Tech Talent: This Junior Programmer Brings Hospitality into the Collaborative Tech World

Seth Zimmerman is a people person. His personality shined at the happiest place on Earth, Walt Disney World, after completing his degree in Hospitality Management at the University of South Carolina. The team-oriented environment boasted by the tech industry attracted Zimmerman into programming and he enrolled in DigitalCrafts‘ full-stack immersion program. “Now I have a skill set that yearns for this exact style of collaborative process,” he says.

Beyond programming content, Zimmerman shares that the bootcamp taught him how to learn more effectively — an essential skill for a developer in the fast-changing tech landscape.

“You must trust and allow yourself to live in a constant state of new concepts, new tools, and new practices,” says Zimmerman. “You could argue that the best thing you learn in a coding bootcamp isn’t the content itself; it’s learning how to learn in an ever-changing and constantly evolving ecosystem of technology.”

This junior programmer is ready to jump into working on a live scale application at mid-size company. Here’s why this team player could be a great fit for you.

Why the interest in the technology field?

I like people. I like working with people and, in my previous line of work, I liked being able to make someone’s day with a friendly helping hand or even just a smile. Some individuals unfamiliar with the tech industry have asked me — why the tech industry? You love people. You want to sit in a dark room all alone and code all day?

Of course, we all know in this industry, it’s quite the opposite.

I have found that my love for working and forming relationships with people have blended effortlessly into this industry. I love being able to look at a roadblock collaboratively, bouncing ideas off of my team, one idea leading to another with every person contributing to the process. This is why I loved my previous line of work in the hospitality industry; team-oriented problem solving and communication are a must. 

What tech projects have you worked on?

I have worked on three applications so far — two of which are live, one of which is still in development. I’m especially excited about the third because it’s a project I’m making with my girlfriend, who does UX design. The application will essentially be an online memory book targeted to Baby Boomers, where users can log entries, share stories with one another, and print completed books.

I’m finding this is a great learning experience because all of the UX design and front-end concepting is essentially done. It’s excellent practice for workplace development where I might be working on a team with a UX designer.

What tech/tools are essential to you as a developer?

Did people ever really code without IDEs (integrated development environments)? I love working in Visual Studio Code. It is fast, sharp, and has a ton of customizable extensions that make programming and debugging a breeze (well, maybe not a breeze, but easier at least!).

In terms of learning/debugging, I have entered into a nice little love affair with devdocs.io. I appreciate the ability to view your enabled docs offline, and everything is very well organized and intuitively designed. 

Oh, also, does coffee count?

How do you stay informed and on-top of emerging trends?

Our DigitalCrafts Slack channels are always full of interesting and relevant articles/blog posts that discuss current and future trends in the industry, so I’m always sure to keep an eye out for those. I also like perusing the Programming section of Medium when I need a little break from writing code.

What are your best technical or creative skills?

I’ve been having an awesome time learning and working with React. As I dive deeper into React-land, I am constantly amazed at how quickly it responds to user interactions, and I love being able to apply a start-point for data to flow down from.

I also like the challenge of mapping out database relationships/schemas. It feels like an optimization puzzle that, when complete, serves as the skeletal system for any application.

What’s next on your list to learn?

I want to explore the React add-on component for transitions and animations so I can really make applications shine. I would also love to dive into Redux for my next project. Even having worked with it minimally, I can see there are huge benefits in managing a global application state.

Are you interested in working for a startup, mid-sized company, or a corporate giant?

For my first job out of the program, I want to see what developing for a larger-scale, live application is like. Now knowing what it takes to build software, I am fascinated by the idea of applications that have incredible amounts of features that pass lots of data around. Because of this, I feel more interested in working at a mid-sized or corporate company.

On the other hand, contributing to a piece of software from the ground up would be an amazing learning experience. Plus, I value the communal/familial aspect that you might find at a smaller startup. Wherever it may be, I just want to be able to stretch my coding muscles that I’ve gained over the past four months.

Interested in looking at Seth’s credentials? Here you go! PortfolioGitHub, and LinkedIn.