Her Story
About tammy
I went to college for a visual communication design degree, specializing in graphic design. After graduating, I started working in the marketing field as well as web design, which allowed me to pivot my career and switch into tech. I got my certificate in a coding bootcamp through UCI (University of California, Irvine), and after that, I started my career in the tech field as a front-end developer, developing websites using React and JavaScript. At Tom Ferry, my last company, I progressed to working on mobile applications from scratch, where I learned new languages and worked on fun startup projects in fitness and cinema. I really got involved in mobile app development and was promoted into a lead position, continuing to work in that field. I earned the nickname 'Mobile Guard' from my team because I'm the first contact for anything related to mobile apps. My team also calls me the 'Bug Fighter' and 'Bug Swatter' because I find bugs in software and fix them. In my current role, I work on tickets in the sprint board on different projects. Lately, with AI evolving, my day has shifted where I spend time creating custom skills to maximize my time and skills. I've been exploring automated workflows where code can create branches based on tickets, propose solutions, and open pull requests on GitHub. I've set up connections between cloud-based systems with JIRA and GitHub. It's been really fun to explore this new area in tech where instead of manually writing code, it's more about how you can maximize your knowledge and train models to work for you and automate everything.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with tammy
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think my most notable achievement is my ability to pivot into a new field and figure it out and grow with it, as well as my adaptation to continuous change in the tech field. Both my previous managers told me that one of my strengths is that I'm really, really good at figuring things out. It's really great to have the trust of my team and to be that person that the team trusts.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of the best pieces of advice my mentor told me when I was in the bootcamp of coding at UCI was: if you run into something and don't know if it works, just do it. Just code it out, just test it out, debug it. Don't worry that it may not work, or may not be the best solution. You don't know until you try. So don't be scared, just jump in and figure it out.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The one piece of advice I keep saying to students in my class, especially girls, is that in the tech field, there are not a lot of girls, and it can be intimidating to show your skill and your knowledge. So just be yourself and try to explore. It might sound kind of cheesy, but just do it. If you run into something and don't know if it works, just code it out, just test it out, debug it. Don't worry that it may not work or may not be the best solution. You don't know until you try. So don't be scared, just jump in and figure it out.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge right now is that it's very overwhelming and continuously changing at a pace that feels really fast. The challenge is to keep yourself up to date and don't limit yourself to just one option. Don't get intimidated by AI - I think that's the biggest challenge now, the fear of everyone, especially in the tech field, that AI is going to take over. But as I explore and teach myself more about AI, I think AI is here and it's not going to replace us, but it's a tool to help us maximize our strength. So just learn, just try to learn and figure it out, and how to use AI in a meaningful way. Don't get scared of it, as I've been doing with custom skills.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · California
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.