S24:E8 - A Model's Journey to Software Development (Madison Kanna)

Saron talks to Madison Kanna, Senior Software Engineer, Health and Wellness at Walmart. Saron talks to Madison about finding the inspiration to transition from being a model to becoming a skilled developer. Madison talks about the experiences, challenges, and moments that sparked her interest in development. Listeners will gain insights into the tools and resources she utilized to hone her coding skills when first embarking on this new path. Madison also highlights the importance of seeking mentorship and how mentorship can open doors to exciting opportunities. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Madison's Blog Web Development Systems Programming Data Science Python CodeBookClub Deep Work

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[00:00:05] SY: Welcome to the CodeNewbie Podcast where we talk to people on their coding journey in hopes of helping you on yours. I’m your host, Saron, and today we’re talking about going from homeschooling to modeling to tech with Madison Kanna, Senior Software Engineer at Health & Wellness at Walmart.

[00:00:21] MK: In my time of need, when I was laid off, I just had overwhelming like hundreds of people reached out to me, like thousands of comments of, “Oh, I was in your club three years ago,” or, “Oh, I’ve seen you from this blog post that you read and come interview here.” Like, it was so, so grateful that all of the people wanted to help me. I felt like so many people had my back and it was just so wonderful.

[00:00:44] SY: In this episode, Madison shares what inspired her to go from model to developer, the skills she needed to hone in on when she first started her coding journey, and the importance of seeking mentorship in your early roles after this.

[MUSIC BREAK]

[00:01:02] SY: Thank you so much for being here.

[00:01:04] MK: Yeah, I’m so excited. Longtime listener, first time caller.

[00:01:08] SY: First time caller, I love that. So you had a whole life before you focused on coding, starting from when you were younger and you were actually homeschooled, which I find very interesting. I find the whole homeschooling conversation a very fascinating one. Tell us about what that was like.

[00:01:27] MK: Yeah. So my parents decided before I was born, along with my older sister and my younger sister, so I’m the middle of three girls, and they decided to homeschool us and I had a great experience. Everyone’s experience is different, but we grew up and I think most people, when they hear that you were homeschooled, they think that you were just like sitting in a kitchen with your mom, like reading out of a textbook and you like never go outside. But from my experience, it was not like that at all. So we went to a charter school where you have state-credentialed teachers. So I had a math tutor, I had a science tutor. They would come to the house and basically tutor you at home as well as the charter school had once a week classes. So it was kind of like the original hybrid model. You would go to class once a week with other homeschoolers and then you would also work from home. So it was kind of a blend of things, but I thought it was a great experience.

[00:02:15] SY: That’s cool.

[00:02:16] MK: Yeah, I feel super lucky that I was homeschooled.

[00:02:19] SY: What made it so great? What would you say is the biggest advantage to being homeschooled?

[00:02:23] MK: Yeah. I actually think when you’re homeschooled, you have more of a childhood. I see now with cousins’ kids or friends’ kids where we just have so much homework and kids are so stressed out with extracurriculars and trying to get into a good college, and it’s kind of like starting from a really young age, these standardized tests and things like that. And I honestly think I just had more free time to explore my curiosities and my interests, and I just got to play and have a little bit more fun, to be honest. And I just think that that’s how I would want it to be for my kids as well.

[00:02:59] SY: And what kind of curiosities did you have? What did you explore?

[00:03:02] MK: Yeah. Well, my parents, we didn’t really have a set curriculum. So normally in school, you’re like, “This is what we’re going to learn about this year,” and you have certain tests and things. But my curriculum was much more open-ended. So I remember one year when I was eight or nine, I was obsessed with dinosaurs and I read everything I could about them and I wanted to go to dinosaur museums. I learned how to draw pictures of dinosaurs, like really well at the time, probably you’ve lost that skill now. But I remember, normally in school, you learn something for maybe three weeks and then you move on, right? You learn something and then you need to go to the next subject, but my family and my tutors kind of said, “Well, if you’re curious about this, then you can explore it for longer.” So you could do something for an extended amount of time. So I spent five months learning about dinosaurs every single day, and I feel like I was really allowed to dive really deep into a curiosity that I had. Yeah, I feel grateful for that today because I remember when I got into coding and I just felt like I can do this again, I can dive really deep into it and immerse myself into it. And yeah, it was just a lot of fun to not feel forced to move to subject to subject. If you really are interested in one thing, then you can go deep and explore it.

[00:04:16] SY: That’s really cool. So was the goal after homeschooling to go to college or was there a different plan for you?

[00:04:23] MK: My parents generally wanted me to go to college, but it wasn’t, “You must go.” I did end up going to college pretty briefly. I wasn’t there for very long.

[00:04:32] SY: What did you study?

[00:04:33] MK: Actually the first year I went, I was pretty undeclared, I tried general classes like your first year, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study yet. And so I ultimately decided to take a break once I’d been there for about a year.

[00:04:48] SY: What led to that break?

[00:04:50] MK: I felt like I wasn’t learning any real world skills when I was in college, and I know everyone’s experience is different, but I didn’t feel like I was learning valuable skills at the time. And I remember I was spending a bunch of money to attend and I just felt like, you know, when you’re 18 years old and you’re kind of going through the motions, and I felt like I wanted to take a pause and actually figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And I thought to myself, “If I do figure out I want to do something that requires a degree, I can always go back.” Right?

[00:05:19] SY: That’s true.

[00:05:19] MK: I didn’t want to just kind of passively sit there for four years. And I saw people who were older than me. They were graduating with hundreds of thousand dollars in debt and not being able to pay off that debt because the degree did not get them a good job. And I know I’m not special. I knew that would happen to me too. So I figured I’m going to pause college for a while, figure out what I can do, what I want to do with my life, and then I can always go back.

[00:05:43] SY: And what did you figure out with your time off?

[00:05:45] ML: Yeah. Well, at the time I really was just working, I was signed with a modeling agency and so I left college and I did that for about nine months. Everyone in my life was very unhappy with me when I did this, even my homeschooling parents, as supportive as they are of different ways of getting an education, telling your family, “I’m going to drop out of college,” basically was not well great received. They eventually supported me, of course. And then at the time, for anyone who’s listening maybe who dropped out of college or paused, you definitely get some looks from people in your life. I remember my ex-boyfriend at the time telling him I’m going to leave school and he basically was like, “You’re never going to be successful.” Like, “Without a degree you’ll be basically a loser for your whole life.” And so yeah, I felt very lost, but I felt like internally something was saying, “Okay, maybe I just need to pause and figure out what I want to do.” And so I did modeling for a while, realized for various reasons that that was not at all what I wanted to do long term. And I just realized I really want a valuable skill in this economy. I want a skill that’s going to be rewarded that I can really use, and then eventually found coding.

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