Yingrong Zhao thrives on debugging and writing queries, but that’s not where her career journey started. After graduating with a degree in Sports Management at Florida State, she went on to hold positions with professional sports teams and park and recreation departments.
As she started craving a more creative and challenging path, while still having a positive impact in her community, Zhao decided to teach herself coding through online tutorials. It immediately clicked and she enrolled in DigitalCrafts‘ Full-Stack Immersive program. Her sports data full-stack application, built during the program, visualized team stats in a new, unique way.
Learn more about this junior programmer as she enter the real world after her bootcamp stint, ready to put her problem solving skills to work at your company, no matter the size.
What is your previous education?
I have a Master’s Degree in Sports Management from Florida State University
What startup/tech projects have you worked on?
For our mid-term project, my group members and I built a full-stack web application to visualize sports data. It allows users to visualize player and team stats like never before and perform analyses that have previously been difficult to render. Users can log-in with a username and password, save favorite players, and build visualization charts from player data. Users also get an auto-updated newsfeed for timely player information to compare stats on.
What tech/tools are essential to you as a developer?
Stack Overflow is my best friend every time I run into problems. Most of my questions can be found on there and then you can see various ways to solve it. It’s a great learning experience to see how others think of the same problem. I also love using Python Tutor when I run into some algorithm-related problems. It gives you the chance to actually see what is going on inside a function step-by-step.
How do you stay informed & on-top of emerging trends?
I read a lot of tech-related social media accounts on Twitter and Medium. Because there are too many things happening every day, I usually try to read a blog post that contains new information since it’s unrealistic to try out all of the new technologies as soon as they comes out.
What are your best technical or creative skills?
I’m good at debugging and writing queries. The satisfaction I get from it is tremendous. I also like to try different ways to solve one problem.
What’s next on your list to learn?
I want to learn Java so that I can do more back-end projects as well as Android app.
Why the interest in the technology field?
After working for both college and professional sports’ teams as well as Parks and Recreation departments, I knew that I wanted to work in a more creative and challenging environment where I could also have a positive impact on the community. Web development is a perfect way to combine these attributes while cultivating an invaluable skill.
I started off teaching myself coding through online tutorials and later joined my first coding bootcamp where I realized that I love programming and wanted to pursue my passion.
Are you interested in working for a startup, mid-sized company, or a corporate giant?
I think I care more about the culture of a company than its size. I want to work for a company that care about their employees and values team players.
Interested in looking at Yingrong’s credentials? Here you go! Website, GitHub, and LinkedIn.
