Introducing, Julie Luu, Junior Software Engineer at DAZN
What is your role and current job?
I’m a Junior Software Engineer working at DAZN, a sports subscription video streaming company.
How did you get into tech?
I’ve always been working in Tech, in the role of 2nd line Support Engineer and my last role as a Technical Team Lead for over 12 years before making a decision to change careers and become a Software Engineer. When the pandemic happened it gave me the opportunity to think about what I wanted to do with my career, I started self studying coding, attended a few intro and part time coding courses. Then last Summer I spent 12 weeks completing the Code First Girls Nanodegree, where my position was sponsored by DAZN and well the rest is history!
What have the biggest challenges been as a woman or non-binary person in tech?
After working in a role and area which I am very confident in, one of the personal challenges was really believing in myself that I can make the switch and also that there are companies out there that will take on people that have not done the traditional university route to obtain a job as a Software Engineer.
Also, it’s no secret just how male dominated the tech industry is, even when I was working in IT support it was still a very much male dominated career path, but there are a lot of woman/non-binary coding communities out that there to help and support women and a non-binary person to start a career in tech, which is amazing!
Have you overcome any of these issues? If so, how?
Being able to achieve my goal of transitioning from a Team Lead to working as a Junior Software Engineer, cemented the fact that if you put your heart into it you can achieve anything. I also try to be as vocal as I can on social media (mainly on Twitter) and offer as much help and support I can to those who are wanting to do the same but haven’t quite yet taken that first step.
What advice would you give others in a similar position?
If you’re thinking about changing careers or even just want to learn coding as a hobby or for fun — just do it! You definitely can do it and there is nothing stopping you. The tech community especially on Twitter is majorly supportive of people from all backgrounds. I always live by this: “you only miss the shots you didn’t take!”
Are there any resources you recommend sharing?
Plenty, however it really all depends on your learning style! When I first started learning how to code, I used FreeCodeCamp and Codecademy. CodeFirstGirls offer a number of intro courses if you prefer being taught by someone.
I also love learning from YouTube videos as well, some of my fave tech YouTube accounts I follow are:
FreeCodeCamp — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ
Programming with Mosh — https://youtube.com/c/programmingwithmosh
Web Dev Simplified — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFbNIlppjAuEX4znoulh0Cw
Tech with Tim — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4JX40jDee_tINbkjycV4Sg
Online Learning Resources:
Just JavaScript — Exploring the JavaScript Universe written by Dan Abramov — https://justjavascript.com/
FreeCodeCamp — https://www.freecodecamp.org/
Codecademy — https://www.codecademy.com/catalog/
The Odin Project (web development) — https://www.theodinproject.com/
Mimo App — Web Development career path, Python and SQL — https://getmimo.com/
When did you first hear about Triangirls?
I came across Triangirls on LinkedIn when I saw their post on one of their events, and thought why not join this community as well!
What have you learnt about yourself in the past year?
I learnt that no matter what obstacles are thrown at me I can overcome them and to be patient with myself when it comes to learning — every day is a school day!
