We Belong Here: Lessons from Unconventional Paths to Tech
A podcast that aims to interview career changers & folks that are diversifying the tech industry. Sharing stories about the different routes people have taken to enter the industry and chatting about the skills they learned in their prior jobs, schooling, or life experiences & how they apply them to their current roles in tech. https://WeBelongPodcast.com/
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 36 minutes
- Episodes
- 68
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2023
27. Bryan Robinson: From Philosophy to Designer, Developer & Teacher
Today, Bryan shares with Lauren his journey from studying philosophy and working in journalism to becoming a designer, developer, educator, and community advocate.
In college, he fell in love with ph…
26. Sia Karamalegos: From Semiconductor Process Engineer to Tech Founder and CEO
On today’s episode of #WeBelongHere Lauren interviews Sia Karamalegos. Sia went from studying chemical engineering to being a semiconductor process engineer. She then went on to get her MBA at Harvar…
25. Angela and Dana Chou: How Learning to Code Made Me a Better Product Manager
On this episode of #WeBelongHere, Lauren interviews sisters Dana and Angela Chou. They host a podcast called, Work in Progress.
They believe that our careers should grow and change as we do: whether…
24. Alexandra Leisse: From Singing Opera to All Things Product
Alexandra Leisse and Lauren today discuss her journey from pursuing music professionally to becoming VP of Product at VIBBIO. Alexandra has her master’s degree in opera and stage performance from the…
23. Paula Muldoon: A Professional Violinist's Journey to Learn to Code
Paula Muldoon is a multi-talented violinist, software engineer, and composer based in Cambridge, UK. Currently, she is the concertmaster of the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra.
Paula recently starte…
22. PJ Hagerty and His Journey to DevRel
PJ Hagerty is the founder of Devrelate.io and a board member of Open Sourcing Mental Illness. He’s a developer, writer, speaker, conference organizer, musician, and Community Advocate. He’s known to …
21. Elyse Segebart: Conquering Life's Obstacles and Following Your Dreams
Elyse Segebart is an artist by nature but took the plunge into tech at 27. She's a mobile application developer finishing her degree at Capella University where she is studying software development, …
20. Becca Lee: Lessons from Marketing Applied to Code
Becca is a Front End Developer at Assemble Inc. who fell in love with the tech industry while working as the Marketing Manager for a JavaScript consultancy. She believes that user-centric development…
19. Kristen Spencer: How Sampling ALL of the Careers Led Her to Software Engineering
Kristen Spencer likes to say that she was a professional career sampler. She has worked in many random industries and has been able to successfully incorporate the plethora of lessons she learned int…
18. Aisha Blake: A Community Minded App Developer in Detroit
Aisha Blake arrived in Detroit in 2013 to serve as a Jesuit Volunteer. She then began working at Grand Circus and has taught web development to people of all ages in bootcamps, workshops, and online …
17. Tiffany Pena: Balancing Life as a Mom and Learning to Code
Tiffany Pena is a homeschooling mom of 3 girls from Texas. She’s also a Software & Web Developer student at Capella University, where she will graduate in December with a Bachelor's Degree! She has a…
16. Bekah Hawrot Weigel: The Parallels Between Teaching English Literature & Code
Bekah Hawrot Weigel is a mom to four adorable young kids and has spent the past ten years of her life teaching literature, writing screenplays, pilots, a memoir. She started off studying English at u…
15. Michelle Brenner: How She Became a Sr. Backend Engineer
Michelle Brenner and I chat today about the transferable skills she learned while studying art and working as a support engineer in the film industry that help her today as a Senior Backend Engineer …
14. Chris Evans: Lessons from 30 Years in the Biz
Today, Chris and I chat about his path to becoming an Architect at Microsoft.
After graduating from college with a degree in communications, Chris tried his hat at pioneering podcasts and shares the …
13. Lauren Granger: From Social Services to Software Engineering & the Power of Doing Good
Lauren Granger began their career working with adults experiencing homelessness in Seattle.
Lauren’s path to social work began on the night of Barack Obama’s inauguration when during his speech, he en…
12. Jessica Dene Earley-Cha: Community & Developer Advocacy at Google
Today, Jessica and I chat about the path she took to become a Developer Advocate at Google. After studying Sociology and Education in college, Jessica dedicated herself to working for both Girls Inc.…
11. Becca Rosenthal: How to Find your People and Pull Each Other Up Together
Becca Rosenthal is a Middle East Studies major turned software engineer. After college, she spent a few years working at a Jewish non-profit in Jackson, MS. And when she moved back home to Oakland, s…
10. Jessica Owens: The Parallels Between Knitting & Coding
My guest today is a Software Engineer at Snapchat.
She was a child actor on Bill Nye the Science Guy, studied architecture in college, and went on to work in a fiber arts store for over a decade in S…
9. Abby Tiffany: From Sign Language to Coding Language
My guest today is a Software Engineer who was an Interpretive Sign Language Translator prior to learning to code. In 2018, she completed a Full Stack Web Development program at The Lambda School and …
8. Nora Peters: From Americorps to Amazon
Nora is nonprofit fundraising professional turned coder.
Today, she & I chat about her journey to tech after dedicating her career and education to mission-driven companies and how she used to percei…