Home > Articles

My Life in Tech: Q&A with Software Developer Amanda Smith

Amanda Smith sits down with us and answers a few questions about becoming a software developer and teacher, and why failure is so important.
Like this article? We recommend

InformIT: What is your current job?  What are you working on now, specifically? 

Amanda Smith: Currently I have two jobs. I work fulltime as a Software Engineer at Pearson Education and part time as an Adjunct Online Facilitator for ITT Technical Institute. At Pearson, I support several eCommerce sites that utilize C#, ASP.NET, XSLT, SQL, and JavaScript. I’m currently working on an initiative to convert major sections of our site to use the .NET MVC framework to improve site performance. At ITT I teach several entry level IT courses. Currently I’m teaching a class of 20 students how to install, configure, build and maintain a SQL Server 2008 database for a medium-size apartment complex. 

InformIT: Why did you decide to become a programmer? How did you initially get introduced to it? 

Amanda: I took a computer class in high school, and one of our tasks was to update the high school website. I remember emailing the link out to family members so they could see the work I had done. Even though I was making simple updates to the website, I was inspired to see what else was possible.

InformIT: Did you have any particular role models – someone you looked at and thought, “I want to do what that person is doing”? 

Amanda: I was lucky enough to have several successful family members in the field. My mom became a programmer in 1980 for Indy Power & Light using COBOL and assembler. I remember going into the office with her and seeing the server room where she worked. I’d never seen so many computers in my life, I thought what she did was really neat.

InformIT: Did you go to school for your profession?  If so, where and what did you major in?  If not, where did you learn your skills?  

Amanda: I did, I attended IUPUI and obtained my BS in Computer Technology and later went on to earn my MS with a focus in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University.

InformIT: What’s been the toughest part of learning to be a developer?  Was there ever a point where you were close to throwing in the towel and taking things in a different direction? 

Amanda: For me, the single hardest thing about learning to be a developer was learning how to fail. I distinctly remember the day I released my first bug to our production environment. I felt like such a failure and I was so embarrassed! My boss trusted me with a piece of functionality on our live website and I screwed it up. I won’t lie; I shed a few tears at my desk and debated throwing away my entire development career that day. It took me awhile to realize that the small mistakes are what I could learn the most from. Mistakes are just a part of the job. Yes, I was upset that day, but it taught me to be even more prepared the next time, spending more time planning before development and testing afterwards. 

InformIT: What is the most challenging aspect of your job? 

Amanda: I’ve been a developer for going on six years now, and the most challenging aspect of the job for me has been planning for the future. When I sit down to start on a big project—take rearchitecting our shopping cart for example—I’m not only accomplishing the task at hand, but I also need to be thinking about how the shopping cart could expand in the future. I started asking myself questions like: If we needed to add to this functionality, am I designing it in a way that is scalable? If we are asked to change the flow of the cart, would that break everything else or would it be easy to change?  Business needs are always changing, and I’ve learned over the years to be prepared for that from the beginning.

InformIT: What are the benefits of being a software developer?  

Amanda: There never seems to be a shortage of jobs in the IT field. I’m always hearing about new opportunities.

InformIT: What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of becoming a programmer? 

Amanda: The two best pieces of advice I can give to someone who is considering getting into software development would be 1. stick with it and 2. talk to other developers in the field.  I can’t even count how many hours I spent studying a concept and then applying it, but the most effective way for me learn something new has always been to talk to someone in the industry.

InformIT: What do you do for fun? 

Amanda: I love finding new recipes and trying them out. I’ve tried about 200 Pinterest recipes to date.

For more articles and resources, visit our Women in Technology page.

Pearson IT Certification Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Pearson IT Certification and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Pearson IT Certification products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.pearsonitcertification.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020