Vanessa Henson

A lot of people have trouble finding their voice at work. Individuals that have people pleasing tendencies struggle to speak up because they don't want to appear mean or have issues with anxiety.  Recently I had a fellow programmer ask me how to address a situation that required the courage to speak up at work.  It got me thinking about my own journey into finding my voice.  Sadly it took me getting to the point of feeling burned out and completely undervalued to finally have the courage to speak up.  It really was a turning point for me in my career. I realized that I could no longer care if I failed, or had the wrong solution.  I was going to speak up and have my voice heard. It started out a little rough but it has certainly gotten easier over time. I was very much out of my comfort zone when I started (if I'm being honest there are still times when it's hard).  I struggled to articulate myself and it came across as rash and unrefined. I started research...

It’s a wonderful time to be alive. There is so much focus on Female/LGQTB/Minority empowerment and diversity. It's great knowing that there are so many strong and powerful people out there blazing the trail of the path less traveled. What amazing role models we have like Grace Hopper ,   Isis Anchalee ,   Susan Fowler , LGBTQ Leaders , as well as many unsung heroes who have braved the trenches everyday. People who have walked the truly hard path and endured bullying, harassment and self doubt in order to make tech a better place for the rest of us. I have not experienced such extreme experiences but it is my hope that the more people who share their stories it will help to truly create an inclusive environment at work. As a woman in tech I have had a long journey and it has not been an easy path. I feel incredibly blessed that I found some teams where I was accepted as an equal teammate rather than just the “girl developer” on the team.  However, even with some...

One of the hard fast rules of friendship is never dating the same person as your friend. Everyone knows that the outcome only brings heart break for everyone involved.  There is another rule that is slightly less known and unfortunately I learned the hard way.  That rule is not to apply for the same job as your friend.  I didn’t even realize my best friend was looking for jobs when I started my interview process. I couldn’t wait to tell her that I got an interview with an awesome company. Turns out she had an interview with the same company! How amazing, they had two openings and it was perfect, we could work together again. We studied and shared our tips and ideas with each other. It was both bonding and competitive at the same time, which brought up some strange feelings for us both.  We didn’t entertain any negative outcomes, only the possibility of being able to work with each other again.  Alas the interviews were extremely hard and we both bombed them,...

If only confidence was bottled or in pill form, life would be so easy. After all, most of the criteria for which we strive in order to have "successful life" are all tied to confidence.  Landing a job, starting a business,  changing careers, asking for a raise,  you name it and I guarantee the steps you need to take towards your goals are backed by confidence. You need the confidence to put yourself out there, get knocked out, kicked while you're down, gut punched and after all of that pick your bloody bruised ego up and do it all over again. Confidence is something that has never come naturally to me. The tactic that I have used the most in my life to break through the fear of not being smart/educated/talented/well-spoken/good enough is . . .  "Fake It Until You Make It".   The idea of acting as if you are confident, smart or whatever other feelings you need in your given situation.  The science behind 'acting as if' is that if you fake it long...

In the past 8 years of my career I have learned so many critical life lessons.  It has been a long journey... both as a woman in tech and a self taught Developer.  I came up with a list of things for you that I wish someone had told me at the start of my journey. You are smarter than you think you are. Coding is hard and there is always tons to learn. Don’t be afraid to ask questions , it is always better to ask than waste time being stuck. Write your questions down before presenting them so you can articulate yourself better. Pull requests can be brutal! Do your best to put your feelings aside. Treat pull requests as an opportunity to learn .  Constructive criticism will do so much for your career .  If you are having a hard time with it, remember . . . just because you have to change your code doesn’t mean that you did it wrong - you just did it a different way ( after all working code is good code - there are just more effect or clean ways to do ever...

http://www.reebok.com/us/honor-pack<  This project was very javascript intense, and was one of my favorite projects because of that fact.  All of the user interaction involved custom written javascript functions.  These custom functions consist of Drop down menus, Sliders, and Changing Hover Images.

I was in change of the building the new redesign of the customize pages for Reebok. This implemented custom popup boxes which then interacted with their custom api. This is a semi-responsive desktop site which is responsive from 960px up as well as a separate mobile site. Visit the Reebok Site