Deciding to Buy A House In February 2018 I started my first job as a software engineer and I went from a teacher’s salary of $40,000 a year to an engineering salary of over $100,000 a year. I had envisioned that with all this new money, I was ballin and I’d be able to live so much more comfortably than before. I thought I’d be … Continue reading Buying My First House at 26 and Everything That Came With It
Many imagine that building apps must be boring. Spending hours trying to make a webpage look pretty, or trying to make page loading a fraction of a section faster sounds like completely meaningless work, right? But software engineering is more than that–it’s about making people’s lives easier, connecting people to each other, and giving people tools that help them be successful in whatever their goals … Continue reading What It’s Like to Be A Junior Software Engineer
1.5 years ago when I was exploring the idea of going into technology, a friend introduced me to the Breaking Into Startups Podcast and Facebook Group. The first podcast episode had me hooked, and for 2 months straight I listened to it all day every day–all the while–imagining myself going to a bootcamp, getting a job as a software engineer, and living a whole … Continue reading How I Went From Teacher to Software Engineer in 12 Months
In January of 2017 I was working full time as a teacher in South Florida while heavily involved in activist work. I had just written down my 1 year plan to become a junior software developer, which entailed 4 months of studying, school applications, a June/July enrollment goal, an October graduation goal, and a 3-month job hunt. If things were to go as planned I … Continue reading Failure, Resiliency, and Algorithms: My first 10 Weeks of Coding Bootcamp
In May I met with my Principal to tell her that I would be resigning from my position as a teacher at Deerfield Beach Middle School. She was pretty disappointed but also very supportive once I told her that I was moving to Northern California to pursue Software Engineering. When I told her that quitting was a tough decision she looked at me and said … Continue reading Why I am Leaving Teaching to Become a Software Engineer
In my last blog post I shared an example of an activity that I used to help students learn information or practice important skill sets. We had been playing a number of similar games for 2 weeks so this past week I reduced the number of interactive games and shifted our focus to reading. Just about every day my students were reading short excerpts from … Continue reading Time to PLAY: Incorporating Theater Into My Classroom
A few weeks ago I had my first Formal Observation, which is when the Principal sits in on an entire class period and completes an evaluation. Evaluations done by administrators use an evaluation system called Marzano that calculates whether you are 1) Beginning 2)Developing 3)Effective or 4)Highly Effective. Most first year teachers start off in the 1-2 range and work their way up to 3. … Continue reading First Day of Reading Comprehension Games
In January of 2016 I began teaching social studies and I quickly realized that I have some sort of gift or intuitive ability when it comes to teaching teenage or pre-teen children. I am proud of myself, and it feels good to be GOOD at something. But I am by no means surprised. Many of my peers from college have also gone into teaching and … Continue reading Opening Up About My Classroom
My name is Iris Nevins and I am looking for financial support from willing donors so that I can uplift and develop students in my 8th grade U.S. History Class. Before I explain exactly what resources I would like to purchase and the reasoning behind them, I would like to preface with a little summary of my students and how I have chosen to work … Continue reading Help Uplift And Engage My Students
During college I was all over Facebook writing long statuses about race, police brutality, systems of oppression, my feelings, you name it. It was legit, my part time job. But then I stopped. At some point, I stopped writing and I’ve always wondered why. Today has been so emotional. I checked Facebook first thing in the morning which means I started my day off crying. … Continue reading I Cannot Do It Anymore
COSMOSIRIS 