College English instructor -> Developer Experience Lead & Creator of Virtual Coffee, tech community. In the ten years prior to tech, I was as a college English adjunct. But after going through trauma, I couldn't go back. I started learning to code with freeCodeCamp and found that it stopped the cycling traumatic thoughts. And then, I found that I loved it. I was fortunate enough to receive a full scholarship to Flatiron School, where I learned Ruby and Rails and JavaScript and React.After graduating, I started my first developer job using JavaScript and React. I learned to use Storybook, how to write tests, and to navigate large existing codebases. I've brought legacy code up-to-date with React, used GitHub daily, and made decisions about the best way to approach projects.So I went from coding for therapy to coding for passion. And to be honest, it's not that far from what I did as an English instructor. I have to deep dive into what I see on the screen, analyze patterns, look for meaning, and consider the impact on the user/reader.In April 2020, I started the developer community, Virtual Coffee. It started as weekly coffee chats, and has grown into a community of developers at all stages who support each other, have weekly events, challenges, and more. We provide opportunities for collaboration, growth, and leadership. As Developer Experience Lead, I support developers on their open source journey, creating opportunities for learning, growth, recognition, and collaboration.