Windie Victoria Speed

When I was in the 8th grade, our final project in my Career Discovery class was to present on what we wanted to be when we grew up. My presentation was on being a computer program designer. Over twenty years later, I am finally following my dream. Life may have slowed me down, but I refuse to let it stop me from pursuing my dreams!

I have been searching for ways to pursue a career in the IT world my entire adult life. During the pandemic, I found a boot camp locally. It was called the Mississippi Coding Academies. I tried to make my schedule work to be able to enroll, but it didn’t work out at that time. Fast forward to July of 2023. I was working in the sales dept at the local tv station as a project manager for all digital products and ad sales. I was in a bad place both personally and professionally at this point. Ultimately, I decided to put the brakes on moving forward in any position that didn’t align with my long-term career goals. Once I did this, I thought a lot about what I really wanted to do moving forward. Every time I have ever questioned my career choices, I always go back to the tech world. This is when I applied for the Mississippi Coding Academies. To my surprise, I was accepted! I was finally in a position to take control over my career and, ultimately, my life.

Since then, I have learned the basics of multiple coding languages at an extremely fast pace, as I tend to learn everything fast. Once I understand something, it is with me forever. This allows me to move through basic courses at lightening fast speeds.

Some languages I have began learning are C#, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and SQL. Many programs have been incorporated into my new learning endeavor as well. Programs like VS Code, Visual Studio, Figma, Elementor, and SQL Server have made these languages easy for me to pick up and understand. Adobe Dreamweaver is one of my favorite programs to use for HTML. Graphic design is also something I have done for around 12 years now. I am advanced with programs like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Lightroom. These skills have been excellent for the coding world, as it is easy to incorporate all I have learned about design into my coding projects.