Exercism Community Stories

Interview with creator of Elixir programming language, Jose Valim

Jeremy chats to José Valim, the creator of Elixir, and puts your questions to him.
We'll be focussing on José's decision to make Elixir a functional language, and discussing its evolution. Don't miss it!

Quantum Quests with Ethan Hansen

Ethan Hansen is a current computer science student at Case Western Reserve University studying the intersection of quantum computing and cybersecurity.
He loves all things open source, private, and secure.
He's also a big fan of the V language - so he built the track for it on Exercism! You can check it out here and give it a try - https://exercism.org/tracks/vlang
We had a great chat across such a wide range of topics and ideas and it was definitely the first time we'd come across someone who loves Quantum computing. Ethan also runs his own podcast dedicated to Quantum computing and you can check that out here as well (links down below)...along with some other really cool things we covered in our conversation.
- minds: https://www.minds.com/1ethanhansen/
- gitlab:https://gitlab.com/1ethanhansen
- github: https://github.com/1ethanhansen
- podcast: https://anchor.fm/quantumcomputingnow

Programmer by Accident with Thelma Lubkin

Thelma was raised in Bronx, NY. She studied for a BBA in Economics from Baruch School, CCNY. Currently she is a widow with an adult daughter and son. She worked as a programmer, mostly C and simulation software at Johnson Controls and smaller firms; long retired.
Now she walks all the time for recreation and to run errands; she bikes and swims in warmer times and her main hobby is Exercism! She never learned to drive as her and her husband and spent decades doing just about everything on a single speed tandem!
Exercism has been a great connector for her and her son -- he's currently mentoring her in JavaScript and they write and talk all the time now.....Exercism mentors substitute for the therapists that so many of my friends and acquaintances see, helping build connection and belonging.

Push Off With Python with Carl Oscar

Looking to get started with coding? Carl's story should inspire you to push off into learning Python...As a total newbie to coding, her took on the Exercism Python track without knowing anything about programming and is now flying.
Carl, known in the community as “meatball”, lives in Sweden and is a full time student.
He recently discovered his love of Python on the Exercism website where he started to build up his knowledge of programming.
Since then he has learnt Elixir, Python, Ruby, Javascript, Typescript, and Crystal.
He has contributed to multiple tracks on Exercism but primarily the Python track.
Outside of Exercism he loves doing programming projects across various languages and frameworks as well as playing video games.

Conquering Cancer & Accessibility Activism with DJ

What happens when you get life-changing news or information? How do you respond? How do you process? Catch up with DJ to hear how he reframed his perspective on hearing he'd been diagnosed with cancer

Becoming a Polyglot Developper with Erik Schierboom

Erik Schierboom lives in The Netherlands and works as head of open-source for Exercism. There he builds the software and infrastructure that powers the open-source elements of the platform, ensuring each track is a joy to work with.He was a top Exercism volunteer before joining full-time.As a true polyglot developer, his biggest passion is learning new languages.He loves to share knowledge, for example via mentoring, blogs, Stack Overflow posts or conference talks.
When he's not programming, you can find him playing on the PS5, reading a book, watching a movie/series, listening to some music or playing tennis.

Beating paralysis: 3D printing a one handed keyboard with Bobbi Towers

Today we are catching up with Bobbi Towers, the self-proclaimed "Child of Exercism", who began their journey of contributing to open-source software right here with us. They joined the community in 2018 as a student on the Clojure track and went on to become a mentor. When the pandemic fell upon us and we began work on v3, the track needed a maintainer so they stepped up to develop the tooling and write the initial exercises, despite never having worked on a software project of that scale before.
Our spirited discussion revolved around a common theme of personal growth in the face of life's many challenges such as mental health issues, social isolation, and physical disabilities. After a 2015 accident which resulted in losing the use of a hand, they began to explore alternative input devices to find something more accessible and hopefully become more productive. Finding the existing commercial solutions to be either lacking or prohibitively expensive, they turned to 3D printing to design and manufacture their own one-handed keyboard.

Isaac Good: Prolific Mentor and System Automater!

We caught up with Isaac who is involved with Exercism, specifically in mentoring learners across numerous different programming languages. A self-proclaimed techie. Jack of all trades.
 
Coffee hobbyist. Enjoying motorcycles, bicycles, woodworking, welding, DIY, fantasy novels, gardening...amongst other things. We are so grateful for all the effort and energy Isaac puts in to mentoring and wanted to give a little insight into the day-to-day of what it means to be a programmer working remotely.

Entrepreneurial by Design with Taiyab Raja

Taiyab Raja is the principal UI/UX designer behind Exercism v3. If you think Exercism looks and feels awesome, he’s the man to thank.
Taiyab enjoys all things startups, design and entrepreneurship. Born to entrepreneurial immigrant parents and raised in a deprived neighbourhood in Birmingham, England, Taiyab fell into his love for tech, design and building things, which, by chance, led to getting involved in amazing and interesting projects and people working toward the public good.
 
Where to find Tai:
Online
Twitter
LinkedIn

Expeditions, Elixir, and Exercism with Brian Underwood

Brian Underwood is an Elixir consultant for Erlang Solutions living in Stockholm, Sweden. He likes to learn, understand, and play.
 
Show Notes:
"Risky Business: James Bagian—NASA astronaut turned patient safety expert—on Being Wrong" 
Erlang Solutions