Rebecca Key - From PhD to Frontend

Show Notes:

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Transcript:

Bekah: 00:08

Hello and welcome to Season seven, episode five of the Virtual Coffee Podcast. I'm Bekah, and this is a podcast that features members of the Virtual Coffee community. Virtual Coffee is an intimate group of developers at all stages of their coding journey, and they're here on this podcast sharing their stories and what they've learned, and we are here to share it with you. Here with me today is my co-host.

Dan: 00:32

What up, Beck? How's it going?

Bekah: 00:34

It is fantastic. How's it going with you?

Dan: 00:37

It's going pretty good. Yeah, I've had probably too much coffee this morning, but other than that, feeling pretty good.

Bekah: 00:44

Nice.

Dan: 00:45

And so today we have another awesome, interview with another awesome member of Virtual Coffee. We're talking to Rebecca Key, uh, who is a software engineer based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Rebecca had a really cool story. She was actually an organic chemist for years. She has her PhD, so I'm sorry. I should have said Dr. Rebecca Key. I meant to do that earlier. And, uh, she, so she was an organic chemist, did that for a long time, worked in a lab, all that stuff. And then, um, around the Covid times, I think, uh, transitioned to being a developer, which I think a lot of our career changer people, did that during that time. Uh, you know, sort of a tumultuous time for everybody and um, yeah, it was really good talking to.

Bekah: 01:26

Yeah, it was really cool to talk about that transition and then also bringing her hobbies into things. She talked a lot about her experience with her ham radio, which I thought was really cool, and I really love getting to know like all of the sides of the people who come to the podcast. So I, I think that we got to explore a lot of different aspects of what it is to be a person.

Dan: 01:48

Yeah, absolutely.

Bekah: 01:50

Well, we start every episode of the podcast, like we start every Virtual Coffee. We say our names, where we're from, what we do, and a random check-in question. We hope you enjoy this episode. Today's random check-in question is, what's one fun fact that you know. So one fun fact that I know is that possums have 13 nipples and they go in a circle with the 13th, one in the middle.

Dan: 02:31

can't be real

Bekah: 02:32

It is. I looked it up. I, and this like a side note, I was at a conference once and they were giving out drink tickets and they were like, tell us a fun fact. And I told them that Fun fact. And they were like, well, we meant about yourself, but that will work too. Cool.

Dan: 02:49

yeah, you just broke my brain. I, that's kind of thing a, a child would draw, would draw Um, Hey, do you want to do the rest of the intro? Or you just like, Like your

Bekah: 03:01

dang I just got really excited about the question. Screw this all up. My name is Bekah. I am a technical community builder from a small town in Ohio, and there's also an animal that poops, um, in squares, but I can't remember which one it is. Who

Dan: 03:18

that one I knew it's a wombat, right?

Bekah: 03:20

Yes, wombat. I know that.

Dan: 03:22

I knew. that one. Uh, that is, uh, yeah, that is the talent. I've always been jealous of, you know, like, that seems like a, a. a, a cool ability,

Bekah: 03:31

Do you know why they poop in squares?

Dan: 03:33

Um, I don't know for sure. My guess is something about rolling downhills, but I don't actually know.

Bekah: 03:38

Yeah, it's to mark territory so it wouldn't roll down hills. They needed to have square poop. So they made it happen.

Dan: 03:46

uh, nature is a miracle. uh, okay. Hi, I'm Dan. Um, Yeah. Cleveland aisle computery things. Um, let's see. Fun fact. Okay,

Bekah: 03:59

you gonna get on me for my intro? And you say computery things.

Dan: 04:02

well, I said something, you know, uh, okay. Um, there are, uh, let's see, broccoli, uh, cauliflower, kale, something else. all are, um, all are related and oh, Brussels sprouts, um, and come from the same plant, and they're all human made. So the, this one plant humans, uh, like took this plant and then selected for, you know, flowers and made cauliflower and selected for something else. I, I don't really know all the genetics, but like all of those plants don't come from nature. They come from, they come from human, uh, you know, like plant, I don't know what you call it, gene manipulation, but, not in a chemistry lab.

Bekah: 04:49

So why do they choose all the bitter things and, and not like chocolate

Dan: 04:55

I think the plant was bitter. I, I don't think they could,

Bekah: 04:58

Yeah. But why would you say like, I'm gonna take this bitter plant and make more bitter plants out of it. Like,

Dan: 05:04

well, some people like bitter plants.

Bekah: 05:06

I mean, I also enjoy eating all of

Dan: 05:08

I do too, right?

Bekah: 05:10

like

Dan: 05:10

But they're, and they're different like the, you know, like you can. broccoli and cauliflower, that makes those like, kind of look similar, uh, except for the color, but like the, uh, yeah, kale and, and I don't know if asparagus is in there.

Bekah: 05:25

doesn't it come from the mustard seed?

Dan: 05:28

I don't

Bekah: 05:28

Sorry.

Dan: 05:29

I have no idea. I mean it comes from some kind of a seed cuz it's a. I don't, I don't remember what the, I should work on this fun fact so that I can actually say it, you know, uh, uh, for drink tickets. apparently But, uh, yeah, that's my, that's a fir first fun fact that popped into my brain, so I'm going with that.

Rebecca: 05:45

My name is Rebecca. I am a software engineer based out of Atlanta, Georgia. And a fun fact, one of the first ones that's coming to my mind is from an. Old school email chain. And I remember it's apparently impossible to lick your elbow.

Dan: 06:00

like nobody can do it.

Bekah: 06:02

Does kids have tried? Yeah.

Rebecca: 06:05

And then according to the, you know, the email chain are further down, it's like a certain number of people are going to try to lick their elbow after reading this But, um, I don't know if that, um, myth has been debunked or not, but, um, apparently it's tough or too impossible to do. Get to

Dan: 06:22

wanna

Bekah: 06:25

It wanna try.

Dan: 06:26

Everybody at Try right now.

Bekah: 06:28

don't do, you can't do that thing, then I am usually gonna try it. But in the circumstance, I, I'm not gonna try it in front people. After we're done recording, I will try to lick my elbow

Dan: 06:39

Oh fine. Uh, yeah, I wonder if there's like the, you know, the people that can do the, the like crazy, you know, I don't know what you call it. Um, or they can beat super bendy and stuff, you know? Uh, yeah. Yeah. I wonder if there's something like that, you know, or there was, who was it? In Lethal Weapon, the guy Rig. What is, I forget what the actor's name is, but he had a trick, he had a trick, a trick shoulder where he could pop it out, you know, like in like he used it to get out of, you know, bad situations. But I wonder if he could pop it out and then like turn his arm around, All right, if you have a trick shoulder, I want to hear from you to let us know.

Bekah: 07:19

That's right. Send us, send us some messages. Podcast Virtual Coffee.io. Right? We have that email address.

Dan: 07:27

Oh yeah, definitely.

Bekah: 07:29

Send us all your feedback and fun stories. We're here for them. and speaking of fun stories, we have Rebecca Key here with us today and oh, we are very thankful. So thank you for being here. We're very excited to hear your story.

Rebecca: 07:43

Thank you again for having me so. Um, as I mentioned before, I'm a software engineer. Um, I come to tech after many years in being in science, um, specifically organic chemistry. I served in many roles over the years in research labs, being a laboratory technician all the way up to a research director in the pet care industry. And, um, from there like. being an r d director that was in the height of the pandemic. So, you know, with the world shut down, everyone kind of, or some people, you know, paused. It's like, okay, you know, where am I at? Where am I going? Where do I wanna go? And I had. Made solid contributions in my role, and what I wanted to do was be able to use my problem solving skillset to be able to make a broader impact. And when I say broader impact with software engineering, namely front end development, which I spend most of my time doing, you have. A pretty quick feedback loop on your work. Like in science, it can be an order of years from an idea from inception to completion to any sort of publication. And within that, your lab experiments can, you know, last from days to weeks. Again, where I hit refresh on a UI and I immediately, again, know where I'm going and a wrong answer is at least an answer to get me back on the right track and I can do that quickly. Um, hopefully not taking a matter of days, years, et cetera. You gotta get, get help along before that comes along. So that's what brought me to the field. I started working with, a fitness-based web app that. I started, um, race prep Fit. I'm hoping to get that eventually is a, um, subscription service. the premise of it is having users customize their training program to meet goals for an event of their choice. Um, I've also, beyond that, have done some independent contract work, um, most recently with Dan. Um, UI elements in React, and it was a really neat experience where, you know, I'm a, I'm a React developer more than anything else in tech, but I was able to learn more frameworks in React versus just the Create React app where I started. So it was, you know, neat being able to use Storybook, you know, getting familiar with remix and even dabbling a little bit in type script, which I had been wanting to do, and that gave me a reason. To work on that. Done some other freelance work where I'm, you know, building static websites. Companies billing a landing page, getting a form ready for people to subscribe to the company's email list. Um, I've actually most, most recently started diving into content creation, reviving my blog for hand, radio Adventures, RF Quest. Um, alongside that, um, I'm editing a video of where I built a 40 meter antenna in my backyard. Um, hopefully hoping to get that on YouTube here in the next few days. So, You know, definitely keeping myself busy with things like that. And also with working with the ham radio, I'm able to keep my speaking and writing skills up to snuff because unfortunately that is a very perishable skill set, and it's so important no matter what field you go into, to be able to communicate, whether it's, you know, speaking or. And then also with radio, I'm able to, um, do different contesting, um, parks on the air is something that we've been doing more recently where it gets us out of the house. We set up radios at different, you know, state parks, wildlife management areas. Um, Public fishing areas, and if you can get more than 10 contacts on radio, you've activated the park. Um, also within some of these state parks, you've got, you know, mountain biking trails on some of them. There's hiking trails. You can go paddle boats. So it really. You know, it encourages us to get out of the house, you know, with, um, remote work is great, but you do have to make an effort to, you know, separate yourself so you can recharge and then, you know, be the best you can be. Um, even with the exercising I do, I'm running in the neighborhood, I'm, I got a power rack in my living room, so I'll weightlift in my living room. I didn't crochet in my living room, so this is a really, um, great way to get out of the neighborhood. You know, talk to people through technology. It may not be coding, but it's definitely hitting that science and technology check mark. That's been a consistent in my life.

Bekah: 12:29

I really loved it.

Dan: 12:30

Yeah. I, I love it too. Sorry, Bekah. I, I think we're both excited about it though. It, it's, it's such a cool idea. Um, I have like so many questions about the hand radio stuff. I, um, so the, the program, what is the program called? With the parks?

Rebecca: 12:46

It's called Parks on the Air or POTA. Um, there's also SOTA Summits on the air where you can, you know, hike or mountain bike up a mountain. That's a designated summit for the program. There's a lot of them in North Georgia that's relatively locally. For that one, you have to make four uh, contacts, um, to activate the. So that one's a little different. There's a big prize on that one. Um, I think it, I think it's a hundred contacts in a year. Um, ham radio, sodium enthusiasts, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the Mountain Goat Award and that's a really, um, big one to get. Um, we met someone not that long ago that, um, did it on two meters, which is more of a local line of sight band. So that was definitely a challenge added to that as well.

Dan: 13:35

Nice. so you built a big antenna in your yard, is it the same, are you using the same radio like at home and when you're traveling? Or do you have, like, is there a smaller one or, you know,

Rebecca: 13:46

so this particular one, um, this antenna is actually just a long, um, about 61 feet of wire for this particular one. This one was actually made in mind, um, to take with us for portable ops.

Dan: 14:01

Oh wow. The one in your backyard.

Rebecca: 14:04

Um, there are some in the backyard for, um, the, the home unit that's,

Dan: 14:09

Yeah, there's a hill unit. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I, that's what I was like, yeah. So how heavy is the, how heavy is the one where you are taking it to parks and you know, mountains and stuff?

Rebecca: 14:18

so, uh, the one we take is probably just a couple of pounds. I mean, you've gotta take, you know, the batteries as well with it. Um, I always have to make sure to charge those beforehand so you can actually use radio. I mean, antenna's pretty lightweight. Um, real easy to work with. The brand that we built this antenna with, um, it's called SOTA Beams. They actually, it's a company that kind of has the SOTA contesting in mind, for people to just be able to easily transport it.

Dan: 14:45

That's so cool. it reminds me of, of, um, well, I guess Pokemon Go now. there was a game called Ingress before that was that, you know, the people who made Pokemon Go, uh, ingress first, you know, and then they basically kind of rebranded it. But the thing that I loved the most about it was, it was that same thing, right? Where there's like, there are goals and stuff, but it, you have to, you have to travel around. Like, it not maybe as, I mean, you, you can choose how much you go, you know, but you get rewarded for going new places and, you know, exploring new places and, and stuff like that. It's, it's really neat. I love those, combinations of, you know, technology and, and, Forcing you to get away from just sitting at your computer or your phone or whatever, you know? Cuz lots of times when you think of that kind of stuff, for me at least, I end up just sitting on my computer you know, doing neat stuff, but like, still just, just sitting here, you know? So I love that. I love anything that helps you, helps you, um, you know, rewards you for getting out, uh, into the world,

Rebecca: 15:42

For sure, even locally, it's nice to have a good little change of scenery when you need it, and some of these state parks are within about 30 minutes from where we live, so that's not too bad of a drive.

Dan: 15:51

Nice.

Bekah: 15:52

I think it's interesting cuz you've talked a lot about how we touch on technology in our lives, like outside of the coding, uh, but how impactful that it could still be, how it can still create connections for us and how you. Are kind of utilizing your interest to be able to do that. And so you talked a little bit about this app that you're creating, that you want it to move into a subscription service, which sounds like it's, it's filling that need as well. So did that get started as a project personally for you or to help you learn and, you know, how have you kind of, how has that developed throughout your skillset development as.

Rebecca: 16:32

So it was kind of a little bit of everything. It was kind of my first foray into learning React. Um, I've been in probably a consistent runner, probably f. Within the last 10 years, I've been running on an off since I was 14. it's something that is a great form of exercise because it's readily available and easy to do. The best forms of exercise are ones you can do, and if figured it would keep me motivated to keep running, it would, you know, get me going and react. But also kind of think of a way of. Okay. What can be, what con contributions can you make that aren't already out there? And that's kind of like in chemistry as well. You're doing research on something that's entirely new or you're finding a new twist on something that's already there, or you're building on, you know, something else. Just showing something new and. You know, what I was hoping for to show, um, something new with this is to be able to have something where a user can customize a training plan as opposed to something where it's like, okay, I ran three miles today. Which that's great that those things do have their purpose, but you know, someone wants a little bit more than just, you know, logging miles. This is a way to say, okay, I wanna train in this manner. This run's gonna be a temper run. This run's gonna be at pace. Or you're kinda log where you run at intervals and things like that. If you're doing speed work for example, it kinda gives, kinda opens some doors to having a little more data and you know, is a somebody who's spent my career handling data telling stories. That's also kind of something that appealed to, um, working on a more of a fitness based.

Bekah: 18:22

I think that's really great. I had used, uh, like a handful of years ago, couch to 5K or, or whatever it was. Um, and it's pretty straightforward, right? Like everybody has the same workouts I think every day. And then I found, When I started getting back into running about a year ago that I wanted to improve, but I didn't really know how to, because there's, at least I couldn't really find anything out there. So that idea of like what you are talking about, that kind of, um, customization, different kinds of running. Workouts or whatever is really appealing because it, I, I know I pretty much know nothing about running. Oh, I can't run now cause I tore the meniscus in my knee. But one day when I, when I get back there, that idea of improving my speed is something that I'd like to focus on. And finding the application of data to do that is a really interesting concept. I.

Rebecca: 19:25

For sure is, is going well, and I'm looking forward to seeing your, where it goes, where it takes me, and all of that.

Bekah: 19:34

It sounds like you're doing a lot of different things, right? You, you've got, um, a lot of hobbies and activities and you're doing contract work and you're doing this. How do you. Balance or not balance, all of the different things that you're working on.

Rebecca: 19:50

So, um, I have to prioritize, you know, basically with deadlines. Um, some things are a little more pressing, need to be done a little faster. So those things I do, you know, prioritize. first there's some things, depending on what needs to be done with it. I take more time to. Dedicate to that. But what I try to do big picture, you know, I have my written list of things I do need to do. and, you know, try to, you know, give, prioritize, you know, stuff that's needs to be done sooner, that needs more time. Um, take, you know, take those first and then if there's something that can wait, you know, that kind of gets put to the bottom of the list. um, you know, try to big picture, you know, try to multitask. But there, if there's something that, you know, needs my attention a little more, you know, briefly, you know, put some other things aside, get the priority done. And what I also do, and I did this in science as well, um, I'm a note taker. I'm hardcore pen and paper. But if you, if I get to the end of something around at a good stopping point, I will make notes of what I need to do next when I come back to it. Because sometimes you get taken away from something longer than you want to, and having that cue of what you've done and what you need to get back to is a way where I. Ideally, you know, minimize time, just scrambling, trying to figure out what I did, going behind myself. So that's kind of a, a, a, um, tool that I've had for many years that I carry with me if it serves me pretty well in tech as far as, you know, getting caught back up to speed on something that I haven't touched, maybe in a bit.

Dan: 21:32

I think that's, I think that's such a great idea. I. I struggle with the problem that you have solved And, you know, I, you know, and, and for me lots of times it's like, okay, well I'm just gonna leave these four, you know, 14 tabs open and, you know, hopefully they're still open when I come back to them and I can decode what I was thinking. You know, something like that. I, I, the, uh, it doesn't work that well. I mean, it sometimes works, it's sometimes not. Um, and, and I think, you know, when you're independent, like, like you are, You don't have, you know, you don't have a, a manager like telling you all the different things and stuff and that sort of ability to prioritize and quickly, quickly change context. You know, I, it's such a valuable skill and, and I, I feel like you have, I feel like you've figured a lot of that stuff out. It's really cool to hear. I'm al also also very jealous. A all time with people who, who can take notes and, you know, do take good notes and useful notes. Uh, I'm, I've, I never learned that skill, you know, I struggled with it in school and. just didn't even try after school But, uh, the times that I've taken notes, I'm like, man, this is awesome. I should do this all the time. And then I don't,

Rebecca: 22:39

It Nice with the to-do list. I have kinda that visual cue of kind of where to start, where I need to look and go. And I also use org mode, um, with emax to kind of keep another list of some things like what progress I'm making, where I'm at on it. Um, it gives you, you know, to do in progress and review done. So I, I use that as well to accompany. But yeah, even if I'm in a meeting with someone, I think one of my first meetings with you, Dan, on the work we did, I'm like, I'm a note taker. If I'm looking down doing this, I'm not ignoring you. I'm just taking notes cuz I've, you know, gotta have my pen and paper nearby. I dunno if that comes with just, you know, keeping laboratory notebooks all those years. I mean, even my knitting and crocheting, I've got a lab notebook, quote of the work I do with it. So,

Dan: 23:21

That's awesome.

Bekah: 23:23

I love that and I, I met, um, with an owner of a company a couple of years ago and I really appreciated when he said to me, if I'm looking down, it's because I'm taking notes. Right. Because I think sometimes that can be off-putting and I appreciate that, that you mentioned that too. Like if I'm not looking, and I try and do that as well because I'm a, a big note taker. I don't know where I'm going with this train of thought. other than, um, notetaking is one of those things that we actually talk about a lot at Virtual Coffee and getting started in note taking and different tools for note taking. And it can be a little bit over like. Sounds straightforward, right? You take notes, but it's, it's not like it's complex for a lot of people. And then the tools over there, out, out there can be really overwhelming. I find myself mostly, um, pen and paper, but I do have, I use obsidian very lightly. Just because I mostly use it for markdown to be able to do that. Have you gone on like a note-taking journey where you've tried some of these other tools? I tried notion like a handful of times and every time I'm just super overwhelmed. I can't handle it.

Rebecca: 24:34

So I've, I've kept up with org mode a little bit and there's a lot org mode can do. It's, it's definitely more of an, an EMAX based, um, Um, that one I just kind of keep trying some general notes and also kind of a backup in case, you know, something happens to my, my spiral notebook or I can't find the information readily readily so I have it electronically so I can kind of grasp where I'm. Where I'm at with it and find it. Um, I've worked with not a little bit, I don't dislike it, but I didn't see where it really, helped me specifically. So I don't use it very often. Um, no, it's not a knock on the, the tool, it's just something that's not really working for me right now. Um, but what helps me with taking notes and sometimes I'll go back sometimes, um, I don't know necessarily need the detail, but it gives. um, if, when I need it, space and time, cuz if I have space and time, I can usually find what I'm looking for. Um, I tell people one of my superpowers is finding needles in haystacks, and that helps me too. That, especially if you can gimme a, a timeline on that. Um, also as well, you know, just writing the notes sometimes helps me. Better retain the information, so it helps me slow down, absorb what I need to absorb. Kind have that reference as well. Um, and you kind of circling back to ham radio, I actually might see song on my Twitter. I have this clipboard where I'm writing down my contacts. I've had that clipboard since I was 10 years old. I got it for my birthday and I have, it has seen, you know, QSOs for ham radio. It's seen my weekly spelling list. it's seen my PhD dissertation notes. It's, it's seen a lot, but, um, it's, you know, something that, It's just nice to write it down. And I've learned when I'm taking quick notes, like with my radio contacts, I have to get those logged in cause you have to log them into their app to, for it to count. I've gotta do that pretty soon because you can get a backlog or it's like, I don't remember the details of this particular q s, so I need to just go log. Get it where it needs to go. So I get the important details where they need to be. Um, of course, you know, if I'm writing fast, the longer time goes, the less I'm able to read my own handwriting. I'm left-handed, I got that straw going on Um, but yeah, it's like, um, I am a shameless note taker. and, um, just any, like we've talked, yeah. Virtual Coffee. It's like, okay, I just need some college rule paper. I need a, an extra fine point on it because being a lefty, you get all this ink down your hand, it makes such a mess. Um, when I would ta in, in grad school when I was on the whiteboard, even whiteboard, present day, I'm always checking myself to make I don't have all the residue on my hand. But, eh, lefty problem. So,

Bekah: 27:35

always wanted to be left-handed. There's a fun fact about me,

Rebecca: 27:40

Blessing and a curse

Dan: 27:41

What? Yeah, I mean, you could train yourself to be left-handed.

Bekah: 27:45

Well, I tried to for a while when I was a kid. Um, just dunno that I have that kind of time

Dan: 27:52

Yeah. Yeah. of a,

Bekah: 27:54

I feel like it's kind of cheating. Like, oh, I'm not really left-handed. I just forced myself to be able to be,

Dan: 28:00

yeah, I think, I mean, honestly, being, being ambidextrous would be the, the coolest. I think that'd be, that'd be really cool to be able to, you know, do everything equally with both hands.

Rebecca: 28:12

Fun fact actually left-handed people have a greater tendency to be ambidextrous,

Bekah: 28:17

Oh, interesting.

Dan: 28:19

Is that a social thing or is that like a,

Rebecca: 28:23

Well, in, in a right-handed world, it's like we have to adapt. So I learned to play guitar. Um, back in college and, you know, I was brought up to the teacher, I'm like, I'm left-handed. Do I need a left-handed guitar? And he's, and he presented that, you know, lefties can be more ambidextrous. And they're like, you know, that makes sense. He's like, you know, you try to learn right-handed because you're really gonna cut yourself off if you, you know, have to be. If you have to guitar left-handed, but guitar left-hand, what controls the neck? So it actually worked out for me. I don't play a lot. I haven't played, I can't remember the last time I played. But, um, you know, taking kind of that iteration, I was able to do that right-handed. I sometimes have to cut right-handed cuz the scissors don't like me. But that's, once I get of scissors, it works like they're mine,

Dan: 29:06

Yeah. Yeah, that, uh, the scissors was a big, so my, my, uh, younger son is left-handed, and that was like, and none of, none of my family is, you know, like, uh, and the scissors, the fact that right-handed scissor, there's actually right-handed and left-handed scissors, and they're, they're, they're built differently. Like, that was a mind blowing thing. I, I had no idea, no idea about that. Like, I, I thought it was just like, oh, the shape of the holes, you know, the shape that, you know, it's just like a comfort thing. It was actually like the way that the cutting edges are. Is opposite on left-handed scissors. Uh, and, and it's something about the way that, you know, cuz the way you hold it, your, your thumb is moving. The scissors, you know, so that blade is the one that's moving. And so when you do it the opposite side, it doesn't cut that well if you have right-handed scissors and you're using your left hand. And I had like, I had no idea about that. is like a mind blowing thing, so,

Rebecca: 29:58

little scissors in school, those little, little basic safety scissors, those are a nightmare lefthanded

Dan: 30:04

Oh, I mean, that's why we Yeah, that, well, that's exactly why we did that cuz we have those, those safety scissors and so we, you can buy left-handed safety scissors and they you know, you know what I mean? And so we, we did that and it, like, it made a difference. But I had, I had no idea. Yeah. Uh, learn, learn new things. uh, I feel like Sam said, so he's four and he gets confused sometimes cuz his, you know, Bennett's right-handed his, his older brother that he, you know, falls around and does all this stuff. And so he's goes back and forth. His, his mind is left-handed, you know what I mean? But he's like, he just gets all mixed up. I'm like, why, why you using your right hand? I'm like, you can do whatever you know, but like, I think it might be easier for you if you, he's like, oh yeah, I forgot. So I dunno.

Rebecca: 30:46

it's always to remind myself like, am I left-handed when I do this from I right-handed when I do cuz I played, when I played softball many years ago, I played right-handed because I was. I could throw with, I throw better with my left and I'd throw left dominantly to this day, but I couldn't catch, cause you have to, your gloves on your right hand playing softball. And I couldn't catch as well with my right hand. So I had to switch that up because it's like, more efficient if I can catch left-handed and, you know, get by with my, you know, right-handed arm So, yeah, it's, it's definitely. you go through life figuring it out. and in any leftal can empathize with, um, backing out of a parking space the wrong way. And there get the wrong end of the door. Like, you know, with the bar you push on the wrong side.

Bekah: 31:40

I do that all the time. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. That's my brain still wanting to be left-handed. Yeah, it's interesting. I was talking to somebody recently about this. It might have been James Quick, and I wonder like there are some people that they will, right. Left-handed or Right, right-handed. But they'll do things like play golf or play sports left-handed. And so then I, I wonder like how do you, like what makes you right-handed or left-handed? Is it just. The hand that you write with, and that's what you choose because if you use your left hand dominantly in other things, then what? Are you just ambidextrous? Is that what you say? I don't know.

Rebecca: 32:26

so for me, um, I would tell people I. Pretty decently lefthanded cuz some people are, are a little more dominant on the lefthand than others. So, um, I have a cousin who's left-handed, you know, she played basketball right-handed. I played basketball left cuz I was much better left-handed than right, although you had to, you know, if you're a short five, three person like myself playing, you gotta play point guard, handle the ball. But I was more dominant on the left hand side. Softball again, I was just able to be more functional, playing right-handed so I could, you know, throw in catch whereas, you know, having to catch with my right hand, it would, it'd been more of a learning curve at the time.

Dan: 33:08

yeah. So you could teach yourself to do anything with either hand if both hands work the same, but left-handed isness or right-handed whatever. It's, it's genetic. Like it is a genetic thing, but, um, there's like a lot of social, you know, things like, uh, There was, you know, there, there used to be like superstitions about left-handed people, right? And so that got like corrected. And, and so the writing is like, probably they just were taught, either taught to write right-handed before anybody realized that they're left-handed, or, you know, cuz it's kind of hard when you have like little kids, it's like they're really paying attention to what I, what they're doing or whatever. And so if they start writing and, and you say, use your right hand, use your right hand, you know, uh, before you realize that they're left-handed. That's probably how that happens. You're making a lot of faces,

Bekah: 33:53

I am, I'm going down a rabbit hole of like, what makes some, like what happens in your brain if you're left-handed. And it, I mean, it's wild. Let's see. Um,

Rebecca: 34:04

We're in our right mind.

Bekah: 34:05

handedness is associated with functional lateralization of cerebral dominant. I, I just have

Dan: 34:14

totally. I mean, I was gonna say that I

Bekah: 34:16

less lateralized brains. What? This is really, I don't know. I never really thought of the neur of left-handedness until right now, and now this is gonna be something I'm stuck on. Wow. There's studies that are done on identical twins with different handed.

Rebecca: 34:38

Yes, that is actually, I had, um, identical twin friends in high school. Um, they're, a lot of times they're mirror images of each other, so they're

Bekah: 34:46

Whoa,

Dan: 34:47

Mm-hmm.

Rebecca: 34:47

images. One's usually right-handed, one's usually left-handed or maybe a little more of the ambidextrous side, but that's actually very common with identical twins, at where one's where handed ones left.

Dan: 34:58

Yeah, I have good friends that are in the same, the same situation I had, I had forgotten about that till just now. But yeah, it's, uh, that honestly has frus frustrating. You have, you, you as a, as a parent, you have then you have to buy different sets of everything, all at once. um, different baseball

Bekah: 35:20

uh, I'm gonna provide some links in the show notes for anybody else who is in the brains of left-handers.

Dan: 35:30

this is, yeah, this was an interesting, we, we always have these strange offshoots in the, in

Rebecca: 35:36

All about like the ink mess on my hand, It's just something that I've always been cognizant of because makes such a mess. And we talked about note taking, believer in note taking. This is how I do it.

Bekah: 35:52

I love it though. I mean, like, this is, uh, a lot of the discussion about like who people are, right? And I don't know, I don't have these conversations all the time. I've never had this conversation about left-handedness. So it's like fun to kind of think about like, okay, who, who are the people who are in tech? And like, this is, Maybe more fun than talking, more fun for me than, than comparing technologies. Um, I wanna circle back just for a second, uh, because you have a PhD

Rebecca: 36:23

I do,

Bekah: 36:24

we, we didn't really talk about that that much. So your PhD is in chemistry, right?

Rebecca: 36:30

yes. I'm specifically organic chemistry. Um, I went, went down the chemistry path. Um, in college, I was a biology major. At first I changed my major to chemistry. And um, when people ask, it's like, okay, why are you a chemistry major? Why did you change? I took organic chemistry and I accidentally liked it, So, you know, you get these horror stories about organic chemistry is so hard. It's soul sucking, it's torture. And you know, I really started enjoying it in spite of, um, kind of a funny story about, um, a lab writeup I did many years ago. Um, I remember going to office hours and getting frustrated and I finally got the answer. And then I remember telling my then, professor, I'm never gonna work in a lab. famous last words, Cause I, um, spent, spent years in research in labs and funny enough that professor was actually my contact on my first academic research job. So I'm sure he laughed a lot about my then 19 year old self proclaiming. That's never gonna happen, will

Bekah: 37:34

That's funny. I, my freshman year of college, I wanted to be a math major, and so I wanted to take Calc two, but they didn't offer it. Instead they offered an English class, which I took, and then I ended up being an English major and taught English for 10 years after that. So it's funny, like the way that things happen that you don't expect. Yeah. And now I'm in tech, so

Rebecca: 37:54

For sure and um, even when I was a lab tech, when I was applying to graduate schools, cuz. You can learn a lot as a lab tech, but you also hit glass ceilings. So I wanted to do more work where I could do independent work, I could own my own projects, um, you know, write papers, you know, a lot, have a lot more, um, options than you could as a lab tech. And so in spite of getting into the life sciences program at the medical college, I was doing research on, I'm like, you. Organic Chemistry was where it was at for me. I need to go down that path. So I went to Georgia Tech and my first half of my PhD was building catalysts to purify compounds that could be active pharmaceutical ingredients, another type of a P I And then I did my second half of my PhD in total synthesis where the compounds I was targeting had activity against. So there was really some neat research there. And then once I finished at Georgia Tech, I went to UT Knoxville, university of Tennessee, where I was able to, in my postdocs, take my organic synthesis skillset, build catalyst to convert lignan into valuable fuels and chemicals, where that was the end goal with the catalyst, um, get these valuable fuels and chemicals to have an alternative for, um, non-renewable resources. You know, should they become de. So that's, you know, some of the work where work with my, you know, PhD research as well as my postdoc.

Bekah: 39:29

That's fascinating. And so you spent a lot of time, it sounds like, doing all of this stuff and definitely a lot of schooling, and that's a huge investment. And then you decided to move into tech. Was there any part of you when you were making that decision that. Like sad leaving that behind or you know, I can't imagine it. It was an easy decision to move over, but maybe that's a part of the story we don't know yet.

Rebecca: 39:59

Well, some of it too, you know, it was, you know, we were in the height of the pandemic and you know, even though at my time my work was on site, cuz in chemistry you can't really you know, unless you're safely set up to have the fume hood and do this stuff at home, you don't do that stuff at home. And I was at the point of like, okay, well. how, what is normal gonna look like when the world opens up again? And I wanted to have those options of, of being able to use that same problem solving skillset to be able to do a role where I could do anywhere. Um, so some of it was the sign of the times. It was a lot of it. And again, you know, having that flexibility of, you know, doing your work from anywhere, you know, it provided you do it well, you know, that time you don't commute could be time, you know, you find a mountain bike trail and you know, you get a ride in. Cuz those things were important too. So, um, I do, you know, look back and can be, you know, proud of the work I've done, the contributions I've made to the field. Um, but you know, I've had a good time in tech, a great time, you know, troubleshooting. Like I'll go through, you know, some of my apps and you know, you know, kinda take the same approach as I I did in science. It's like, okay, I gotta troubleshoot. I gotta take one variable at a time. Um, in tech, of course, you know, I'll play user on my UI and going back to taking notes, it's like, okay, I'm gonna. Do, uh, engagement in action, I'm gonna write down what happens and then have that record of, you know, where maybe something went south and it's like, okay, I'm gonna target this here, start here. Cause I know this isn't doing what I want it to do. And then, you know, push it forward. And, um, yeah, it's, it's not, you know, being in, in a lab. you know, being able to troubleshoot still and be able to do it on that rapid time scale, um, is something that I really enjoy and I'm glad I, you know, took that step. You know, and it is a risk in a way cuz it is different than, you know, setting up your experiments, but you know, to be able to still troubleshoot and solve problems and, you know, still even collaborate. So it is like, you know, in research. you know, with collaborations, you know, plant scientists for example, instead of me learning how to be a plant scientist, I go talk to a plant scientist. We talk about some problems that we may need to solve for the project and they can, they've got the infrastructure to set up those experiments. Whereas I would have a lab accessible where we had, you know, stuff setting up to do synthetic organic chemistry. It's less time for me to set up what I need to set up. I have the know-how and the AC and the instruments and. Um, other setup to get those things done. And even in software and Virtual Coffee, even specifically, I have an idea of like, okay, I don't do ruby gun rails. I know Meg does. I know people who do view type script. Dan being one of those people, you know, content creation, Bekah, you. You do this every day, um, you know, you, you know who you can reach out to that can give you insight on things that you need to know, but you don't need to spend day-to-day doing. So still, I'm still getting all those goodies that I got, you know, working in a research lab.

Bekah: 43:21

I think that's such a great mindset, and I think there are a lot of people out there that think that you have to do it all and you definitely don't. It's, it's knowing who you can talk to about doing those things and utilizing them when you need to. That really makes you strong at what you do. That's, that's really.

Dan: 43:40

Yeah, especially as, excuse me, especially as an independent, um, developer, you know, it is such a strong and important skill to have in your clients, so I think we would appreciate it too. You know, not have. Like the exact same thing, right? Like, oh no, like I have to do this thing that I know nothing about. Do I want the, do I want the client to pay me for like two weeks to learn a new thing? Or, you know, an hour of somebody else's time that already knows it, right? The same, same thing. It's, it's, it's so cool.

Bekah: 44:09

So I, I do have just two more questions for you. And the first one is you. Got this really great journey that you've gone on. Uh, you've learned all of these things. What is one word to describe your career journey?

Rebecca: 44:24

I'd say dynamic, um, hands down. Um, it constantly changed whether I was seeking those changes or they. you know, presented themselves in this. Like I was keeping an open mind, like, okay, this is the better fit for me right now and um, I'll use it again. You know, I accidentally liked organic chemistry. I went down that path in science, and then when I switched over to tech, I thought the data science was gonna be my jam. And, you know, I don't close the doors on anything. But, you know, having that skillset in science to be able to visually, you know, tell stories with data, you know, I'm like, that's, that's me. That's, that's written about me. But you know, I ended up getting really acquainted with the front end and, you know, being a visual learner, that actually looking back makes a lot of sense. And I've been. You know, more front end, heavy, more react heavy that way. And then I've also learned a little bit more on the back end, um, circling back after a little bit from the initial Python and R with data science. So yeah, it's, um, I'd say dynamic. It's constantly changing. It's gonna change from this point forward. And keeping an open mind has always, you know, been beneficial cuz you just never know what you might be a good fit for to given time and.

Bekah: 45:42

that's exactly what I was gonna say. What is strength that you have in that openness to consider other things that might not seem like the natural path, cuz that can be really hard to do. And my last question for you is, what is one word that describes you?

Rebecca: 45:59

I'm gonna go with the word consistent. So, um, I would say I am a, what you see is what you get kind of person personality-wise. I would've told you that years ago. And, you know, in spite of, you know, the learning experiences, the things you know, That we grow from. I would say that the Rebecca you're talking to now was the same Rebecca you would've met in high school, more or less. And then as far as staying consistent on, you know, goals or projects that matter to me from anywhere of, you know, videotaping myself for three months, doing cheers and jumps and handsprings so I could finally make my squad success, I did, I did that three months straight to, um, you know, see myself to train and see what I needed to do, um, to, you know, present day. Been consistently working on coding and you know, even though you may not see this big significant change in a day,

Bekah: 46:54

Hmm.

Rebecca: 46:56

consistent has consistently served me well. So, um, I definitely say I'm, I'm consistent. If I can keep, you know, keep at something, sometimes it happens, you know, rapidly. Sometimes you wish it would happen faster, but that consistency has always been something that, that, again has served me well.

Bekah: 47:17

This is great. Well, thank you so much for being here with us today and talking through all of this, your interesting journey and giving us, I think, a lot of insight into what you're doing. And your approach to me is something that I'm gonna go back and reflect on because I think that there are so many strengths that you have there and ways that I would like to grow in my own journey. So I really appreciate you.

Rebecca: 47:41

Absolutely, and thank you both again for having me. This was a fun conversation.

Dan: 47:45

Yeah. Thank you Rebecca. Uh, alright, we will talk to you soon.

Rebecca: 47:50

All right, I'll see you then.

Dan: 47:51

Bye.

Rebecca: 47:52

Hi.

Dan: 47:55

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Virtual Coffee Podcast. This episode was produced by Dan Ott and Bekah Hawrot Weigel. If you have questions or comments you can hit us up on Twitter at VirtualCoffeeIO, or email us at podcast@virtualcoffee.io. You can find the show notes, sign up for the newsletter, check out any of our other resources on our website VirtualCoffee.io. If you're interested in sponsoring Virtual Coffee you can find out more information on our website at VirtualCoffee.io/sponsorship. Please subscribe to our podcast and be sure to leave us a review. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week!

The Virtual Coffee Podcast is produced by Dan Ott and Bekah Hawrot Weigel and edited by Dan Ott.