Women Who Code - Empowering women to excel in tech careers

Stephanie Thompson has been a member of Women Who Code Dallas/Ft. Worth for almost a year. Once she joined, she hit the ground running! As a full stack PHP developer, she has been extremely helpful to anyone in our Slack community who has questions about PHP, or generic questions about the industry. Most recently, she gave a talk about how to automate sending emails with PHP, which was incredibly well-received. Stephanie’s always-upbeat attitude keeps a smile on our faces at meetups and online, and we count ourselves lucky to have her in our community!

How did you get into your field?

I spent several years trying to find my place as far as my career is concerned. I spent several years thinking I wanted to be in business management and originally pursued that in community college. I worked as a legal secretary for several years, became a screen printer, worked in a sign shop, and then took on a marketing position for a software company.

I believe it was when I was still working in the sign shop that I decided I wanted to learn to code full time. I had started learning PHP about 3 years before that (around 2009) because I needed a website for my small business and WordPress, at the time, was the simplest way to do that. I am a bit of a control freak though, so the templates weren’t cutting it for me. I had to go in and change things often. I then switched my major to Information Technology and took a few coding classes with that.

Long story short, I made websites for friends who then referred me to their friends and changed my major again to Computer Science. I will be graduating in June of 2020 after 17 years of night school, weekend school, online school, and at least 4 changes to my major.

What made you want to join Women Who Code?

A very good friend of mine actually discovered WWCode before I did and asked if I wanted to join her at a meetup. My immediate answer was yes. I was so excited to find a group of women that were interested in coding and to my delight, they all were also so kind and helpful.

Thank you so much to the DFW Women Who Code! You guys have helped me find my worth and a great community to grow through!

What is something you’ve accomplished recently that made you proud?

In June of this year I passed the Microsoft Exam 70–480 which is half of an MCSA Certification. Unfortunately, Microsoft recently removed the ability to be a certified professional with just this exam so I’ll have to take another to finish that, but I had a limited amount of time to even study for it so it was a huge relief when I passed on the first attempt.

What do you do when you’re not coding/working?

I’ve left behind my days of playing music at least until I graduate, but I still try to find time to dabble. I played violin in a band for a few years and have recently been trying to find time to learn the drums. I also enjoy gardening, I have been growing a small vegetable garden for the past few years and it’s always satisfying to see it produce things. It’s also very relaxing to spend time out there in the little bit of nature there is in the city.

When I’m not doing that I’m hanging out with my wonderful husband or floating in the pool with my friends on what we call “Margarita Monday”. I’m also one of those Halloween obsessed people so this is my favorite time of year.

What motivates you? What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Keeping my cats fed. But seriously, taking care of my little family is my top priority. We have 4 cats, a giant dog, and a 31 year old box turtle. My husband is a veteran and currently in college as well trying to find his place career wise the same way I did. He’s already done so much in his life that I want to make that as easy on him as possible.

What’s next for you? What are your goals?

As soon as I graduate I want to take a break and travel. Immediately. Disappear for a couple of weeks and not think about anything! Preferably to the UK, there are so many places there I want to visit.

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WWCode DFW is so excited to have Stephanie among our members. We have already learned countless things from her, and there is no end in sight! We look forward to future talks she gives, knowledge she shares, and jokes she tells. Congrats on your successes so far, Stephanie, and we’ll be by your side in June 2020 to celebrate your graduation!!