Her Story
About Neeka
I'm the lead developer and founder of NC Developers, where I handle everything from website design to app creation and content. I've been in this field for about 8 years, though I'm self-taught in tech. I dived into it back in the Gateway area when computers were just starting with chat and different types of social media. As technology changed over the years, I increased my knowledge, and eventually went to school just to enhance my skills and get the full background of every dynamic. My path here started with public service work, where I served in different types of services locally and got to meet a great handful of different consumers and what they felt like they lacked. I thought to myself, if I could add these things to these services, it would provide more comfort to these consumers. That led from wanting to create something a little bit more easy for the senior community to me diving deep into what business was. Now I'm actually doing all the creation for several companies and different businesses, so I get to see and gauge where consumers feel like they need more attention. Every day I learn something new - I'm open to all different types of teachings when it comes to this creative thing, because it's such a broad field to be in and it's also saturated with a whole bunch of different creators. Finding my fun in it while creating is the purest gift that I can have, and I can only continue that by learning each day something new. One of my most notable achievements was creating my first application in Xcode for Apple. Seeing this app come to life from concept to actually being in the Apple Store right now was probably one of the most exciting things. I'm fully immersed in AI because you either learn it or get left behind, so I figured the best way to do it is just follow through learning it. It's actually cool to have an AI assistant right there at your fingertips so you can get things done that you can sometimes get stuck on - it's super quick, in minutes, in seconds.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Neeka
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to life itself. You never know the path that you're gonna end up taking. I think it's just you live and you learn. In order to become something great, you have to make mistakes. You have to. Sometimes mistakes have different levels to it, but I feel like as you're growing as a youth, you kind of make the most clumsy mistakes, and once you learn those skills, you kind of take them into your adulthood. And hopefully that turns you into an upstanding person, an upstanding citizen. Life is the biggest teacher to any journey, and everyone has their own journeys, and they're all different. I wouldn't be here without failures. I probably would have quit a long time ago. And that's just because maybe I did it and I felt like I achieved it, but I only put like 75% into it. And now it's no fun, because it's like, I didn't learn anything from it. So failure is important.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to keep going, no matter what. Whatever you're doing, always treat it like it's yours. So if I'm working for an organization or working for myself, I always treat it like it's my business. And I never give up. I always give it 100%. I keep going, even when things show up that you don't naturally want to happen. I'll figure it out. I'm going to figure it out. I'm never gonna just be like, okay, this is it. I'm gonna keep pushing forward.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to a young woman entering this industry is to learn all that you can. When people say something, test it out for yourself. Everybody has an opinion on what works for them, what doesn't, and that might not be the case for you. Just keep going in your niche and figure it out until you find that thing that actually fits. Not everything is for everyone. Taking an opinion of just one individual could stop your whole progression into whatever it is that you're doing. So try it out for yourself. Always have an open mind.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in my field right now is that a lot of consumers aren't open to AI usage. Some people want traditional approaches. They think that AI is gonna kind of hack them. The data creation that they bring in their clients, they feel like they are more subjected to being hacked with using AI. Some of these AI companies do save the data, the chat between the agent and the consumer. Some claim that they don't. So I feel like that's where the friction comes in, the misconception. People are worried, are you gonna steal my ideas? If I'm asking you to help me create something, are you gonna take it? That's one of the downfalls. I also get a lot of pushback on AI-generated photos - no one likes those. No one likes those. And I agree. I like to go into Canva and create my own. But these are all learning tools that we all have to go through to figure out which ones are better for each client. One of the greatest opportunities is because some people are excited about it. They want to make sure that you know what you're doing. If you don't get into it, you could possibly be left behind on how much is changing. This is one of those golden opportunities for this industry to grow. If misused, it could be dangerous, but that's just with everything.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in my work and personal life are integrity and fair treatment. I feel like those are the key values to having a client fully understand their purpose and what you can provide for them. I think misleading anyone can turn out sour, so I feel like integrity, having that notion when you first meet an individual or when you first sit down for your first meeting, is the key factor. Just come as you are, and be as honest as possible, because that'll get you further than fabricating anything.
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