A Talk For Right Now: Resilience in the Face of Change - Kate Pond - REdeploy 2019

I thought I was going to be a Park Ranger for my whole life, I thought I was going to grow old with my husband by my side, I thought I would be best friends with my mom forever. As it turns out, life has a funny way of being unpredictable. I want to give fun talks, memorable and humorous talks, talks about how bears, moose, and ravens are like coding because those are the talks I would want to go to. But in the last 5 years, I’ve become a Software Developer, my husband has become my wife, and my mom and are thinking about being friends again. During these past years, these changes have caused bouts of depression, thoughts that I could never be myself again, and thoughts that I don’t belong anywhere. I’m still working on overcoming these thoughts and feelings, and I’m not sure they’ll ever go away completely, but I’ve learned ways to reframe the change and try to figure out what I want and try to influence the change I want in my life. And what is this, if not a form of personal resilience? So, I guess, if I’m honest with myself and with you, this is really the talk I want to give right at this point in my life. Kate is a Park Ranger and Environmental Educator turned Software Developer, who’s boring fact is that she may have matched socks on today. Kate has a Master’s Degree from Griffith University in Brisbane and a Certificate of Completion from Ada Developers Academy in Seattle. Her experience coming to tech from an unconventional background has given her the opportunity to embrace life changes and overcome a myriad of challenges to be the person and developer she is today. She is passionate about technology, about people, and about making connections that lift others up. She also has bear stories, a light-up, Bluetooth enabled skirt, and loves soldering! — To engage in the conversation on Resilience Engineering in the tech industry, tweet with the hashtag #REdeployConf. For more information about REdeploy, check out https://re-deploy.io