Get to know Austin Coding Academy graduate Lillian Situ
Every month we like to feature our outstanding students at Austin Coding Academy. ACA’s student body is as diverse as it is interesting and we’d like to give everyone the opportunity to get to know them a little better. Our students make Austin Coding Academy the great place that it is.
This month we’re putting the spotlight on Lillian Situ. Lillian completed the Full Stack JavaScript program in December 2017 and now she is employed as a Software Engineer at data.world! We asked her to reflect on herself and her time at Austin Coding Academy.
Hometown?
Gallup, NM.
Where do you currently reside?
Sunny Austin, TX!
What sparked your interested in coding?
I loved customizing MySpace (back in the day when it was still a thing) and that led me down the rabbit hole to where I am now.
What’s your goal once you finish the courses?
Continue learning and improving on the foundations I’ve learned and start work as a badass web developer!
What’s your passion project right now, coding or otherwise?
My passion project right now is my final project for ACA! You’ll have to come see it ;-)
Do you have any unique skills or experiences?
I can hold a crow pose (yoga) for over a minute.
Where is your favorite spot to vacation?
Anywhere with sand, water, and sun.
Has there been anything that has caught you off guard since starting the program? The schedule? Difficulty of learning? Something you weren’t expecting?
Initially, the flipped classroom model took some adjusting, but I found that I like absorbing the information prior and then coming to class with questions around the parts I didn’t fully understand. This helped me realize the gaps in knowledge throughout the course.
If Lillian now gave advice to Lillian on her first day of class, what would it be?
Do the pre-work!! It’s so helpful. And don’t try to learn everything, rather try to learn how to find the solution instead of memorizing the solution.
Where is your favorite place to code?
At home (I have a dual monitor set up) or a cozy coffee shop surrounded by other people furiously hacking away at their laptops.
What is your favorite thing you’ve programmed so far?
My own GitHub page! Applying what I’ve learned to create something for personal use is so rewarding.
What are you going to do with your free time now that you’re graduating?
What free time? The learning never stops and coders know no sleep!
You’ve been given an elephant. You can’t give it away or sell it. What would you do with the elephant?
Awesome! Now I have a debugging elephant – sorry, rubber ducky, you’ve been replaced.
We love showing off our students, they’re incredible! If you’re one of our students and have a great story, we’d love to hear it.
Follow in Lillian’s Footsteps
If you’re not one of our students, but you’d like to start your own journey, our next class starts soon. We do tours and class visits, so if you’d like to see what ACA is all about, we’d love to have you swing by. Contact admissions today!