From the marketing and nonprofit world comes Mandy Putnam, diving into the ATL tech scene as Tech Talent South‘s new ATL Community Organizer. We’re excited to have her aboard!
What’s your current role?
I am the Atlanta Community Organizer for Tech Talent South, a tech-ed startup focused on getting passionate, motivated people learning to code and prepped for doing something BIG! I run the day-to-day operations for the Atlanta campus. My job involves a lot of marketing, event planning, organization, relationship building, and a little cat herding.
How has your past experiences prepared you for this new gig?
I’ve done marketing across industries from legal to corporate to nonprofit. I love working with people and connecting them with a passion or something that excites them. Sure, a bright shiny ad will get a lot of attention, but I like to focus on personal relationships and connections.
My degree is in sociology from Emory. In school I got a lot of questions of what I would do with it. In a lot of ways, I’m still wondering what I’ll do when I grow up, but I’ve found that my degree gave me a way of thinking about human interactions that applies in any job.
What new skills have you picked up along the way?
The tech industry is new to me so I have learned a lot. I’ve learned so much about programming languages already. I have a foundation in HTML and CSS now and am excited about learning Ruby. Coding is becoming an increasingly valuable skill across fields and I’m pumped to be able to add it to my toolset along with our students.
What tech/tools are essential to you?
My iPhone. It has everything from apps to keep me organized (Sunrise, Asana) to things that waste my time (most everything else). When I think back to pre-Google Maps days, I wonder how I survived! I’m an Atlanta native, and I still look up how to get everywhere to find the fastest route. Going anywhere without checking traffic is such a gamble!
Why the interest in startups and the technology field?
Technology enables community. It allows us to connect to a global community and enables greater knowledge, support, and communication around the world. In many ways technology makes something almost incomprehensibly huge feel small and connected.
Similarly, the Atlanta tech and startup scene is a really supportive community. Everyone is approachable and willing to help others. I love hearing about start-up projects, there are so many cool ideas out there in the works. It’s fun to see the early stages of things that will become BIG.