Code. Passion. Freedom. Making a Difference.
I've spent 15 years in software engineering, mostly working behind the scenes with Python on backend and web development. I've also dived into entrepreneurship, initiating and spearheading various projects at CodeHappy.ph. Recently, I've gotten really interested in data analytics. I'm excited to see where this new interest takes me, especially in solving real-world problems.
In the Python community, I'm pretty active. I serve as the Director of Operations for Python Philippines (PythonPH) , and I mentor at PyLadies Manila. I'm also a Python Software Foundation fellow. For me, it's all about people coming together to do cool stuff with technology.
I approach life as a realist idealist. I love to defy the odds for the things I truly care about.
I dream of a future wherein humans have advanced greater than the advancement of technology; wherein technology has already become an extension of ourselves. Not a future wherein we're always overwhelmed by it.
I love coffee, good food, reading, walking and going on adventures.
I've also been watching Naruto a lot lately. My favorite character is Shikamaru and the line "Death is not the end. It's the loss of conviction that is." :D
Fun fact: I'm an introvert but I love having friends. I love meeting people who are passionate about their craft, getting inspired and learning something from them.
I'm on a personal mission to teach Programming and Software Development for the future generation of tech professionals and leaders in the Philippines.
So together with my husband, I started a Python training company called CodeHappy. I believe this is one area of focus where I'm able to do just that while promoting software craftsmanship and fostering healthy engineering cultures. :)
I love creating "safe spaces" where people get to do things that feed their souls and bond with other humans.
I also like contributing to causes I care about in my small corner of the world in the most practical way I can.
I spend a lot of my free time as a volunteer for PythonPH doing admin work, handling overall operations, and coaching and mentoring the next gen leaders so we can continue to organize meaningful events and programs for the tech community in an enjoyable and sustainable way.
I first got introduced to Python and the world of open source when I attended my first PyCon PH in 2012. Since then, several amazing things happened. The community also became my most reliable support system throughout my career.
I discovered that tech is a very democratizing career, skills pay the bills, and that there are lots of crazy cool people in the Python and open source community.
It just feels good to be part of that ecosystem and give back :)
Python is my programming language of choice for work and hobby projects because it's very powerful yet still simple, practical and fun to use.
I mainly use Python for web development and scripting.
For a start, if you want to learn its basic syntax, you can follow these tutorials:
You can also check out this video: Top Concerns of Python Beginners (Taglish) if you're still trying to decide if Python is the right tool for you.
Django is my go-to web development framework because it allows me to build web apps from scratch faster. Also, when working with teams, I just find the code easier to maintain when I use it since the framework is very opinionated and has very good documentation.
For a start, if you want to learn how to build a simple web app using Django, you can follow this tutorial:
I don't use an IDE because I wanted to train myself to be productive without needing a "crutch". Vim is too hardcore for me so I chose Sublime Text instead - it's light and simple enough to have all the necessary stuff I need (syntax highlighting, set indentation (tab) to 4 spaces and show whitespaces).
If you want to try using Sublime Text, you can download it from sublimetext.com
You can also copy my Sublime Text settings here.
I've used Ubuntu for my dev machine since I started learning Python in 2012 because at that time, I found that most Python tutorials use Linux in the examples.
I had to force myself to setup an Ubuntu VM so I can use it whenever I practice writing code in Python. Then eventually, I set it up as my main OS because my 3rd job required me to use an Ubuntu dev machine.
In the end, switching to Linux was a good thing because it forced me to become comfortable using the command-line.
I first discovered Git at PyCon Philippines 2012. I started using it ever since I started to collaborate with other people on PythonPH projects. This was also required at my 3rd job and onwards. It's a great tool!