Javascript Star Makes Language Come to Life On & Off Screen

Iron Yard Tech Talent

Mallerie Shirley is a Javascript junkie after completing The Iron Yard‘s front-end immersive. Shirley brings pages to user perfection on-screen and sign language to life off-screen. This visual virtuoso is ready to create something stellar from a blank slate and tackle life in the tech terrain.

What program are you graduating from?
The Iron Yard! I completed a full-time, 12-week intensive program focused on front-end development.

What startup/tech projects have you worked on?
I built an app called Milk Ninja with two others. The purpose of the app is to help moms with young babies find private, clean places they can breastfeed when they are out and about (the site looks best when viewed in a mobile browser).

What tech/tools are essential to you?
MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro…does that answer the question? I also like to use SASS for styling with CSS and React.js is an awesome framework. I also LOVE to use ‘flux’ to remove some of the blue light from my computer screen. My eyes and my brain thank me for that one. This may sound random, but multi-touch gestures can make work go twice as fast for me, so I made sure to familiarize myself with all of them.

How do you stay informed & on top of emerging trends?
Twitter & blogs. I regularly check out the follow list of the people I admire and follow who they follow. I learn the most when I do that because I can keep up to date with the projects that others are working on. The people I currently am paying close attention to are Rodney Sampson (@rodneysampson), Pam Selle (@pamasaur) & Ashley Nelson-Hornstein (@ashleynh).

What are your best technical or creative skills?
I am a CSS master! Because I am a visual person, I can ‘see’ what a page should look like & and how it can work best for a user. It’s probably the part of the job I enjoy the most.

What’s next on your list to learn?
Angular2 for sure. After that, probably Node.js, so that I can write my own web servers.

Why the interest in startups and the technology field?
I came from a field where confidentiality was very important, and I never got to talk about my work or exercise my creativity in a way that I wanted. I get to do both in tech. My favorite part of the work is seeing a blank, white screen turn into SOMETHING.

Are you interested in working for a startup, mid-sized company, or a corporate giant?
I would prefer to work for a midsized company. I’d like to work somewhere that I know will be around in the future, but I would also like to have some flexibility in my job and the ability to work on projects that stretch my abilities.