You Don’t Need To Know Everything To Learn Everything You Need To Know

Amber Grimaldi has always been ahead of the curve. In school she was a top student, with one of her biggest strengths being able to identify and quickly solve challenges — no matter the scale. She realized pursuing a career in programming would be a challenge and that was especially intriguing for her as she realized it would mean a different way of thinking about both identifying and solving challenges. Perhaps the biggest learning lesson for her was realizing there isn’t always a “right” answer and there might not be a “right” way to solve a problem. In fact, she quickly realized there might actually be more than one way to solve a challenge and which could mean ever evolving solutions.

It wasn’t until she was an adult and already accomplished in the professional world that Amber found the confidence to begin pursuing an education in the technology field. Rather than taking a traditional path of classes and courses she set out to learn the discipline on her own, becoming both a student and teacher, while wrestling with the inherent ambiguity on the path to solve a programming challenge. At times she admits that she found the process draining, but she was driven to succeed by her growing love of the craft, complemented by the force of her innate talent.

During this process she reached out to several learning resources including the WWCode San Francisco Network. Within this Network she was able to harness the skills which allowed her to solve coding challenges with other talented developers of varying skill sets. In return, this collaboration helped her to elevate her own understanding of different programming languages while being able to Network with other talented women.

One of the first projects that she worked on as she was learning to code was a simple website that was designed as an online repository for informational articles. What aided her the most on the first project was the community support she received from groups like WWCode and as her skills continued to develop she was able to continue to add layers of sophistication to her project. Today, she’s excited to be unveiling version 2.0 with a host of functions that will vastly improve the usability and performance of the resource.

She’s also found professional success in the tech industry with the Global Support Services Enterprise Apps team at VMware, and as the lead web and application developer for Steamboat Labs. In addition she works as a freelance iOS and Android developer both independently and on a contract basis for various clients and projects. In her spare time, Amber loves to give back to the community. Currently, she serves as a mentor at various tech events and supports other educational outlets like WWCode within her community.