Podcast appearances and mentions of Helen V Holmes

This week on Design Work I chat with Helen V. Holmes, designer and founder of Your Grandma Lied Studio. Helen lives in New York City and has worked with big brands like Firefox and Capital One and now has started Your Grandma Lied as a full service studio that uses a collective model. In this episode Helen talks about how learning three languages helped her learn code, what it takes to build a collective-style studio and putting to bed the age old question of should designers code.

MJS 025: Helen V. Holmes This episode features a My JavaScript story with Helen V. Holmes. Helen has never before been a guest on the show. She is both a designer and front-end programmer who previously worked for Mozilla. In January, she started her own freelancing business. Listen to Charles Max Wood and Helen discuss how she got into programming, what made her decide to open a freelance business, and more! How did you get into programming? Helen started by making themes for herself and friends in LiveJournal using other people's CSS themes. Once she got to college she realized that although this wasn't a career, it was an aspect of a career. She then majored in graphic design, going on to do internships in both front-end development and design. Since college, she has gone back and forth between front-end development and design work. How long ago was that? Helen graduated college in 2013. Did you graduate in computer science? Helen did not even minor in computer science. At the time, she was focused on making stuff. The computer science major was too heavily focused on theory. She did take a couple of classes in it, but the graphic design major was more focused on building prototypes. Her graphic design major didn't teach her how to do anything - she said that you're on your own, and you have to figure out how to show off your ideas. The major appealed to her at the time because of that reason. Now Helen thinks majoring in computer science would have been really helpful for her career. Charles points out that you don't have to have a computer science degree to do this work. Helen agrees; it can be wasted on you if you don't have the right enthusiasm to learn everything. Both say that you can get the education you want through self-education. Helen explains that so much of successful programming is good communication - this can be learned in college, while the specifics of how to code can be learned later. How do you get from a graphic design major to "serious programming?" Helen doesn't know how serious the programming she does is now. Her first real job was at Capital One as a front-end developer on their design team. She was doing prototypes and communicating between the design and production/engineering teams. She realized that nobody knew how to write JavaScript when trying to communicate between the two teams, so she decided that she should learn. A lot of the engineers came to the same realization at the same time. She started to write React as she was leaving Capital One. Everyone was trying to improve his or her JavaScript chops at the same time. Did you get into Angular or React at Capital One? When she first started at Capital One everyone was writing Angular. She wrote a lot of Angular in the beginning of her work. Most of the prototypes could be solved with React. Near the end of her time, she started using a lot of React. What do you see is the difference between Angular and React? Angular solves a lot more problems than React. It brings logic to the client side. React is only about solving visual problems. That's why it appealed to Helen. The design team she worked with was all about solving visual problems. Why did you choose the front end? Helen mainly chose it because she was a graphic design major. She believes that because the web is so accessible that it is the easiest thing. She also thinks the front end is fun. How'd you wind up at Mozilla? She met James Long through a mutual friend. Once they met, he thought she'd be a good addition to their team. He told her why it'd be a good switch for her - they were doing React work and they were looking for someone to understand problems that engineers go through. What do they use React on? She was on the browser team. The front-end of the developer tools was a JavaScript application that wasn't Angular. They were working on moving it to become a more documented framework. They wanted to use Redux and React. The team was converting it panel by panel. What made you decide you were going to go freelance? Helen had been missing things that she had done in college such as branding and illustration work. She had done some illustration work while at Firefox. She ultimately wanted to do a variety of different things instead of just product work. What gave her courage to go into freelance work was that James Long was also going freelance at the same time, so she thought that she was in good company. She also is related to a lawyer, so it wasn't as scary filing the paperwork because she had someone to ask for help during the process. What contributions do you feel like you've made to the JavaScript community? Helen believes that the highest impact work she has done has been on the Firefox browser. She didn't write a lot of code, but feels like what she did write is being used by a lot of people. She is most proud of the CSS grid because she says that it is exciting for people who do layout stuff on the web. What are you working on now? Helen started her own business at the beginning of the year. She is figuring out how she wants her skills to grow and with what kind of clients she wants to work. She has a lot of side projects, one being what she calls an art project. She is translating JPEG to Pixel art. She is taking NeoPixels, which are little programmable LEDs, and taking a matrix of values and displaying them on a sight board. With everything that's out there in JavaScript, how do you keep current? Helen answers that she doesn't. She tries to stay current with the tools she is using, which is React. She doesn’t try to be good at everything because she is also a designer, so she says that she has to pick and choose what she stays current on. Charles says that is what he tells people to do. There is so much out there that there is no way that anyone is going to stay current on everything. He says to keep current on what you are doing specifically. Picks          Helen: Wonder Woman http://wonderwomanfilm.com Debt: The First 5,000 Years https://www.amazon.com/Debt-First-5-000-Years/dp/1612191290 Charles: JavaScript Jabber Slack Room https://devchat.tv/javascript-jabber-slack Monthly Webinars  https://devchat.tv/webinars Angular Remote Conf https://devchat.tv/conferences/angular-remote-conf-2017 Links Helen V Holmes Twitter https://twitter.com/helenvholmes

MJS 025: Helen V. Holmes This episode features a My JavaScript story with Helen V. Holmes. Helen has never before been a guest on the show. She is both a designer and front-end programmer who previously worked for Mozilla. In January, she started her own freelancing business. Listen to Charles Max Wood and Helen discuss how she got into programming, what made her decide to open a freelance business, and more! How did you get into programming? Helen started by making themes for herself and friends in LiveJournal using other people's CSS themes. Once she got to college she realized that although this wasn't a career, it was an aspect of a career. She then majored in graphic design, going on to do internships in both front-end development and design. Since college, she has gone back and forth between front-end development and design work. How long ago was that? Helen graduated college in 2013. Did you graduate in computer science? Helen did not even minor in computer science. At the time, she was focused on making stuff. The computer science major was too heavily focused on theory. She did take a couple of classes in it, but the graphic design major was more focused on building prototypes. Her graphic design major didn't teach her how to do anything - she said that you're on your own, and you have to figure out how to show off your ideas. The major appealed to her at the time because of that reason. Now Helen thinks majoring in computer science would have been really helpful for her career. Charles points out that you don't have to have a computer science degree to do this work. Helen agrees; it can be wasted on you if you don't have the right enthusiasm to learn everything. Both say that you can get the education you want through self-education. Helen explains that so much of successful programming is good communication - this can be learned in college, while the specifics of how to code can be learned later. How do you get from a graphic design major to "serious programming?" Helen doesn't know how serious the programming she does is now. Her first real job was at Capital One as a front-end developer on their design team. She was doing prototypes and communicating between the design and production/engineering teams. She realized that nobody knew how to write JavaScript when trying to communicate between the two teams, so she decided that she should learn. A lot of the engineers came to the same realization at the same time. She started to write React as she was leaving Capital One. Everyone was trying to improve his or her JavaScript chops at the same time. Did you get into Angular or React at Capital One? When she first started at Capital One everyone was writing Angular. She wrote a lot of Angular in the beginning of her work. Most of the prototypes could be solved with React. Near the end of her time, she started using a lot of React. What do you see is the difference between Angular and React? Angular solves a lot more problems than React. It brings logic to the client side. React is only about solving visual problems. That's why it appealed to Helen. The design team she worked with was all about solving visual problems. Why did you choose the front end? Helen mainly chose it because she was a graphic design major. She believes that because the web is so accessible that it is the easiest thing. She also thinks the front end is fun. How'd you wind up at Mozilla? She met James Long through a mutual friend. Once they met, he thought she'd be a good addition to their team. He told her why it'd be a good switch for her - they were doing React work and they were looking for someone to understand problems that engineers go through. What do they use React on? She was on the browser team. The front-end of the developer tools was a JavaScript application that wasn't Angular. They were working on moving it to become a more documented framework. They wanted to use Redux and React. The team was converting it panel by panel. What made you decide you were going to go freelance? Helen had been missing things that she had done in college such as branding and illustration work. She had done some illustration work while at Firefox. She ultimately wanted to do a variety of different things instead of just product work. What gave her courage to go into freelance work was that James Long was also going freelance at the same time, so she thought that she was in good company. She also is related to a lawyer, so it wasn't as scary filing the paperwork because she had someone to ask for help during the process. What contributions do you feel like you've made to the JavaScript community? Helen believes that the highest impact work she has done has been on the Firefox browser. She didn't write a lot of code, but feels like what she did write is being used by a lot of people. She is most proud of the CSS grid because she says that it is exciting for people who do layout stuff on the web. What are you working on now? Helen started her own business at the beginning of the year. She is figuring out how she wants her skills to grow and with what kind of clients she wants to work. She has a lot of side projects, one being what she calls an art project. She is translating JPEG to Pixel art. She is taking NeoPixels, which are little programmable LEDs, and taking a matrix of values and displaying them on a sight board. With everything that's out there in JavaScript, how do you keep current? Helen answers that she doesn't. She tries to stay current with the tools she is using, which is React. She doesn’t try to be good at everything because she is also a designer, so she says that she has to pick and choose what she stays current on. Charles says that is what he tells people to do. There is so much out there that there is no way that anyone is going to stay current on everything. He says to keep current on what you are doing specifically. Picks          Helen: Wonder Woman http://wonderwomanfilm.com Debt: The First 5,000 Years https://www.amazon.com/Debt-First-5-000-Years/dp/1612191290 Charles: JavaScript Jabber Slack Room https://devchat.tv/javascript-jabber-slack Monthly Webinars  https://devchat.tv/webinars Angular Remote Conf https://devchat.tv/conferences/angular-remote-conf-2017 Links Helen V Holmes Twitter https://twitter.com/helenvholmes

MJS 025: Helen V. Holmes This episode features a My JavaScript story with Helen V. Holmes. Helen has never before been a guest on the show. She is both a designer and front-end programmer who previously worked for Mozilla. In January, she started her own freelancing business. Listen to Charles Max Wood and Helen discuss how she got into programming, what made her decide to open a freelance business, and more! How did you get into programming? Helen started by making themes for herself and friends in LiveJournal using other people's CSS themes. Once she got to college she realized that although this wasn't a career, it was an aspect of a career. She then majored in graphic design, going on to do internships in both front-end development and design. Since college, she has gone back and forth between front-end development and design work. How long ago was that? Helen graduated college in 2013. Did you graduate in computer science? Helen did not even minor in computer science. At the time, she was focused on making stuff. The computer science major was too heavily focused on theory. She did take a couple of classes in it, but the graphic design major was more focused on building prototypes. Her graphic design major didn't teach her how to do anything - she said that you're on your own, and you have to figure out how to show off your ideas. The major appealed to her at the time because of that reason. Now Helen thinks majoring in computer science would have been really helpful for her career. Charles points out that you don't have to have a computer science degree to do this work. Helen agrees; it can be wasted on you if you don't have the right enthusiasm to learn everything. Both say that you can get the education you want through self-education. Helen explains that so much of successful programming is good communication - this can be learned in college, while the specifics of how to code can be learned later. How do you get from a graphic design major to "serious programming?" Helen doesn't know how serious the programming she does is now. Her first real job was at Capital One as a front-end developer on their design team. She was doing prototypes and communicating between the design and production/engineering teams. She realized that nobody knew how to write JavaScript when trying to communicate between the two teams, so she decided that she should learn. A lot of the engineers came to the same realization at the same time. She started to write React as she was leaving Capital One. Everyone was trying to improve his or her JavaScript chops at the same time. Did you get into Angular or React at Capital One? When she first started at Capital One everyone was writing Angular. She wrote a lot of Angular in the beginning of her work. Most of the prototypes could be solved with React. Near the end of her time, she started using a lot of React. What do you see is the difference between Angular and React? Angular solves a lot more problems than React. It brings logic to the client side. React is only about solving visual problems. That's why it appealed to Helen. The design team she worked with was all about solving visual problems. Why did you choose the front end? Helen mainly chose it because she was a graphic design major. She believes that because the web is so accessible that it is the easiest thing. She also thinks the front end is fun. How'd you wind up at Mozilla? She met James Long through a mutual friend. Once they met, he thought she'd be a good addition to their team. He told her why it'd be a good switch for her - they were doing React work and they were looking for someone to understand problems that engineers go through. What do they use React on? She was on the browser team. The front-end of the developer tools was a JavaScript application that wasn't Angular. They were working on moving it to become a more documented framework. They wanted to use Redux and React. The team was converting it panel by panel. What made you decide you were going to go freelance? Helen had been missing things that she had done in college such as branding and illustration work. She had done some illustration work while at Firefox. She ultimately wanted to do a variety of different things instead of just product work. What gave her courage to go into freelance work was that James Long was also going freelance at the same time, so she thought that she was in good company. She also is related to a lawyer, so it wasn't as scary filing the paperwork because she had someone to ask for help during the process. What contributions do you feel like you've made to the JavaScript community? Helen believes that the highest impact work she has done has been on the Firefox browser. She didn't write a lot of code, but feels like what she did write is being used by a lot of people. She is most proud of the CSS grid because she says that it is exciting for people who do layout stuff on the web. What are you working on now? Helen started her own business at the beginning of the year. She is figuring out how she wants her skills to grow and with what kind of clients she wants to work. She has a lot of side projects, one being what she calls an art project. She is translating JPEG to Pixel art. She is taking NeoPixels, which are little programmable LEDs, and taking a matrix of values and displaying them on a sight board. With everything that's out there in JavaScript, how do you keep current? Helen answers that she doesn't. She tries to stay current with the tools she is using, which is React. She doesn’t try to be good at everything because she is also a designer, so she says that she has to pick and choose what she stays current on. Charles says that is what he tells people to do. There is so much out there that there is no way that anyone is going to stay current on everything. He says to keep current on what you are doing specifically. Picks          Helen: Wonder Woman http://wonderwomanfilm.com Debt: The First 5,000 Years https://www.amazon.com/Debt-First-5-000-Years/dp/1612191290 Charles: JavaScript Jabber Slack Room https://devchat.tv/javascript-jabber-slack Monthly Webinars  https://devchat.tv/webinars Angular Remote Conf https://devchat.tv/conferences/angular-remote-conf-2017 Links Helen V Holmes Twitter https://twitter.com/helenvholmes

Recorded at Gothenburg startup hack 2017, a little celebration of being social around coding. Fredrik chats to first Erik Thorelli of the Gothenburg Sketch & design meetup, then Erik Larkö of the Bring your own project Gothenburg group. Topics stretch from what Sketch is and what it can do for you, over group recommendations, to side projects, where to find ideas and how to get over whichever obstacles we put up in our minds to playing with new things. Thank you Cloudnet for sponsoring our VPS! Comments, questions or tips? We are @kodsnack, @tobiashieta, @iskrig och @bjoreman on Twitter, have a page on Facebook and can be emailed on info@kodsnack.se if you want to write something longer. We read everything you send. If you like Kodsnack we would love a review in iTunes! 02:19: Sketch & design with Erik Thorelli 22:01: Bring your own project with Erik Larkö Links Gothenburg startup hack The startup panel discussion Erik Thorelli Erik Larkö The Sketch & design meetup Sketch Bionote Moom Invision Airbnb’s tool to render React components to Sketch Got UX The React meetup Dan Abramov Bring your own project Gothenburg John Carmack Gothenburg lounge hackers Helen V. Holmes - critique is terrifying Purple shopper - the purple things buyer Robopong Purple scout Dark web The Docker meetup Got.λ - the functional programming group Papers we love Titles Two Eriks Not so cluttered as an Adobe app Visualizing what the heck you’re trying to build I spend ten minutes adjusting the battery level DevUX Can I use it for something? Maybe you’ve never designed anything before Appealing, even for me Faster than fiddling around with CSS It helps reduce waste A caricature of a designer and a developer Asymmetrical pair programming and designing A compiler for design Feels weird, but in a good way Semi-empty Github projects I want my Github page to be cool Why do you want to be John Cleese? Dare to fail Be a good person I don’t think I’ve ever finished a project Where do you get your ideas from? I steal them Expose yourself to ideas The world doesn’t need another Pong game, but you need to write a Pong game Developing as a developer

Recorded at Gothenburg startup hack 2017, a little celebration of being social around coding. Fredrik chats to first Erik Thorelli of the Gothenburg Sketch & design meetup, then Erik Larkö of the Bring your own project Gothenburg group. Topics stretch from what Sketch is and what it can do for you, over group recommendations, to side projects, where to find ideas and how to get over whichever obstacles we put up in our minds to playing with new things. Thank you Cloudnet for sponsoring our VPS! Comments, questions or tips? We are @kodsnack, @tobiashieta, @oferlund och @bjoreman on Twitter, have a page on Facebook and can be emailed on info@kodsnack.se if you want to write something longer. We read everything you send. If you like Kodsnack we would love a review in iTunes! 02:19: Sketch & design with Erik Thorelli 22:01: Bring your own project with Erik Larkö Links Gothenburg startup hack The startup panel discussion Erik Thorelli Erik Larkö The Sketch & design meetup Sketch Bionote Moom Invision Airbnb’s tool to render React components to Sketch Got UX The React meetup Dan Abramov Bring your own project Gothenburg John Carmack Gothenburg lounge hackers Helen V. Holmes - critique is terrifying Purple shopper - the purple things buyer Robopong Purple scout Dark web The Docker meetup Got.λ - the functional programming group Papers we love Titles Two Eriks Not so cluttered as an Adobe app Visualizing what the heck you’re trying to build I spend ten minutes adjusting the battery level DevUX Can I use it for something? Maybe you’ve never designed anything before Appealing, even for me Faster than fiddling around with CSS It helps reduce waste A caricature of a designer and a developer Asymmetrical pair programming and designing A compiler for design Feels weird, but in a good way Semi-empty Github projects I want my Github page to be cool Why do you want to be John Cleese? Dare to fail Be a good person I don’t think I’ve ever finished a project Where do you get your ideas from? I steal them Expose yourself to ideas The world doesn’t need another Pong game, but you need to write a Pong game Developing as a developer

This week I had the pleasure of catching up with Wes Bos about his transition from MySpace theme designer to one of the most influential people in web dev. We discuss his latest courses, his journey with JavaScript and how developers love stickers. Wes on the web wesbos.com @wesbos Courses by Wes Bos All Courses Mastering Markdown ES6 for Everyone Learn Redux Command Line Power User Javascript30 React for Beginners Sublime Text Power User What The Flexbox Learn Node Wes has kindly created a special offer for Inspect listeners. Use the code INSPECT for $10 (USD) off any of his paid courses. Mentioned in the show CSS Zen Garden Hacker You Ladies Learning Code Eloqunet Javascript, Marijn Haverbeke You Dont Know JS, Kyle Simpson Lynda.com - JavaScript Essential Training Anthony Garand Tweet CSS Tricks - A Complete Guide to Flexbox Sarah Drasner Can I Use CSS Grid CSS Dev Conf Speaking about speaking (feat. Helen V. Holmes) wesb0t Github AMA Wes’ ‘Uses’ page Harry Roberts’ ‘Uses’ page Ajay’s ‘Uses’ page Uses This Web Bos on Developer Tea — Part 1, Part 2 Stickers!

I caught up with Helen V. Holmes, a designer and developer from Virginia. We talk about her time at Mozilla, public speaking and tinkering with hardware to create art. Helen on the web Portfolio Twitter Critique is terrifying Mentioned in the show Firefox Dev Tools Toolsday Podcast Una Kravets Neopixels Lightboard art concept 1, and concept 2 PuckJS Ben Foxall Color project View Source Conf - Type is Your Right! Cascadia JS - Helen’s First Conference Talk Seattle JS PaperCall Technically SPeaking Newsletter The Experimental Layout Lab of Jen Simmons RevolutionConf 2017

Helen is an awesome awesome designer and developer. And guess what? She also does hardware shit! She’s a badass. She currently works at Mozilla on the Firefox browser as a designer on the DevTools. You might have even used it yourself. Links! Helen's Website: http://helenvholmes.com/ Fred the Dragon: https://twitter.com/helenvholmes/status/801077140045316097 Simone Giertz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOIJnQGspWc Adobe Felix: https://www.adobe.com/products/project-felix.html Performance and Web Typography: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emLfXChvVPQ CSS Grid and Grid Highlighter Now in Firefox Developer Edition: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2016/12/css-grid-and-grid-highlighter-now-in-firefox-developer-edition/ New Responsive Design Mode: RDM Lands in Firefox Dev Tools: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2016/11/new-responsive-design-mode-rdm-lands-in-firefox-dev-tools/ This Week in Hardware: https://github.com/helenvholmes/this-week-in-hardware/blob/master/issues/issue-1.md * Johnny-Five: http://johnny-five.io/ Netflix Hardware Projects: http://makeit.netflix.com/ --- Music from https://licensing.jamendo.com/en/track/29866/ambient-m-2003 © Helen Holmes and Jag Talon