"No" Is Always Guaranteed... So Strive for a "Yes", with the Coding Mermaid Monica Fidalgo

Meet Monica Fidalgo 🇵🇹! Monica is a front-end product engineer at Cloudflare, an advocate for new developers and women in tech, as well as a teacher, mentor, and resume reviewer. Her path to tech wasn’t straightforward: she originally studied marine biology and was a licensed scuba diver!

Monica's life took a dramatic turn when she was involved in a serious car accident that temporarily left her unable to walk. After months of recovery, she was even able to run again! However, her recovery made finding a job in her already competitive field even more challenging. In 2018, she began exploring other interests and remembered her love for customizing her Blogger and Tumblr templates. So, she decided to learn web design!

In this episode, you’ll learn a thing or two about motivation. You'll also discover a fantastic technique you should be using when applying for jobs, and learn everything about Monica's inspiring career change. You'll also find out when to switch companies, how to evaluate coding schools before you sign up, and how Monica's car accident changed her outlook on life.

🔗 Connect with Monica

• 👩‍💼 LinkedIn

⏰ Timestamps

• Monica studied marine biology and thought IT was just for men (01:31)
• How Monica's car accident changed her outlook on life (04:29)
• Feeling sorry for yourself won't take you anywhere (08:53)
• Community break with Jan the Producer (09:27)
• How Monica learned to code (11:02)
• Monica coded during the day and worked at night - but also took up sports (13:57)
• "It's difficult, but it won't last forever" (15:24)
• Monica's family wasn't always supportive (16:36)
• You can't count on luck (18:38)
• Monica had a checklist of companies she wanted to work for (19:10)
• How to apply to a company without open job ads (20:35)
• Quick-fire questions (21:07)
• How Monica found her first job in tech (23:09)
• Getting ahead of the curve: why you should be sending your CV to HRs on LinkedIn (23:27)
• Why - and how - Monica changes jobs (25:57)
• How Monica got a job at Cloudflare (29:37)
• Monica's first counter-proposal and why women should negotiate their salaries (32:51)
• "You already have a NO. Try getting a YES"
• Sometimes you feel bad - and that's okay (39:19)
• Boxing! (40:45)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Lisi Linhart
• From Pathologic Anatomy to QA Lead

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