Hey there! I'm Sara, the brains (and the heart 💖) behind this blog, and the person you see lounging with a laptop above (thanks to my incredibly talented fiancé for that awesome cartoon rendition!). I'm 32 years old and I live in sunny California, USA.

I am the proud owner of the most adorable cat in the world. His name is Toby. This is a picture of him looking like a sleepy ballerina.

I love Ben and Jerry's ice cream more than is probably healthy for me, I have an outrageously quick typing speed of ~140wpm, and, most importantly, I am determined to start a career as a software engineer.

Growing Up in a Digital Playground

You could say I was practically born with a keyboard in hand, thanks to my dad being a programmer who often worked from home. In 1996, I played my first video game ever, Galaga, on our home computer. For those who don't know or remember, Galaga is this super famous game:

As soon as I was allowed to go onto the Internet, I quickly fell in love with the wide variety of activities available. By the time I turned 13, I preferred to spend most of my time at home on my computer, largely thanks to a bad case of introvertedness. (Don't worry - I was still well-socialized, and I wasn't a hermit.)

During these early years, I naturally started tinkering with website creation, crafting my first (let's call it charmingly chaotic) single-page monstrosity using just HTML and CSS at 14. In the years that followed, being the student of a "technologically advanced high school" offered me the chance to take a few web design courses during my teenaged years, fueling my interest and curiosity in the topic even further.

"Hacking" Google Sheets

When I was 18, I taught myself how to manipulate Google Sheets to do more than simple financial calculations; specifically, I learned how to use its functions to create useful tools for the video games I was playing at the time. While Google Sheets is by no means a programming language, using it in this way taught me simple programming concepts like what an array is and how to call a function.

This, for instance, is an example of code pulled directly from one of my old Google Sheets projects:

When you break this down, it's pretty much an IF/ELSE conditional that says:

• IF the cell B2 contains the string 'Level':
  • QUERY the range of cells from Gear.Data!A$2:$C and select the cell in column 2 where the cell in column 1 has the string 'Helmet', order by column 3.
  • Oh, and make sure you only grab one row, the first row that appears as a result (UNIQUE).
• Otherwise:
  • QUERY the same range of cells and select column 2 where column 1 has the string 'Helmet', but this time order by column 2.
  • And again, make sure the result is UNIQUE.

I'm sure you weren't looking for a quick lesson in spreadsheet software. My point is that I was dabbling in code before I even knew it was code, using many of the same concepts I'd later learn in programming languages like Python and JavaScript.

Although I didn't know it at the time, this first taste of coding would eventually spark a life-long love affair with programming real, usable software.

Falling in Love with Frontend Engineering

Then came COVID — a time of lockdowns, lattes, and, for me, a deep dive into frontend engineering. I immersed myself in free curriculums on websites like freeCodeCamp and The Odin Project, devouring tutorials, building projects, and falling head over heels for the art of creating seamless, user-friendly interfaces. Not even a month had passed before I realized that this was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and that I had finally found my true calling.

Making it Official with a Bootcamp

Determined to turn passion into profession, I enrolled in a 6-month intensive software engineering bootcamp shortly after the mayhem surrounding COVID ended. This particular bootcamp is one of the top-ranked bootcamps in the nation, and graduation required over 20 hours of class, study, and practice every day. Those months were a whirlwind of coding marathons, collaborative projects, and endless cups of coffee. It was challenging, exhilarating, and utterly transformative—shaping me into the developer I am today.

Current Adventures

Now, I spend my days staying ahead of the curve, keeping up with the ever-evolving tech landscape, and soaking up knowledge on the latest frameworks and tools. When I'm not glued to my screen, you'll find me brainstorming new blog ideas, experimenting with personal projects, or trying to convince someone to give me that first official software engineering gig. After all, everyone needs a chance to prove their worth, right?

A Bit More About Me

When I'm not immersed in lines of code (a rarity, I assure you), I like to spend my time participating in another big interest of mine: video games. I'm currently playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and I regularly play Fortnite and Marvel Rivals. Outside of that, you might find me watching awesome animated shows like Arcane, studying the Spanish language for fun, or expressing my knowledge through writing.

At the end of the day, I'm just a fun-loving girl bursting with creativity. I have a very positive mindset and a natural thirst for knowledge, and I spend my days working hard and doing the things I love.