In Love with Coding Puzzles: Interview with Noonies Nominee Abbey

Hey Hackers!

I’m Abbey and I’m a Full-stack web developer, crafter, blogger, cosplayer, fiber artist, yoga teacher, and gamer.

First off, I’d like to express my gratitude to the staff, and all other beautiful humans of HackerNoon, for nominating me for a 2022 Noonies award!

I’ve been nominated for the following categories and if you think my writing offers good value, please take some time to check out these award pages and vote for me:

1. Internet Heroes - Contributor of the Year - Beginner's Guide
2. Programming - Contributor of the Year - Refactoring

As a writer in the tech industry, I believe in documenting my growth. Learn more about me and my journey so far.

1. What do you currently do and what’s your favorite part about it?

I’m a web developer at a digital accessibility company. Really, I just love solving code puzzles, but I also love that the tool I’m working on helps other developers make accessible mobile apps.

2. How did you get started with your Tech Career?

I was working as an admin doing high-volume MSP recruiting with engineering candidates for large corporations. There was no upward mobility and I had been applying to other jobs inside and outside of the company for a while. One day my husband said “What about web development? You like colors. You’d move things around pixel by pixel.” At the beginning of March 2020, I committed to a web development bootcamp that started 6 months later. Thanks to the pandemic, I suddenly found myself with a lot of time to study.

3. If Utopia were a color what color do you think it’d be and why?

Blue. I’m so obsessed with blue that I have to try to not wear blue from head to toe. At one point I had blue hair and a blue car at the same time.

4. If everything about HackerNoon changed drastically, what is one detail you’d like to keep exactly the same?  OR What’s your favorite thing to do with HackerNoon and why?

Being able to use gifs as cover images for blogs is pretty cool.

5. Tell us more about the things you write/make/manage/build!

I write about things I’m learning and fun projects I enjoy making. This means anything from digital accessibility to animated buttons to stupid Discord bots. My next side project will be a digital garden!

6. What’s your favorite thing about the internet?

My favorite thing about the internet is getting to meet people from all over the world. I have a lot of creative hobbies and interests that are made better by talking with other makers and reading their tutorials. Just knowing that there are others out there like you makes people feel a lot less alone.

7. It’s an apocalypse of ‘walking dead’ proportions and you can only own a singular piece of technology, what would it be?

Definitely, something that could play music with headphones. I’d go as far as using a hand crank to keep it charged. I often rely on music in the background to help me get work done.

8. What is your least favorite thing about the internet?

There are a lot of inaccessible sites. It breaks my heart to think about all the things a user who needs assistive technology is prevented from doing because accessibility is treated as an afterthought. Just try navigating this page with the tab key instead of a mouse and you’ll see what I mean.

9. If you were given $10 million to invest in something today what would you invest in and why?

If I had $10 million dollars to spend, I’d start investing in a plan to create affordable, quality mental healthcare. I talk openly about my mental health journey because I care deeply about reducing the stigma. However, that includes acknowledging that the U.S. currently relies mainly on the prison system for mental healthcare and outside of prison, a single appointment with insurance can cost hundreds of dollars.

10. What’s something you’re currently learning or excited to learn?

I’m currently wrapping up a series on tab focus on web pages. I’m also working on improving my testing skills, which is conveniently lining up with a project at work! Next I’m looking forward to revisiting some plain old JavaScript, HTML, and CSS with my digital garden.

11. Would you rather travel 10 years into the past or 10 years into the future? Give reasons for your answer.

I can’t choose! If I traveled 10 years in the past, I could start studying web development sooner. I am very curious to see how the next 10 years go, but that’s a lot of spoilers.

About HackerNoon’s 2022 Noonie Awards

The annual Noonies Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who make the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.

The 2022 Noonies are sponsored by: BingX and .TechDomains. Many thanks to these sponsors for helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.