Laura Thorson From GitHub: This Is How You Master the Mindset of a Programmer

The Scrimba Podcast

🎙 About the episode

Meet Laura Thorson 🇺🇸! Laura is a Program Manager at GitHub and has previously worked at Facebook, Twitter, and Salesforce. She broke into tech after attending the first-ever coding bootcamp in history and has only ever gotten jobs through LinkedIn. So... there's a lot we can learn from her!

In this episode, Laura talks about her career path and how he went from not knowing what coding was to working in high-profile tech companies. You will hear how she approaches LinkedIn and what was the one piece of advice she got from a recruiter that enabled her to get back into tech after a four-year hiatus. You'll also hear how she got a second chance at Facebook after bombing a job interview - and it only took sending a single email!

Laura and Alex also talk about best practices for job interviews, why you should stalk your interviewers, and what to do about impostor syndrome at a new job. Ultimately, Laura reveals how, no matter how you learn to code, the technologies you know come and go - and what you should focus on instead.

🔗 Connect with Laura

• 👩‍💼 Linkedin
• 🌐 Website
• 🐦 Twitter
• 👨‍🚀 GitHub

⏰ Timestamps

• Laura studied oboe, then English, and then enrolled in the first bootcamp in history! (02:05)
• How Laura knew made sure she wanted to code before paying for the bootcamp (05:26)
• On bootcamps vs. learning on your own (06:35)
• What was the first ever bootcamp like? (07:55)
• Community break: We got some new reviews on Apple Podcast! Plus, your tweets from last week. (10:06)
• Laura’s career in tech: it all started when Salesforce reached out to her on LinkedIn (12:44)
• Laura’s role at Twitter (14:07)
• How Laura bombed her interview at Facebook but got another chance after sending an email to the hiring manager (15:08)
• At Facebook, Laura worked on the Live Video API (18:32)
• How Laura approaches LinkedIn (19:49)
• Why Laura’s LinkedIn bio is written in the third person (21:37)
• How to use your LinkedIn about section (23:19)
• Why you should send follow-up emails and research your interviewers so you can ask them better questions (25:21)
• If you’re going to ask a question, be prepared, BUT LISTEN (27:42)
• When you interview, every touchpoint is an opportunity for them to assess whether you’re the right culture fit (29:22)
• The killer LinkedIn advice Laura learned the hard way (30:18)
• What to do with your LinkedIn (and portfolio) if you don’t have relevant coding experience (32:05)
• Interviewers will do homework on you (33:33)
• Quick-fire questions: Ruby, Taylor Swift, water, and AI (35:11)
• Laura’s career journey at GitHub (38:47)
• Why your most valuable asset is not the coding language you’ve learned (41:29)
• Imposter syndrome? Don’t overcompensate but talk to a peer or mentor (44:28)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Erica Brescia on Twitter
• Scrimba Podcast with Shannon Brown

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