Seeking Mentorship & Feedback - Guest Speaker: Shannon Bisceglia, Treehouse

Shannon Bisceglia, Client Success Manager for Treehouse, continued the series of providing career development insights this week with a focus of Seeking Mentorship & Feedback and the opportunity it provides for career and personal development.

WHAT IS FEEDBACK?

How can you master the art of giving and receiving feedback?

1. Feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal.

2. It comes in various forms: praise, constructive criticism, and suggestions for improvement.

3. It is essential for learning and growth, whether in school, relationships, or professional development.

WHY DOES FEEDBACK MATTER?

Why should you act on it?

1. Feedback helps us understand our strengths and weaknesses.

2. It provides insight into blind spots we might not see ourselves.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN GIVING FEEDBACK. . .

Keep these four points in mind:

1. Be specific: Instead of “good job”, say, “I appreciate how you clearly explained your ideas.”

2. Be timely: Feedback is most effective when given close to the event.

3. Be constructive: Offer suggestions for improvement, not just criticism.

4. Be empathetic: Consider the person’s feelings and perspective.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN RECEIVING FEEDBACK. . .

Should you always act on it?

1. Listen actively: Pay attention without interrupting.

2. Ask clarifying questions: Make sure you understand the feedback.

3. Don’t take it personally: Feedback is about actions, not you as a person.

4. Thank the person: Show appreciation for their input, even if it is tough to hear.

5. Act in a timely manner: If you want to show that you are improving, make sure you act soon after you receive feedback.

ACTING ON FEEDBACK CAN LEAD TO MENTORSHIP:

What is a mentor?

1. A mentor is someone who guides and supports you in your personal and professional growth.

2. Mentors can offer valuable advice, share experiences, and provide encouragement.

3. When you are open to feedback, people notice your willingness to learn and grow.

4. Those who give you feedback might become potential mentors.

5. Mentors want to help individuals who show a desire to improve.

6. Show gratitude: If someone gives you valuable feedback, express your appreciation.

7. Be open: Be open to learning from various sources, and trying new things.

GUIDANCE ON YOUR JOURNEY TO SUCCESS

How a mentor can help you succeed:

1. Experience and Wisdom

2. Networking Opportunities

3. Emotional Support and Encouragement

4. Accountability and Goal Setting

5. Avoiding Pitfalls

6. Different Perspectives

7. Skill Development

8. Confidence Boost

Mastering this type of personal development can pay significant dividends in the future.

Dan McElroy, President of WV Coding Club, explained, "Our students following this guidance can improve their abilities and learn faster with mentors and constructive feedback. Thank you Shannon for these great developmental insights!"

Treehouse's mission is to diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams. Offering courses to individual learners, internal company teams, and third-party education providers, Treehouse helps to bridge the gap between formal educational institutions and on-the-job requirements.

Thank you Shannon!

To learn more about Treehouse, click the link: www.teamtreehouse.com

Keep Coding!

Blogging 101 - Guest Speaker: Shannon Bisceglia, Treehouse

Shannon Bisceglia, Client Success Manager for Treehouse, continued the series of imparting important information this week about Blogging and the opportunity it provides for career seeking and letting people know more about you. It ties in directly with the previous presentation of Social Capital in connecting with others in that it helps to share with people things you are interested in and gives them a better picture of who you are. Many individuals, organizations and businesses have blogs.

WHAT IS A BLOG? 

A Blog (or Weblog) is a website or a component of a website that is updated with content about a specific subject or subjects. Blogs are often run by an individual, group, or corporation, and are typically written in a conversational style with pictures or videos. Blogs are often interactive and include sections at the bottom of individual blog posts where readers can leave comments.

WHY IS A BLOG IMPORTANT?

A blog will allow you to:

1. Demonstrate initiative and responsibility

2. Build a Portfolio

3. Develop critical writing skills

4. Demonstrate skills and abilities with zero or minimal work experience

WHAT CAN YOU WRITE ABOUT?

Anything! (What are you interested in or passionate about?)

Keep it short and sweet

HOW TO START A BLOG:

1. wix.com

2. Wordpress.com

3. Squarespace.com

4. Or, make your own website!

STAYING CONSISTENT

1. Staying consistent is the most important aspect of this experiment. Choose a workflow that fits your life and try to stick to it.

2. Keep in mind, life has ups and downs. Sometimes these ups and downs can affect our productivity.

3. What is more important than a perfect record is just starting again after time away. Just do it.

It is important to keep a record of what you have been working on, as it can be a supplement to your work portfolio. Shannon shared that her Blog helped her in her job interview at Treehouse and showed that she understood the relationship of coding to other things in life.

This personal investment regularly can pay significant dividends in the future.

Dan McElroy, President of WV Coding Club, shared, "Thank you Shannon for presenting on how to Blog. Our students following this guidance can create a foundation for personal accomplishment and expression leading to potential future opportunities."

Treehouse's mission is to diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams. Offering courses to individual learners, internal company teams, and third-party education providers, Treehouse helps to bridge the gap between formal educational institutions and on-the-job requirements.

Thank you Shannon!

To learn more about Treehouse, click the link: www.teamtreehouse.com

Keep Coding!

Understanding Social Capital - Guest Speaker Shannon Bisceglia, Treehouse

The West Virginia Coding Club welcomed Shannon Bisceglia, Client Success Manager for Treehouse.

Treehouse's mission is to diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams. Offering courses to individual learners, internal company teams, and third-party education providers, Treehouse helps to bridge the gap between formal educational institutions and on-the-job requirements.

Shannon continued the series of imparting important information this week about understanding Social Capital and the value that comes from your positive connection with others. It ties in directly with the previous presentation of The 5 Most Important Networking Skills.

SOCIAL CAPITAL TOPICS:

a.    What is Social Capital and why it will bring you more resources than any other investment could.

b.    Write hand written thank you notes

c.     Be genuinely interested

d.    Do what you say you are going to do and do it well.

Shannon went on to discuss each of the topics below with examples and anecdotes.

1       WHAT IS SOCIAL CAPITAL?

a.      Social Capital is the value that comes from your connections with others

b.     Your close relationships are your most valuable asset. They will most likely open doors in your future.

c.      You need to invest in your relationships! How can you do that now?

2      WRITE THANK YOU NOTES!

Hand written thank you notes are a forgotten art. It shows that you put the time and thought into expressing gratitude for favors or gifts and goes much further than just saying “Thank You”.

3       BE GENUINELY INTERESTED!

Nothing will turn people away from you more than than fake interest. Find things about people in your life that builds real connection with each of them.

4       DO IT ON TIME AND DO IT WELL!

Accountability and responsibility show people in your life that you are someone they can rely on. When they are putting their reputation on the line to recommend you, they want to be assured that you are reliable.

Incorporating these practices in your daily life and interactions also enhances your networking; which can become a powerful resource for advancing your career and professional growth. This sincere investment today can pay significant dividends in the future.

Dan McElroy, President of WV Coding Club, shared, "Thank you Shannon for presenting on how to build social capital. Our students following these best practices strengthens their network and creates the foundation for potential future opportunities."

Thank you Shannon!

To learn more about Treehouse, click the link: www.teamtreehouse.com

Keep Coding!

The 5 Most Important Networking Skills

The West Virginia Coding Club again welcomed Shannon Bisceglia, Client Success Manager and Jenavieve Dance, Career Advisor and Community Manager for Treehouse.

Treehouse's mission is to diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams. Offering courses to individual learners, internal company teams, and third-party education providers, Treehouse helps to bridge the gap between formal educational institutions and on-the-job requirements.

Shannon and Jenavieve continued their series of imparting valuable information. This meeting focused on the five most important networking skills. (And why you need to master them!)

1        GET COMFORTABLE WITH COMMUNICATION

a.      Practice active listening

b.     Show genuine interest in others and their experiences 

c.      Exchange contact info (LinkedIn)

d.     Follow up promptly (24 to 48 hours)

e.      Express gratitude and reiterate points of interest from conversation

f.       Stay in touch with your network

g.      Share relevant articles, congratulate them on achievements

2        CREATE A STRONG PORTFOLIO

a.      Having a professional portfolio serves as a visual representation of your skills, experiences, and accomplishments

b.     Create a personal website that has your portfolio, projects and achievements

c.      Github.com

3        LEARN HOW TO PITCH YOURSELF

a.      Elevator pitch 30-60 seconds (who you are, what you can do and why you are valuable)

b.     Tailor your pitch

c.      Rehearse, more practice develops more confidence

4        PRACTICE VALUE SIGNALING

a.      Clearly understand your unique strengths and the value you have

b.     During networking conversations, use specific examples to demonstrate your skills

c.      Discuss how you can provide value for future opportunities 

d.     Show enthusiasm 

5        FORM LONG TERM CONNECTIONS

a.      Jot down key points about your connections

b.     Reach out periodically to check in, offer assistance or share valuable resources

Networking can become a powerful tool for advancing your career and professional growth. Practice and build your network for mutual benefit.

To learn more about Treehouse, click the link: www.teamtreehouse.com

Dan McElroy, President of WV Coding Club, shared, "Thank you Jenavieve for those insightful points on networking with others. Practicing and learning this will provide a foundation for potential future opportunities."

Thank you Jenavieve and Shannon!

Keep Coding!

Maximizing the Treehouse experience - Navigating your Technology Education Opportunity

The West Virginia Coding Club had the privilege of having Shannon Bisceglia, Client Success Manager and Jenavieve Dance, Career Advisor and Community Manager for Treehouse.

Treehouse's mission is to diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams. Offering courses to individual learners, internal company teams, and third-party education providers, Treehouse helps to bridge the gap between formal educational institutions and on-the-job requirements.

Shannon and Jenavieve took time to explain the Treehouse platform showing its full range of benefits, including learning tracks, library, community and code adventures. The Treehouse platform is not just for learning, but it enables participants to launch or relaunch their career journey, with tools to prepare for their future careers or take the next step up with their current career.

When utilizing the career tools, students can craft a strong portfolio, with an option for one on one sessions with Jenavieve. It is a one stop shop for people who want to learn to code!

Advice from Shannon and Jenavieve:

Expect roadblocks, no learning journey is struggle-free, there are tools to help you! Utilize your resources and work through it.

Network with others and utilize LinkedIn to build your network.

Three step fun checklist to keep engaging:

1. Go to the Treehouse Library and choose a new course or track

2. Join Discord Treehouse server and connect with the community

3. Set a new learning goal for yourself and stick to it

To learn more about Treehouse, click the link: www.teamtreehouse.com

Dan McElroy, President of WV Coding Club, shared, "We deeply appreciate the positive relationship that the WV Coding Club has with Treehouse. The tools they provide allow our students to not only achieve, but to excel. Thank you Shannon and Jenavieve!"

Keep Coding!

Treehouse CEO Shares Career Opportunities with Ripley High School students

The CEO of Treehouse, a US-based, International Technology Education company, made a special trip to West Virginia on January 8, 2024. Jason Gilmore, CEO of Treehouse, visited Ripley High School to share his insights on career opportunities in the Technology Industry. Below is a link to a Jackson Star & Herald newspaper article about this special event.

If you are or know a 6th to 12th grade West Virginia student who is interested in Coding, have them apply here, (CLICK THIS LINK).

CLICK HERE FOR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Left to Right: Jason Gilmore, Tree House CEO; Luke Swiney, Ripley HS Principal; Dan McElroy, WV Coding Club President

Guest Speaker - Jason Gilmore, CEO of Treehouse - The 100X Developer

The 100X Developer: AI and the Future of Software Development

We had the singular privilege to have Jason Gilmore, CEO of Treehouse, speak to the West Virginia Coding Club students at one of our regular meetings.

Jason has been the CEO of Treehouse for almost two years and says this opportunity is a "dream come true”. He started coding at age eight when he received a Commodore 64 computer for Christmas. Jason is the author of nine books, including the bestselling “Beginning PHP and MySQL” and “Easy Laravel 5". Jason's writings on web technologies have appeared hundreds of times within popular industry publications.  He is also the co-founder and former board member of the CodeMash Conference (www.codemash.org) He is also a Principal at Xenon Partners, where he leads the Mergers & Acquisitions Technical Arm. Prior to joining Treehouse, Jason spent four years as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of DreamFactory Software, and prior to that spent many years as a developer or lead developer with other companies.

Treehouse's name precedes itself, their Mission is to diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity and empowering people to achieve their dreams. It is an online technology school that offers beginner to advanced courses in web design, web development, mobile development and game development. Its courses are aimed to help its students develop coding skills for a career in the tech industry. The Treehouse learning program includes videos combined with interactive quizzes and code challenges. Jason shared that Treehouse has published 29 AI courses over the past few months with many more on the way!

Jason explained that many people are concerned about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but he believes programmers who embrace AI will have more fun and rewarding careers than ever before. A "10X Developer" is a very good and efficient Coder and pretty rare to find, but with the support of AI even an average coder can become a 100X Developer.

Jason discussed Generative AI, where ChatGPT seems to be the best known currently. They use LLMs (Large Language Models) to guess the next most likely word. They basically have created a map of the text-based world. How that data is weighted is why responses can differ each time.

A book titled "What is ChatGPT Doing and Why Does It Work?", authored by Stephen Wolfram, was recommended by Jason. Jason took time to show how AI could be used as a Research Assistant, Video Game Asset Creator and Coding Assistant. He showed how he used AI and in 12 hours (start to finish) he created a website (using HTML and CSS) called BlogIgnite.com

Jason explained how to use the Coding Assistant to help you create the "plumbing" underneath so that you become the architect for the "cool stuff" in building your program. You can have it help automate tests to help test your code. He also shared a site that has AI models for download.

With these kinds of tools it allows a Coder to consider how they make the best use of their time so they can focus on the aspects that make users / customers productive and happy.

Jason gave students thoughts of the future with AI:

1. Programming isn't going away, but it is going to change.

2. We're going to leave the boring stuff to computers, and using our creativity to build the next generation of technology products.

3. Truly realistic, talking AI is coming.

4. The best part about being programmers is that we have a unique opportunity to build the future we want to see!

Jason’s advice to students:

1. Have a positive attitude!

2. Be willing to learn and work hard!

3. Very Important - Don’t be afraid to network!!! Meet and connect with others!!! Talk Tech. LinkedIn!!! Jason shared that all of his contracts, positions came because of the good connections he made.

Dan McElroy, President of WV Coding Club, shared, "We are grateful to Jason for his insights into Artificial Intelligence and his leadership at Treehouse. This is truly a path for students to pursue a great career, have the potential to work remotely, and have opportunity everywhere. Thank you Jason for your time and support of our WV Coding Club students!"

Keep Coding!

Guest Speaker: Jenavieve Dance, Career Advisor & Community Manager at Treehouse

At a recent WV Coding Club meeting we had the pleasure of a great speaker, Jenavieve Dance, Career Advisor & Community Manager at Treehouse.

Jenavieve has an interesting background that led her to work for Praxis (discoverpraxis.com) and then to Treehouse. Her background is primarily business focused with skills in career advising, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success and Operations. Building her network of fellow professionals helped her connect to the opportunity at Treehouse.

Treehouse’s Mission (https://teamtreehouse.com/): To diversify the tech industry through accessible education, unlocking the door to opportunity, and empowering people to achieve their dreams.

Treehouse was founded in 2011 with the purpose of making tech more accessible through affordable and engaging online tech education. Over the course of the following decade, we’ve taught over 1.2 million people how to code and design. Today, Treehouse is the educational platform of choice for thousands of students, schools, libraries, non-profits, and corporations around the globe.

Jenavieve presented to the students how to present themselves through resume, personal website, LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) GitHub (GitHub.com). 

She shared resume templates that were designed in Canva (www.canva.com) and help to incorporate Coding Projects.

Key Elements of a Modern Resume

1. Contact information

2. Professional summary or objective statement

3. Work experience

4. Hard & soft skills

5. Education

6. Projects 

7. Certifications 

8. Visual appeal 

Customize Your Experience

1. Align your skills and experiences with the job requirements

2. Use keywords from the job description to make your resume more relevant to the role

Build a professional website: 

1. Create a personal website to showcase your portfolio, projects, and achievements. 

2. Ensure it is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly.

Jenavieve also provided the following advice:

1. Some businesses use applicant tracking systems so Keywords are Key!

2. Build a Personal Website to highlight yourself and your projects / experience. Also set up a GitHub account for your coding projects.

3. Become an expert communicator! People will want to work with you if they like and trust you.

4. Be engaging, ask a question, interact

5. Build a LinkedIn profile

6. Develop leadership / teamwork skills

“Jenavieve provided significantly valuable information to our WV Coding Club students. Her insights will help them to better present their experiences and projects to stand out and increase their opportunities in the world., explained Dan McElroy, President of the WV Coding Club. He also shared,”Thank you Jenavieve for your time and expertise!”

We appreciate Jenavieve and her valuable advice to our WV Coding Club students. Thank you, Jenavieve!

Keep Coding!

Guest Speaker: Ankur Kumar, Outbound Product Manager at Twilio

We recently had another amazing guest speaker, Ankur Kumar, Outbound Product Manager at Twilio (www.twilio.com). Ankur grew up in Charleston, West Virginia. He has an interesting coding story which has brought him back to the Charleston area to live and work remotely.

When Ankur was about eight years old he started playing an online game called Runescape. He had a passion for it and invested significant time in it. He also spent a lot of time with another game called MafiaCrime.org (test based online game) at age 11, but was supposed to be 13 to be able to play. He became very passionate about the game, spending hours each day and even became a moderator for the game. At some point his age was discovered and his account was deactivated/removed. 

He loved playing these types of games so much, he decided to learn how to code. If he couldn't play their game, he would make his own game. Ankur didn’t know how to code at that time but by modifying his MySpace account he learned some HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).

Ankur found a company called MC Codes that sold prepackaged coding for games like Mafia Crime to have a starting foundation. He then found a place to host his game for free, 000Webhost.com. With that, he was able to launch his new game for FREE, but at that point he just knew how to login and open files. The prepackaged coding was written in HMTL, CSS (Front End) with PHP (Backend). The PHP was Spaghetti Code and difficult to interpret. . .

Ankur learned about coding initially by sheer effort, reading it over and over and looking at similar parts of code and modifying, then seeing what happened. He was able to offer features, upgrades and modifications in the game for small online payments. Secretly he was coding, but Ankur thought it was bad.

He was investing lots of time and finding it difficult to balance it with other things he wanted to do. It came down to a point of participating in a Swim Meet or an In-Game event. Ankur realized he was letting the online gaming take up too much of his time and attention, so he took a break from it for a year or so playing football and competing in swim meets.

Ankur then went to George Washington High School, where he signed up for a Computer Science class. He was well experienced and once the teacher understood his ability, Ankur was asked to help manage the High School website. He took on that challenge by writing a program that was a portal that his fellow students could use to update the website. At the time, the website was hosted on a computer/server at the high school.  Ankur used HTML, CSS, PHP and Javascript with this project.

Ankur loved coding, the ability to solve problems and build things that people would use.

Ankur attended West Virginia University and majored in Computer Science. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the way he wanted to learn coding. Freshman year, Ankur wrote off coding as a career and switched his major to Industrial Engineering. 

Soon after, Jen Susman with 84 Agency (84agency.com) reached out to see if he would help fill a need for building websites because of his work on his high school’s website. One of his first projects was for the WV Coalition for Domestic Violence. He learn coding from taking a huge project and working through the various parts. He continued to work on website projects throughout college to earn money and continue his passion for coding.

Fast forward to his Senior year of college. There was a State Bill that needed more attention for citizens to become aware of and weigh in on. He was asked if he could make a website informing people about the bill. Ankur thought about how to take this information to reach people. He explored how to leverage Twitter to increase awareness about the bill, then learned about APIs (Application Programming Interface), and how software talks to each other. In 2018, he connected to Twitter’s API, allowing people to Tweet through the app he built. At the end of this campaign, they had over 2,000 people tweet about the Bill.

Ankur realized that he belongs here (coding). During his first two years out of college he freelanced through Reddit. One of his projects was a Text to Donate app, updating as people donated. He utilized tools through Twilio allowing people to use the app to interact with text messaging.

Another project Ankur worked on was with the WV Child Advocacy Network, that wanted to have one effort that could benefit all 23 different organizations statewide. He created a portal with Stripe (API) which allowed for a central portal donation option, that could be send to the specific organization chosen.

COVID happened and Ankur’s freelance opportunities tanked. The first few months of COVID were very difficult. Freelancing work by its nature can be feast or famine, but this was definitely a time of famine. Ankur asked Twillo staff -”do you hire people like me?” Within a few weeks he got a job there. Ankur doesn't code as much now, but he has learned a tremendous amount about SMS (Short Message Service). APIs are now available for AI (Artificial Intelligence) and he is really excited about them. 

Ankur shows from his experience that you can be a coder without being a Computer Science major.

Ankur's advice:

1. Pick a project and do it. Choose something you don’t know how to do and pick it apart. It may seem very complicated and could take weeks, but think about it and eventually it will click.

2. If you’re thinking about hard things, expect it to be hard.

3. Be patient.

4. For High School - you can afford to be super bold, like message people on LinkedIn with a big company. Most High Schoolers are doing other stuff.

5. Coding is such a wild discipline, building all the time, so there is always something new coming out.

6. Pick something and learn it really well and build with it.

7. Don’t get lost in the sauce, you don’t have to learn every new thing that comes out.

Ankur now happily works remotely in Charleston, West Virginia, after spending a couple years in California.

Dan McElroy, President of the West Virginia Coding Club said, "Ankur is another great example of a West Virginian choosing coding as a career, working remotely and choosing to live in West Virginia. We appreciate him sharing his unique story and giving our WV Coding Club students great advice.

Keep Coding!

Guest Speaker: Matthew Worden, PMP, PSM, System Architect at Danfoss

Our recent guest speaker to the WV Coding Club was Matthew Worden, PMP, PSM, System Architect at Danfoss.

Originally from Charleston, WV, Matthew left the state at 18 to travel and volunteer for Americorp. During that time, he worked with Habitat for Humanity, Easterseals, Underprivileged Schools and National Park Services. Matthew went to school in Florida and earned his associates degree in computational programming and analysis from Pensacola State College. Next, He got his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering at Florida A&M University. Following that he got his masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from FSU with a focus on smart materials and computational analytics. He is also a certified Project Management Professional and a Profession Scrum Master.

During his time in college, he moonlighted as a junior consultant and software developer. He worked on projects for the university that created high energy physics models. He also worked on projects for the state that developed statewide emergency system networks.

Currently Matthew is working as a System Architect and Technical Team Lead at Danfoss, LLC. He is leading the Turbocor Digital Platform project bringing manufacturing and data warehouse HVAC systems online across the globe. He does this work remotely and currently lives in Morgantown, WV as part of the WV Ascend program, a program that brings remote workers into the state. He and his family spend their time turning their property into a farm and currently have chickens and bees.

A little more info about Danfoss:

Driven by the potential of an electrified society, and powered by the opportunities of going digital, Danfoss is engineering technology that helps the world to get much more out of less. With the promise of quality, reliability and innovation deeply rooted in our DNA, Danfoss delivers an extensive range of products and solutions across our business segments of Danfoss Climate Solutions, Danfoss Drives and Danfoss Power Solutions. Danfoss has over 42,000 employees worldwide and sales in over 100 countries. It also has 97 factories in 20 countries. Danfoss is one of the world’s leading suppliers of innovative and energy-efficient solutions that increase machine productivity, reduce emissions, lower energy consumption, and enable electrification. 

Topics Matthew discussed include IOT (Internet of Things) and in general how it is leading to predictive maintenance for manufacturing plants, hospitals, data warehouses and other critical installations. He spoke on managing big data and how it is different from traditional database approaches. He described what it’s like to manage teams of programmers and also how to approach AI in your projects.

Matthew gave our club the following advice:

1. When you approach a problem, the first step is to jump in. Investigate, learn as much of you can. Determine the context and scour the internet for others who solved the problem. Then, if you can’t solve it, put it down. Walk away for a while. Let you brain focus on other things. Give yourself time to absorb the new information and the space to get perspecive. Often you will be able to solve it after a few hours of this.

2. You’re going to face problems and fail, just don’t quit. Have some confidence and persevere. You don’t have to solve it today. As long as you keep coming back to the problem, you will chip away at it until you succeed.

3. Everybody needs programmers! There is not a company or type of business that doesn’t need software.

When asked about how to get into AI, Matt responded, if interested in AI (Artificial Intelligence) development here are some things to explore and learn. Math behind deep learning algorithms Stanford online courses. Google TensorFlow, Python, Pandas, NumPy, R, are the big ones.

When asked about Quantum Computing and AI working together. – Matt described using the computing power to calculate 60,000 answers at once, then using AI to pick out the pattern from a probability of answers.

President of the West Virginia Coding Club, Dan McElroy emphasized, "Matthew is a perfect example of a West Virginian, who developed his coding skills and chose to live in West Virginia, but works remotely for an International Company. We deeply appreciate his insights into his journey to help our WV Coding Club students learn about another path to success using coding as a fundamental skill. Thank you Matthew!"

Thank you Matthew for your time, insights and for being another great West Virginia success story!!

Keep Coding!