Not a Designer: Design bites for devs

Introduction and Sponsor Acknowledgment

• Introduction and Welcome: The host introduces the Codingcat.dev podcast and welcomes Saon, who is featured in the episode.
• Sponsor Message: A brief mention of the podcast sponsor, Cloudinary, highlighting their AI-powered image and video APIs.

Saon’s Journey into Technology

• Non-Technical Beginnings: Saon shares her experience working in marketing and sales roles in a startup environment and her fascination with the technical side of product development.
• Transition to Coding: She discusses her self-taught coding journey, decision to quit her job to focus on coding full-time, and eventual enrollment at Flatiron School’s boot camp.

Boot Camp Experience

• Overview of Flatiron School: Saon provides an overview of her immersive education at Flatiron School, emphasizing the importance of community and support in her learning experience.
• Challenges and Rewards: She highlights both the difficulties of learning to code and the exhilaration of building functional products, emphasizing the net positive experience despite hardships.

Building Code Newbie Community

• Twitter Chats to Podcast Transformation: Saon describes how she started building communities through #CodeNewbie Twitter chats and eventually transitioned to podcasting to delve deeper into individual stories.
• Sustainability and Growth: She shares the evolution of Code Newbie, including the introduction of various initiatives like meetups, newsletters, and conferences, culminating in the acquisition by Dev.to in 2019.

Educational Background and Diverse Interests

• Academic Journey: Saon discusses her time at the University of Maryland, initially pursuing pre-med and later obtaining degrees in English and Psychology.
• Pivot to Tech and MBA: She explains her decision to transition from medicine to technology, driven by her interest in coding, and her eventual pursuit of an MBA to deepen her understanding of the business side of tech startups.

Integrating Code Newbie into Dev.to

• Acquisition Experience: Saon talks about her relationship with Ben Hopbper of Dev.to and the smooth transition of Code Newbie community initiatives into the Dev.to ecosystem.
• Ongoing Projects: She reflects on the sustained success of Code Newbie post-acquisition, highlighting the community’s ongoing activities and newly launched projects.

Not A Designer Initiative

• Concept and Purpose: Saon introduces her newsletter, Not A Designer, aimed at providing design insights to developers while documenting her own journey of learning design.
• Tools and Platforms: She discusses the use of Beehive for newsletter distribution and the benefits of its features in managing and growing her audience.

Discussion on Entrepreneurship and Lessons Learned

• Failed Attempts and Learning: Saon recounts her experiences with various failed product ideas, emphasizing the importance of emotional resilience and persistence in entrepreneurship.
• Pivoting Strategies: She reflects on the valuable feedback from investors and mentors, leading her to pivot her startup ideas and eventually focus on Disco and new initiatives like Big Cash Money community.

Perfect Picks Segment

• Saon’s Book Pick: Saon recommends "The Happiness Project" and discusses its impact on her approach to finding daily joy and happiness.
• Host’s Game Pick: The host shares his experience playing "It Takes Two" with his son, highlighting its unique cooperative gameplay and ability to bring them closer together.

Video Chapters & Timestamps

Jump directly to any segment of Not a Designer: Design bites for devs on YouTube using the timestamped chapters below:

• 00:00: Intro
• 00:00: Meet Saron
• 00:00: Tech Beginnings
• 00:00: Bootcamp Journey
• 00:00: Entrepreneurship
• 00:00: Dev.to Acquisition
• 00:00: Education Path
• 00:00: Business Ideas
• 00:00: Not a Designer
• 00:00: Big Cash Money
• 00:00: Conclusion

Resources, Links & Official Documentation

• Watch on YouTube: Not a Designer: Design bites for devs Full Video (plus Subscribe to CodingCat.dev)
• Cloudinary: https://cld.media/codingcatdev
• Algolia: https://www.algolia.com/?utm_source=codingcatdev
• Show Pick: It Takes Two (picked by Alex Patterson)
• Show Pick: The Happiness Project (picked by Saron Yitbarek)
• Saron Yitbarek Guest Profile & Episodes on CodingCat.dev
• MDN Web Docs for Developers: Core web platform standards, browser APIs, and performance guides

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the main takeaways from Not a Designer: Design bites for devs?

In the tech world, developers often find themselves stepping into the realm of design, a space that can feel both unfamiliar and daunting. Recognizing this challenge, Saron Yitbarek has crafted "Not a Designer" Design Bites, a series specifically tailored for developers who find themselves in need of design knowledge. Not A Designer: Join us as we chat with Saron Yitbarek about her incredible journey from non-tech roles to tech founder. Learn about her struggles, successes, and exciting new ventures. Comment and share! https://codingcat.dev/podcast/not-a-designer-design-bites-for-devs Sponsors:
- Cloudinary https://cld.media/c, welcome back to coding cat. deev where we give you cats the freshest dose of Dev snacks brought to you by cloudinary build faster with AI powered image and video apis Welcome Back perfect peeps to coding cat. deev podcast today on the show we have Saron how are you doing Saron I'm doing well how are you I'm doing fantastic it's it's nice to uh have a long weekend and kind of yeah get back back in... Throughout this podcast, Saron Yitbarek breaks down real-world implementation details for WebDev so developers can apply these patterns directly in production.

How do you implement WebDev best practices in production?

When adopting WebDev in a production stack, start by validating your configuration against the MDN Web Docs for Developers (Core web platform standards, browser APIs, and performance guides). Focus on incremental adoption, automated testing, and observability so your team can measure performance and developer velocity improvements at each stage.

Where can I watch the full Not a Designer: Design bites for devs walkthrough and find related code resources?

You can watch the complete video session for Not a Designer: Design bites for devs on the CodingCat.dev YouTube channel. For a deeper dive into WebDev, check out our related guide: The Coding Interview and Transitioning in Tech.