman in Tech conference.