Guest Speaker - James Koval - Aurora Solar & West Virginia Remote Worker

The WV Coding Club had the privilege of interacting with a West Virginian and West Virginia Remote Worker, James Koval. The journey he has taken with his coding experience and skills has taken him out of West Virginia to some well known companies and then back to West Virginia where he works remotely for a company based in California. 

James was interested in coding at an early age and describes himself as a mostly self-taught programmer. With friends, they gave themselves challenges / projects to code. That helped to make them learn about different coding constructs and how to make things work.

James went to college in St. Louis, MO and earned a BS in Computer Science. While in college he had an intership with the State of WV Office of Technology focused on CyberSecurity using Google Maps API as part of the projects.

From there he worked with the Human Genome Project. After some experience there he went on to Twitter and explained it was a long process of 10 interviews to be hired. At Twitter, in San Francisco, CA, he worked on the International Team working on Twitter's translate function and working with users around the world on Twitter's UI (User Interface). For James, the perks of working for Twitter were great, but San Francisco was a very crowded place. At one point, Twitter had a major layoff and James saw good coworkers losing their jobs and he decided it was time to move on.

James found an opportunity with Amazon with their Amazon Photos project - a lot like Google and Facebook photos - at the time this was a new product being developed and he was a part of it when it was first released. After some time in Seattle, WA, James wanted to be closer to family in West Virginia and came back to Charleston, where he worked with Housing and Urban Development, as a Government Contractor.

After some time, he started looking for Remote Work using various websites for Remote Workers. James found a company that was Green Energy - a Solar Startup - Aurora Solar. He works with Front End (JavaScript) and Back End (Ruby on Rails). A company that utilizes Aurora Solar’s work and data is Solar Holler in WV. Part of Aurora Solar's work is to utilize Lidar Data - to get detailed images of people’s roofs to model in 3-D. Companies can pay for Roof Image and Roof Modeling to determine the viability of and how to install solar.

Internships may be a possibility. Aurora Solar's employees has at least doubled since James joined, now at about 200 staff. He was able to get another WV friend to be hired there and work remotely.

Advice from James - don’t worry as much about which program language you learn. It is easy to translate skills to another programming language. Collaborate with a friend or someone for a side project to develop programming and debugging skills.

Languages James has programmed in (not a complete list): Visual Basic, Java, Linux, Bash, Perl, Ruby on Rails (at Twitter), Java Script (at Twitter), Angular, React, WordPress PHP, AWS (at Amazon), Active Directory, TypeScript, Python, Scala, DotNET, ObjC

Dan McElroy, President of the WV Coding Club, said, "James is a West Virginian who has shown that remote work from West Virginia is not only possible, but a realistic way to have a good job and stay in West Virginia. We thank James for being a great example to our Coding Club students."

To learn more about the West Virginia Coding Club go to www.WVCoding.org

Guest Speaker - Richard Wilbur, President & CEO of Advantage Technology

The West Virginia Coding Club was privileged to have Richard Wilbur, Founder, President & CEO of Advantage Technology, speak at one of our recent meetings.

Richard attended West Virginia University in 1993-1997; however, didn’t study in computers. This was a time when the main operating system was in DOS, not Windows. After a while working in a different profession, Richard decided to research other job opportunities that were growing and had better salaries and found IT (Information Technology). Richard worked to get a certification in MCSE - Microsoft Engineer (Certification working on Servers)

Richard then joined a small local IT company and ended up dealing with the Love Bug virus. This was not a normal 9-5 job, and when a customer’s computer storage equipment went down, he had to drive the equipment up on Sept 10, 2001, to the Data Recovery Center, in the Washington, D.C. area. . . then Sept 11 happened, and he got stuck there to wait and pick up storage system. 

That time was difficult for the small business and his employer decided to not continue the business. So, Richard decided to start his own business with the small group of customers he inherited. He started out of a spare bedroom, and over time his business grew and grew and grew to the point now with 80 - 85 employees. When naming the company, phone books were still a thing and he wanted to list his business first, alphabetically. He named the company Advantage Technology (and this area of West Virginia is called Advantage Valley, so it made the connection to this area).

They now have offices in Charleston, Bridgeport and Williamsport, MD. Advantage Technology is the largest Information Technology service company in WV with customers throughout the United States. Richard has high level specialists; developers/coders, servers, networking, computers, cabling, and salespeople for software / hardware. They are able to do special projects, even for companies that have full IT departments. They provide service through the State of West Virginia to 750+ schools, to support wifi, switches, routers, cabling and related technology.

Richard shared that time to work these types of jobs are the (normal 8-5), but also evening and weekends, because businesses need support 24/7. It can be stressful and frustrating, but also very rewarding to help solve problems and support their customers. Richard, himself, still works on server projects and is involved in the service of their customers.

Richard’s advice to the students: To excel and do well, find a speciality! You can find better salary and benefits and you can focus on one area.

Certifications are also important to businesses looking to hire staff. It shows the employer that you have some base knowledge in an area and helps businesses as it has more certified employees. Examples of some key certifications today are CISCO, Azure (MS Web Hosting), .NET.

Dan McElroy, President of the West Virginia Coding Club stated, ”I appreciate the reality of Richard's talk and telling it like it really is in this environment. This is the kind of information that will help our students as they work towards careers in the Technology industry."

Richard shared that Advantage Technology has both women and men involved in the organization. He highlighted Amber Bostic, who runs their software development department.  “She has a great story to tell and is a leader with her knowledge of backend database programming.”

Richard emphasized that Advantage Technology also has internships available each year, starting at age 16. He also discussed areas that he felt were in high demand in the coming years, including cyber security.

We thank Richard for his time and insights into the Technology industry and appreciate him sharing that knowledge with our West Virginia Coding Club students!

For more information about the West Virginia Coding Club, go towww.wvcoding.org

Guest Speaker - Christopher Fowler - SpaceX

Chris Fowler, SpaceX (www.SpaceX.com) Lead Engineer for Dragon exterior structures, spoke to our West Virginia Coding Club participants at our April 3 meeting. Chris shared about his path to and experience with SpaceX. As Lead Engineer, he is basically responsible for everything that you find on the exterior of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. It is unique in that is has been designed to be reusable, thus lowering the cost barrier to space travel.

Chris arrived at this current career from his interests when he was young. He had an interest in engineering at an early age, sharing he loved legos. Chris was on his high school Solar Car team, which built a Solar Car that drove from Dallas, Texas to California. Gaining this experience and learning from trial and error helped start his engineering career. He took many science and engineering related classes in high school. In college, Chris focused on Formula SAE, working with a small race car to compete with other colleges.

When in college Chris attended a talk from Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX and had the opportunity to speak to her. SpaceX is his first job out of college and has allowed him opportunities to advance and excel being directly involved with the SpaceX Dragon.

The SpaceX Dragon, which can carry supplies or humans, launches on top of a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. One of the key external structures of the Dragon is the docking port that connects with the International Space Station. Another vital aspect is the thermal shield. When returning to Earth the external Dragon capsule can be exposed to temperatures over 4,000 degrees fahrenheit, so the thermal shield is vital to being able to have the Dragon return to Earth through its atmosphere.

Answering questions, Chris talked about the work culture at SpaceX. Chris explained at SpaceX it is a very positive and super collaborative culture. They take their work seriously, but still have a fun and creative atmosphere. Chris also talked about Starlink and the ability for it to provide access to internet all over the world in the near future.

Dan McElroy, President of the West Virginia Coding Club, explained, “The engineering, technology and coding required for space travel is on the cutting edge of innovation. We appreciate Chris taking time to speak with our students about what they can do to prepare for their future careers and these types of opportunities.”

Thank you Chris Fowler and all you are doing at SpaceX to further Space exploration!!

For more information about the West Virignia Coding Club and its activities, go to www.wvcoding.org.

Guest Speaker - Jesse White - NASA

The West Virginia Coding Club recently had a great speaker at its March 6 meeting, Mr. Jesse White with the NASA  Katherine Johnson IV & V Facility, in Fairmont, West Virginia. "IV & V" stands for Independent Verification & Validation.

Jesse spoke about some of the opportunities for high school and college students to connect with NASA through Internships. These internships are to help improve software safety for mission critical software for NASA Missions and help protect NASA missions from threats. They use a variety of coding languages and methodologies and tools to test software. 

NASA hires many young people each summer. The 17 centers around the country have different skills they are looking for. Who should apply for NASA internships?  Students who have a love/interest in coding. No specific code experience needed, but the ability to problem solve and think through processes will be a valuable skill. Computer Science and Engineering disciplines are needed to support NASA's unique and important work. At the Katherine Johnson Facility, they look for students for internships who know how to code and also have some knowledge in cyber. This opportunity is also a gift to gain this valuable experience and learn more about NASA as an organization that could be a career in the future.

NASA will hire 4,000 to 5,000 students each year to help support their efforts. Virtual connections are allowing students to potentially connect with any of the 17 facilities. A student can apply for up to 15 jobs, especially with the virtual opportunities nationwide. Jobs are normally posted in December.

Each year they select about 5-15 High School students, 20-30 College students at the Katherine Johnson Facility in Fairmont, WV. There are also year-round opportunities for college students. They are able to work in teams with other students. Eventually, there is a NASA pathways program that helps to connect students with potential careers at NASA.

Interested?

Eligibility requirements include:

• U.S. citizenship

• Student enrolled full-time in high school, undergraduate or graduate programs at an accredited college or university. (Applicants transitioning between high school and college or undergraduate and graduate pursuits are eligible if they have graduated within 6 months and can demonstrate enrollment in the next-level academic pursuit.)

• Cumulative 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.

• Minimum of 16 years of age and at least a sophomore when the internship begins.

Some additional items that will be needed:

Letter of Recommendation

School Transcript

List your extracurriculars, and detail of things like your role in team competitions (Coding, Robotics, etc.)

Jesse stressed that any student can accomplish what is needed and to not discount their ability and skills. He told the students they are good enough and they need to believe in themselves!

Dan McElroy, President of the West Virginia Coding Club, shared, "At NASA, these are the kind of opportunities and careers that West Virginia students can earn when they develop their coding and problem solving skills." 

For more information on NASA internships go to:

www.intern.nasa.gov 

Additional questions about the program, please reach out to: 

Jesse.E.White@nasa.gov

Guest Speaker - Todd Cope - CEO of CentralApp

At the February 20 meeting of the WV Coding Club, we had a wonderful guest speaker! He is the CEO of CentralApp (www.centralapp.us) and his name is Todd Cope, a West Virginian and Winfrield High School graduate.

Todd introduced the students to CentralApp. CentralApp (www.centralapp.us) is a West Virginia-based firm (founded by West Virginians) connecting companies with certified, affordable tech workers in Appalachia. Central App’s Talent Exchange mobilizes tech talent and cultivates opportunities in high-tech fields within rural communities. CentralApp was born out of the belief that talent, ingenuity and work ethic are equally distributed - and economic opportunity should be, too.

Todd was asked if he was back in high school / middle school now, what insights he would have. Todd shared that there is no limit to what students can do! He went from a West Virginia school to within 10 years leading a technology group in Malaysia. He emphasized to the students that they should not self-limit themselves. Todd told them, "Figure out how to dent the Universe!"

An amazingly positive statistic is that 50% of the CentralApp talent pool are women (versus the Industry standard which in closer to 10%), with many opportunities that have flexibility of work schedules, to accommodate family life.

Todd recently visited Tulsa Remote - a program that provides Tech Workers $10,000 to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with free co-working space for a year. Approximately 350-500 people are selected each year, with about 93% of them staying. Thousands apply each year. Events are held to build up this community. The initiative is supported by a private Institution, similar to the Benedum Foundation. Seems to be a program worth initiating in West Virginia. In the meantime, Todd’s work through CentralApp helps to provide high-tech work opportunities to people in Appalachia.

Certifications were discussed and Todd shared that Salesforce has a free online training with path progress tracking. Todd emphasized that gaining certifications and experience are valuable in the Tech world. A college education is good, but many students are getting very good jobs just out of high school with the right certifications and experience.

When asked about areas that the students could focus on to prepare themselves, Todd emphasized Mobile App development is in high demand. He also shared that Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning would be valuable to gain at least a conceptual understanding.

Dan McElroy, one of the Founders of the West Virginia Coding Club, expressed that having speakers like Todd provide West Virginia students with key insights and create awareness of opportunities they would not get anywhere else. The West Virginia Coding Club thanks Todd Cope, CEO of CentralApp for taking time and sharing his experience! We look forward to some of our students joining CentralApp’s Talent Exchange in the future to help them find well-paying remote high-tech work opportunities that allow them to remain in West Virginia!

Congratulations to Our Congressional App Challenge Winners!!!

See text below from Representative Alex Mooney’s 12/21/2020 Newsletter (NOTE: This is the second year in a row that our team has won this Congressional App Challenge):

Join me in congratulating the winners of the 2020 Congressional App Challenge in West Virginia’s Second Congressional District!

• Mariam Kisto — George Washington High School

• Zackery Mowrer — George Washington High School

• Caleb Newell — Homeschooled

• Chase Steorts — Hurricane High School
  
  

Thank you for representing West Virginia so brilliantly in the creation of your innovative app, called Fantasky. This app helps users maintain a weekly schedule, organize tasks and track progress.

Watch the West Virginia Coding Club Team App Presentation HERE.

WVCC Congratulates Trey and William

Students Trey and William have earned acceptance into our Advanced Tech Degree program.

Beginning next month, both boys will embark on a rigorist technology training program that upon completion will result in job readiness skills and industry wide recognition as certified computer programmers. Not bad for a couple of ninth graders!

Good luck guys! We are so proud of YOU!!

Guest Speaker - Thank you Charlie Dennie - WV Broadband

The West Virginia Coding Club was privileged to have Charlie Dennie, the Director of West Virginia Broadband, West Virginia Development Office, Department of Commerce, speak to the Club at our meeting on December 12, 2020. Mr. Dennie discussed a number of topics including a brief history of how the Internet came to be and his career path with Technology to his current position as the Director of WV Broadband. He also spoke to the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation to the development of West Virginia as a home for internet-based businesses that utilize the internet. Many thanks to Mr. Dennie for taking his time and sharing insights with our West Virginia students. He encouraged our students to develop their coding and technology skills to prepare for the future.

WVCC WINS AGAIN!!!

Congressman Alex Mooney’s office has informed our club that for the second consecutive year, we have won the Congressional App Challenge contest for our State!!

Big congratulations to our coding team of Zack, Mariam, Caleb and Chase. You guys and girl are AWESOME!

We look forward to winning again next year!

West Virginia Coding Club Expands Into Six Additional Counties!

With the pandemic still raging across our State, more and more students have discovered the value of our club. In the last three months the club has grown from students in five counties to that of eleven counties!

A big welcome to our new members!! Our club looks forward to continued growth. Only a lack of funds will prevent this from happening. Please help us by donating directly to our PayPal account or by sending a check to:

WVCC

PO Box 421

Charleston, WV 25322